JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Frustration and fear are growing in Minneapolis as federal immigration agents continue to surge into the city. Some streets have become enforcement zones. Our reporters have witnessed masked ICE officers taking people off sidewalks, detaining U.S. citizens, stopping vehicles, and demanding ID checks. Federal agents continue to face mounting resistance from residents who say their city feels under siege. NPR's Sergio Martínez-Beltrán has been out in Minneapolis and has the story.
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SERGIO MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN, BYLINE: It's about 10 a.m. on a Monday morning, and a caravan of federal immigration agents in Minneapolis surround a white Toyota Corolla. Inside the car is a man on his way to work. A group of residents organized to monitor ICE's movement starts gathering on the sidewalk.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: They're scared. They're scared.
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: The group moves toward the agents, recording them on their phones. They also shout at the agents, who are asking the man to show proof of citizenship or legal status in the U.S.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: He's a U.S. citizen. He doesn't have to show you [expletive]. He's a citizen.
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: M.A. asked NPR to only identify him by his first initials because he fears for his safety for speaking to the media. He was born in Somalia, but he's now a U.S. citizen, so he was released shortly after. M.A. says the encounter left him more annoyed than angry.
M A: I'm really OK. I have nothing to worry about. I know my rights here.
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: Scenes like this have been occurring every day for the last few weeks in Minnesota. NPR has witnessed multiple instances where people with legal status or U.S. citizenship have been questioned about their immigration status. Everyone NPR witnessed in the last week were people of color. We have also witnessed people being picked up by immigration agents off the streets.
In one neighborhood, immigration officers crashed into a car of a U.S. citizen who refused to pull over. ICE officers ultimately let him go after running his license plate. In the same area, immigration agents dragged a woman out of her car. She said she was on her way to the doctor when she encountered the agents. The agents says she did not follow the commands to move. We witnessed how demonstrators blocked the federal agents from leaving the area and banged on their vehicles. In return, officers sprayed the large group with pepper spray and tear gas and left after throwing flash-bangs.
JASON CHAVEZ: It's not normal to have masked agents in your city and in your neighborhood and on the blocks of Minneapolis with long weapons.
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: That's Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilman who represents south Minneapolis. He's been monitoring ICE's moves and has been tear gassed while observing these clashes.
CHAVEZ: That is not the Minneapolis, the Minnesota or this country that I believed I was in.
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: Tensions have escalated, especially after the killing of U.S. citizen Renee Macklin Good. An ICE agent last week shot Good in her vehicle after a confrontation with immigration enforcement officers. In Washington, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem insists her agents are following the law.
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KRISTI NOEM: In every situation, we're doing targeted enforcement. If we are on a target and doing an operation, there may be individuals surrounding that criminal that we may be asking who they are and why they're there and having them validate their identity.
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: In many neighborhoods, residents are organized on group chats, alerting each other of potential ICE vehicles. They're creating their own database of ICE license plates, and they're also following them, honking their horns to let people know immigration agents are around. Elle Neubauer was doing just that when ICE agents stopped her and approached her car.
ELLE NEUBAUER: And they motioned for us to roll down the windows. We were like, we're observing. We're not going to roll down our windows. We are legally allowed to be here.
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: And then, Neubauer says, the agents threatened her and told her...
NEUBAUER: You don't want to get arrested. It won't be good for you.
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: It is legal to follow officers. It is illegal to physically obstruct, impede or assault an officer. Neubauer continued following the officers. Moments later, her wife called to say that ICE agents were knocking on the door of their home. She did not open the door, but Neubauer said it was a clear intimidation tactic.
NEUBAUER: They're scared because there are not that many of them, and there are so many people in Minneapolis who are resisting, and they literally can't take us all.
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: But the Trump administration has vowed to crack down on protesters they have called, quote, "left-wing agitators," thugs, in some cases, domestic terrorists. But for now, neighbors here continue to defiantly monitor ICE and insist they will not back down.
Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, NPR News, Minneapolis. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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