By Neal Griffin
During the last few weeks, I’ve been thinking back on my law enforcement career and the team of ICE agents I worked with on a daily basis. In what then was a common display of inter-agency cooperation, my department provided ICE with office space in our police building. The ICE Agents were there to support officers when they encountered undocumented foreign nationals who had committed a significant crime. Agents would also ask for local assistance when they identified a person known to be in the community who was subject to criminal deportation. These ICE agents were so respectful of the delicate balance between federal and municipal law enforcement, that they would not leave the building without first informing the Watch Commander. When they did go out into the community, they were always accompanied by a police officer. This all occurred, mind you, in California, the bluest of blue states. Most notably, these ICE agents didn’t carry machine guns and they never hid behind a mask. Man, how times have changed.
What is occurring in Minneapolis is without precedent. A proactive fully-militarized federal force, numbering in the thousands, has been sent to occupy an American city without invitation. The stated mission is law enforcement but that does not ring true. A better description would be a politicized and heavily armed militia, deployed not in an effort to quell violence, but to instill it. If any of this strikes you as provocative, consider my personal experience with ICE and compare that to what is occurring now.
There is no unrest in Minneapolis except for that being caused by the presence of an unwanted, unnecessary and uninvited militarized federal force engaged in ‘street level’ law enforcement. This has never been done before and for good reason, the most obvious being that traffic stops and citizen encounters are not functions typical in federal law enforcement training. Evidence of this has been seen in Minneapolis and the results were tragic and entirely avoidable. To be blunt, if the attempted and badly bungled traffic detention of Renee Good, had been performed by the most recent graduate of any police academy anywhere in the country, Renee would still be alive. It was not a difficult scenario to resolve and under no reasonable circumstances should it have escalated to a deadly force situation. The only explanation for her death is either gross incompetence or malicious intent. Based on an organized and unconscionable smear campaign led by government leaders who falsely labelled Good a “domestic terrorist” and granted “blanket immunity” for those involved, we will probably never know the truth.
Addressing people’s fear of crime is a common challenge in municipal law enforcement. But the reason some folks in Minneapolis are hesitant to leave their homes isn’t about the criminal element roaming the streets, it’s the federal forces roaming the streets that they fear. There are dozens of first hand and documented accounts of persons being accosted in public spaces, such as restaurants or grocery stores, by masked armed agents who provide no explanation for their actions. Countless people (the government proudly claims arrests number in the thousands) engaged in daily activities, have been torn from their cars and spirited away in unmarked vans. The only comparison one can draw to these actions would come from secret police forces typical in dictatorships. I recently visited the neighborhoods in Minneapolis most impacted, to hear from the people who are living through it and pushing back.
To take a drive through the Cedar-Riverside district of Minneapolis is to visit a neighborhood under siege but undeterred. This area of the city is home to thousands of Americans of Somalian descent, as well as recent immigrants from Somalia and other African countries. At the time of my visit, although it was the middle of the day and the temperature was a relatively pleasant twenty-something, the streets were empty. Most businesses appeared to be closed. The only people outside were standing in groups of two or three on street corners holding a radio in one hand and a whistle in the other. The presence of a non-descript SUV with one lone male occupant immediately got their attention. I didn’t stay long and I’m pretty sure I was followed out of the area.
I also visited the coffee house Pow-Wow Grounds on Franklin Avenue, which caters largely to the city’s significant and vibrant native American population, as well as thousands of immigrants from countries around the world. I spoke with Crow Bellecourt, a tribal member of the Ojibwe Bad River band, Minneapolis native and long time community leader and activist. Bellecourt is the Executive Director of the Indigenous Protector Movement started by his father in the 1960s. Working out of the coffee house, Bellecourt is organizing people to patrol the streets and monitor the activities of any federal agents. Community leaders are providing “Know Your Rights” training and also raising donations of food that can be delivered to residents afraid to leave their homes. There have been several unconfirmed reports of Native Americans being detained and questioned by ICE and Bellecourt said people are definitely scared by what they are seeing on the news and social media.
Bellecourt said he does not go anywhere without this tribal identification which he had visible and hanging from around his neck. His concern was for the teenager who might leave their home to run to the store or see a friend and not take any type of identification.
Talking about how ICE agents are operating in the neighborhood, Bellecourt said, “They ask you if you have ID and if you don’t have one, then they abduct you and haul you in. Just because you’re brown, or because you don’t talk right or you have an accent; their just gonna haul you in.”
This type of behavior has been confirmed by local police chiefs who say that 911 calls related to ICE operations are overwhelming department resources. Many American citizens are being stopped by federal agents who do not provide any type of reasonable suspicion, but demand to see proof of citizenship. According to Chief Mark Bruley of the Brooklyn Park Police, every one of these incidents have involved a person of color, including an off-duty officer from his own department. The conduct by the federal agent involved as Bruley described it, would in normal circumstances have been cause for a formal investigation and possible disciplinary action.
Before leaving the area I stopped by Portland Avenue and East 34th Street. This is where Renee Good was shot and killed. There were several memorials of flowers, cards and stuffed animals. One display showed Renee’s last words to the ICE agent who, less than a minute later, would take her life. “I’m not mad at you dude.”
Walking around the now quiet streets, I saw homes typical in every way to most any other neighborhood in the Midwest. I tried to imagine the circumstances that could give rise to the deployment of government agents in full combat gear to aggressively and forcefully lay siege to the area. I could find no reasonable explanation other than deliberate provocation on the part of our federal government, that as of late, always seems to be itching for a fight. Even from my insulated and privileged white world, I must admit I fear what might come next.
LATE ADDITION: Just prior to the deadline for this column, my fear has been realized. At approximately 9:05 a.m. on Jan 24, Alex Pretti, a 37 year old American citizen and Minneapolis resident who works as a nurse in a Veteran’s hospital, was shot and killed by agents of the U.S. Border Patrol. At the time of this submission, less than 24 hours have passed since this incident. The facts have not been as thoroughly analyzed as the circumstances surrounding the death of Rene, so I will limit my comments to one single indisputable fact. The initial statement made by Secretary Noem of Homeland Security, that the shooting was a “a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement” is blatantly false and inflammatory. No one who watches the video evidence already widely available could possibly draw such a conclusion. As the days go by and the facts come out, remember what she said. Remember what she wanted you to believe. Then ask yourself why.