afp/ap | After the arrest of a five-year-old boy by ICE officers, thousands of people in the US metropolis of Minneapolis once again protested against the immigration policy of US President Donald Trump and the brutal actions of the immigration authorities. Labor unions, progressive organizations and clergy had called on Minnesotans to avoid work, schools and businesses.
Organizers said Friday morning that more than 700 businesses had closed in solidarity with the movement – from a bookstore in small Grand Marais near the Canadian border to the venerable Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis. Some businesses opened symbolically and gave out goods for free.
“We’re accomplishing something historic here,” said Kate Havelin of Indivisible Twin Cities, one of more than 100 groups involved.
In Minneapolis in particular, numerous restaurants and shops remained closed on the day of protest, and dozens of demonstrators were arrested. The death of unarmed driver Renee Good when shot by an ICE officer had previously caused indignation and protests.
In temperatures as low as minus 23 degrees Celsius, demonstrators marched through the city chanting slogans such as “ICE out”. One demonstrator, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP that he was marching because “if we don’t fight, fascism will win.” He held up a sign that read, “Five years old, human” – referring to the age of the arrested child.
The photo shows 5-year-old Liam accompanied by ICE officers who want to gain access to his family’s home
Photo:
Rachel James/reuters
Another protester, who only gave his first name, Aron, criticized the immigration authorities as being “brutal” and not following the law.
Clergy protest against deportation flights
Police arrested around 100 clergy at Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport, the largest airport in the state of Minnesota. The church representatives had gathered there to protest against deportation flights and to call on airlines to oppose the measures of the Department of Homeland Security.
The clergy received misdemeanor citations for trespassing and disobeying police orders and were subsequently released, said Jeff Lea, spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission. They were arrested in front of the airport’s main terminal because they went beyond the permitted area of their demonstration and disrupted flight operations, it said.
The Rev. Mariah Furness Tollgaard of Hamline Church in St. Paul said police asked her to leave, but she and others decided to stay and get arrested to support migrants, including members of her community who were afraid to leave their homes. After her brief incarceration, she planned to return to her church to hold a prayer vigil. “We cannot accept that Minnesota is living under this federal occupation,” Tollgaard said.
UN Human Rights Commissioner dismayed by ICE’s actions
The protesters’ anger was rekindled by the arrest of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos. Photos of the obviously frightened boy in a blue bunny ears hat being held by his backpack by an ICE officer sparked outrage.
According to Liam’s preschool, the boy and his father, who is from Ecuador, were arrested in the driveway of their home on Tuesday. The boy was then used by the officers as “bait” to lure more people out of the house.
Politicians from the opposition Democrats such as former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the authority’s actions. UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk said on Friday he was “dismayed by the now commonplace mistreatment and degradation of migrants and refugees” in the United States.
US Vice President JD Vance, however, said during a visit to Minneapolis that the boy’s father had “run away” from ICE officers. The officers therefore had to take care of the boy so that he did not “freeze to death”. According to authorities in Minneapolis, three other children in addition to Liam have already been arrested by immigration authorities in one school district in the city this month.
Adrian Conejo Arias, Liam’s father, was taken to a detention center in Texas, according to an ICE database. The whereabouts of minors are not listed in the database.
Gregory Bovino, a senior Border Patrol official, defended his team’s actions, saying “we are experts in dealing with children.”
ICE Commander Marcos Charles assured that officials had done everything possible to reunite Liam with his family. However, his family refused to open the door for him. The ICE officers went to eat with the boy at a restaurant so that he didn’t lack anything. Charles added that those arrested had entered the United States illegally and would remain detained “pending the completion of their immigration proceedings.”
The death of unarmed driver Renee Good on January 7th occurred in the US metropolis strongly fueled the protests against ICE. An ICE officer killed the mother of three with multiple shots in the face. The Trump administration subsequently portrayed Good as a “domestic terrorist” who was killed by the officer in self-defense after she “ran him over.” However, video footage shows that Good drove her vehicle away from the ICE officer.
The officer who shot Good was not suspended. He is not being investigated.
Thousands of ICE employees have been deployed in the city in the state of Minnesota for weeks to carry out the mass deportations ordered by President Trump. Minneapolis is one of them so-called sanctuary cities, which offer protection to migrants without a residence permit and have limited cooperation with federal immigration authorities.