How Minneapolis Taught America to Fight Back

Our Minnesotan reporters connect with friends and neighbors back home and find resolute resistance to ICE at every turn.

A person seen from behind sits in the middle of a street with his arms raised. He wears black pants, a light brown winter coat, light brown mittens, and a striped beanie. He faces a horde of more than 20 agents wearing dark colors and tactical gear, who are about 20 feet away behind a line of yellow police tape.

A protester sits in the street at West 27th Street and Nicollet Avenue in south Minneapolis in front of a large group of federal agents and Minneapolis police.Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minnesota Star Tribune/Getty

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In a Minnesota town outside the Twin Cities, Emily is a nurse who treats many immigrant patients. She can’t locate a patient who just had a test result that shows they might have cancer. The patient was recently detained by ICE; situations like these have forced the clinic to adapt, making house calls and triaging care.

“I’d love to know how well somebody’s kidneys are functioning today,” Emily said, but “I’m gonna wait till three months because I don’t want them to come in for a lab appointment that’s not critical.”

Emily is one of many Minnesotans mounting a quiet, secretive resistance to the Trump administration’s hard-nosed and often violent immigration agenda. Across the state, neighbors are helping neighbors and communities are building grassroot systems to support immigrant families. 

This week on Reveal, our Minnesotan reporters Nate Halverson and Artis Curiskis report on how Minnesota is teaching the country to resist federal agents who have arrested children, killed citizens in the street, and pepper-sprayed high schoolers.

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