ICE in Minnesota

Over the past year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have become a visible force on American streets. Accused of using aggressive tactics, they often cover their faces and have cast a shadow of fear over migrant communities.

In the city of Minneapolis, some 3000 agents have made hundreds of arrests, and two US citizens have been shot dead. In our conversations, we hear from migrants in the city – including a man arrested by ICE agents – and bring together people in the local community.

“It feels like we’re under siege from our own federal government here in Minnesota,” says Ann, the head of a local preschool.

“I felt like I was in the Middle East – tear gas, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of ICE officers and border patrol all clad out,” says Jeff, who runs a pub in the city. “It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.”

President Trump was elected on a platform of cutting illegal immigration and, with efforts in recent days to reduce tensions in the State, we also get the perspective from Republican party supporters.

Presenter: James Reynolds
BBC producers: Lindsay Brown, Shea Conduct, Ben Davis and Ash Mohamed
Boffin Media producer: Richard Hollingham
Editors: Arja Haikonen and Harriet Oliver
A Boffin Media production in partnership with BBC OS.

(Photo: Federal officers load an injured protester onto a pickup truck during a confrontation with police in Minneapolis. Credit: Craig Lassig/EPA/Shutterstock)