Giving Up Hope Is Not An Option Part I

Rebel Loon Photo Credit Peter Farrell

Back in January, I posted The Power to Make It So! about the people in Minnesota refusing to give up hope in the face of a brutal immigration crackdown that has claimed lives and harmed so many. They continue to show up, organize, document and speak up to keep people safe from ICE.

I had the chance to talk with two people who are involved with resisting ICE. Neither of them are looking for attention, good or bad, so I am only using their first names. My questions to them were:

• Why did you get involved?

• How are you involved?

• How has it changed you?

• What is your hope going forward?

They were incredibly thoughtful, honest and generous with their responses. I am hoping to share a couple of more conversations in the coming weeks, so I am calling this Part I.

I Have No Patience for Bullies

“I have no patience for bullies. They have to be dealt with and made to stop.” is the response Carla gave me when I asked why she got involved. She has experience taking on bullies. When she was twelve, she confronted a classmate who was terrorizing the school she attended. It didn’t matter that the kid was two years older than her and a lot bigger. Being suspended from school for fighting was worth it to put an end to the bullying. There also was the senior manager at a company she worked for early in her career who thought one of the perks of his job was to sleep with any young female staff member he wanted to. He made life in the office difficult for any woman who refused him. Carla, with the help of colleagues, turned the tables on him when he set his sights on her. They exposed the senior manager’s predatory behavior, and he was fired.

When ICE showed up racially profiling and terrorizing people, there was no way Carla was just going to sit home. She is a trained constitutional observer. Every day she follows where ICE activity is happening. She has documented the kidnapping of people by ICE. She is part of a network that works to notify family, friends and attorneys when someone is taken into ICE custody. She, along with some of her neighbors, are helping a couple of families in their neighborhood who are too afraid to leave their homes due to ICE’s presence by picking up groceries and making library runs for them. It fills her with rage that people have been made to feel that it is unsafe to leave their homes for fear of being detained.

Carla wants the people who are responsible for Operation Metro Surge to be held responsible for the harm done. She can’t talk about the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti because she gets physically ill. She is focused on the upcoming mid-term elections and has joined a group that is registering people to vote. She is also tracking legislation that would make it harder for many people to vote., which she says would be a disaster if it became law. “Accountability doesn’t happen by itself, so I want to do what I can to make sure it happens.” 

After the 2024 election, Carla was angry. She couldn’t believe that such a despicable person was re-elected president. Being a part of the response to this immigration crackdown has made her believe in the goodness of people again. 

All Those People Kept Me Warm

Last June, Jean moved on from a job she’d had for almost 30 years when the dentist she worked for retired. While she was figuring out what to do next, her daughter, an elementary school teacher, asked if she wanted to volunteer at the school where she teaches. Jean thought why not? She started out volunteering one day a week, but she enjoyed it so much, she increased it to three. Jean loves being a part of the school community, and she feels loved by it.

At the start of the year, Jean was hit with a nasty virus that kept her at home and in bed for several days. The night before she was planning to return to school, her daughter called crying hysterically. The parents of two of her students were in ICE custody, and the older brother of another student was detained by ICE leaving work. Jean did her best to say something reassuring to help calm her daughter down. But she struggled to find the right words, because she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. 

The next morning, Jean joined others outside the school to be on the look out for ICE when students arrived and went home, which she continues to do. She recruited members of her church to help support families at the school who have loved ones in ICE custody or are too afraid to leave their homes because of ICE. They provide food and financial assistance to cover basic needs and legal expenses. Jean also marched in downtown Minneapolis with two of her friends when it was freezing cold. She said, “All of those people kept me warm.” 

A few weeks ago, Jean and her husband drove three hours to have dinner and play cards with her cousin and her cousin’s husband, something they have done for years. They planned to spend the night, since it is such a long drive. It was the first time Jean was seeing her since Operation Metro Surge started. That night during dinner, her cousin made racist comments about Somalis and said that people in the cities “should leave ICE alone and let them do their job.” Jean was incensed and words were exchanged. Jean and her husband drove back home that night because they didn’t want to be surrounded by such ignorance and hate. She added, “Lucky for us, there was no snow and the roads were in good shape.” Jean is relieved to have finally confronted her cousin about the hateful things she says. She only wishes she had done it sooner.

Jean wants justice for Renee Good, Alex Pretti and so many others who have been deeply harmed by ICE’s presence. At her church, they are having conversations about how they can be part of helping people heal from the trauma ICE is inflicting. They are in the early stages, so they don’t know what their work is yet. They just know they want to do something and that gives her hope. She is also thankful to have figured out what is next for her.