Jeers from crowds prompted the Mankato and Duluth city councils to pause meetings. St. Cloud’s council members dissected the merits of pro-immigrant and pro-law enforcement resolutions. And a St. Peter council member called for a special meeting for the first time in her career.
In each of these council chambers, public anxiety over Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s expanded presence in Greater Minnesota influenced recent proceedings.
In St. Cloud, council members considered ways they could meet the moment with a message. Two council members in St. Peter, one short of how many were needed to trigger a special meeting, supported dedicating time to discuss ICE policies and preparedness.
Related: Free speech advocates see a pattern as ICE protesters, observers face violence in Minnesota
Residents in Mankato and Duluth showed up in large numbers to demand some form of action from their local governments. While ICE agents were increasingly going about their business, stretching the bounds of the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge, they responded by pushing back against business as usual at council meetings.
“We need our mayor and City Council to stand up (against ICE),” said Jameel Haque, a Mankato professor, at Monday’s meeting. “ICE is here in Mankato arresting people, creating confusion, fear, and pepper spraying people.”
Meetings grow contentious in Mankato, Duluth
Mankato City Council meetings typically draw sparse crowds, perhaps a handful of onlookers. In front of more than 300 people at Monday’s meeting, Mayor Najwa Massad called for an orderly public comment period Monday.
An immigrant herself, Massad acknowledged that emotions in the room were running high.
“I understand deeply why this moment feels so personal for so many,” she said. “Immigrants are not strangers here. They are our neighbors, business owners, workers, parents and friends.”
Earlier Monday, a livestreamed video showed an ICE agent get out of a vehicle and pepper spray two observers in the city’s Old Town neighborhood. Observers reported agents making the rounds in the southern Minnesota city over the weekend and Monday.
To a packed room hours later, Massad called for an orderly meeting. One of the public commenters made no assurances.
“We will not promise to keep order in this meeting space if you cannot promise to keep order and protect us out in the community,” said Chris Schoenstedt, an observer of ICE’s activity in Mankato.
Ava Corey-Gruenes took to the mic and said she was one of the two people who had been pepper sprayed by the ICE agent. She asked council members to switch the focus of the meeting to address proposals for protecting residents from ICE.
The official public comment period ended after 30 minutes. An unofficial comment period kicked in when the City Council attempted to move on to unrelated matters, growing in volume until the council left the room for a recess.
At this point, the crowd essentially took control of the room. People called out what they described as city government and police inaction in the face of ICE’s terrorization of Mankato. At one point Corey-Gruenes used a megaphone to tell council members to return. At another point someone played a popular NWA song that is vulgarly critical of police over a speaker.
The Duluth City Council also went into a recess Monday in the face of vocal criticism from the crowd. The pause didn’t last as long, and in this case the crowd’s ire was directed at a specific agenda item.
Public commenters had earlier spoken against a proposed amendment to a city contract with LexisNexis for software used to track and analyze crime data. They raised concerns about ICE obtaining city data, as the platforms are reportedly used by federal agencies.
Related: Trump threatens to send federal troops to Minnesota to quell protests
“I urge you to reconsider your contract with LexisNexis, or at the very least table this amendment until a legally binding clause is added that clearly bars the use of these tools and any data derived from them for investigation-related investigations,” said Julia Covert, a local university student.
The City Council took turns discussing the agenda item, leading to council member Janet Kennedy bringing up how she gets yelled at by community members. She said people need to be kinder to her so she can be kinder to them, drawing rebukes from the crowd.
Council members returned after a five-minute recess and later approved the LexisNexis agreement by a 7-2 vote. Some of them expressed disappointment in the crowd.
Mankato’s recess lasted closer to 30 minutes. The council returned, briefly tried to resume regular business, then relented to the crowd’s request to table non-ICE matters.
They used the rest of the meeting to discuss ICE-related concerns, with Public Safety Director Jeremy Clifton, city staff and council members responding to questions. Groups at the meeting requested the city to notify the public about ICE activity, stronger language in city policies against ICE agents using city land or property, and an end to the city’s use of AI surveillance technology.
Clifton, along with Duluth Police Chief Mike Ceynowa at Duluth’s meeting, reiterated that their departments do not cooperate with ICE on immigration operations. Duluth residents criticized the local police’s working relationship with a division of ICE known as Homeland Security Investigations.
ICE on council member minds at St. Cloud, St. Peter meetings
As opposed to Duluth’s and Mankato’s vocal crowds, it was city council members who sought local action related to ICE at St. Cloud and St. Peter meetings.
Keri Johnson, who serves on the St. Peter City Council, said it felt unsettling to discuss regular business at her Monday meeting when her community was so gripped by anxiety, fear and uncertainty. ICE agents canvassed St. Peter in the lead up to the meeting, impacting Latino-run businesses. She also heard a report of agents approaching children, which, if true, occurred on city property.
Credit: MinnPost photo by Brian Arola
Her special meeting idea would’ve devoted time to publicly discuss the city’s ICE response and preparedness. During a rapidly evolving situation, she saw it as a proactive rather than reactive way to address community concerns.
To set a special meeting, either the mayor or three City Council members need to agree to it. Johnson got one indication of support from council member Brad DeVos. No one else joined in on it, which Johnson called disappointing.
“I have to accept that because that’s what happened,” she said. “The council chose not to move forward. I’m going to just continue doing my best to serve the community.”
In St. Cloud, where a confrontation between federal agents and Somali residents at a local strip mall made the news, Council Member Hudda Ibrahim proposed a resolution reaffirming the city as a welcoming, inclusive and safe place for all.
Although Council Member Scott Brodeen cautioned against vagueness in the wording, the council approved discussion of the resolution at a Jan. 26 meeting. A subsequent proposal by Brodeen means they’ll have two resolutions to discuss at the meeting.
Brodeen’s resolution would be in support of law enforcement and upholding the rule of law, although based on his initial descriptions it would be vague enough to include support for the St. Cloud Police Department, the Minnesota State Patrol and ICE.
Brodeen shared how he was at a restaurant on Saturday when ICE agents arrived. They didn’t cause any chaos, he said, and he prayed with them before they left.
He compared what ICE agents are doing to what Department of Natural Resources conservation officers do to anglers.
“Do I love it if I’m out fishing and I get stopped by the DNR?” he asked. “No, certainly not, but when (you) have nothing to hide, you comply.”
As City Council members discussed clarifications, he said he didn’t think the resolution would be a big deal. “I thought this was a slam dunk,” he said. “Yes, we support law enforcement. Yes, of course we’ll follow the law.”
Ibrahim voted against further discussion at the next meeting, saying she disagreed with Brodeen’s framing of ICE’s activities. She repeated an earlier statement in support of local law enforcement.
Council member Karen Larson was the other to vote against further discussion of the resolution, citing its vagueness in going beyond the scope of local law enforcement.
“I’m going to reiterate my discomfort with the prospect that at this council we try to do the dissection with respect to whether the rule of law is being adhered to in this city by any law enforcement agency other than our city police,” she said.
Her statement drew applause from the crowd.
The post Tensions over ICE flare at Greater Minnesota council meetings appeared first on MinnPost.
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