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MINNEAPOLIS \u00ad\u2014 On Friday, legal <\/span>observers on an encrypted group call in Minneapolis received a desperate plea. A fellow observer was following federal agents who\u2019d just loaded her friend into an unmarked vehicle. Now, she herself was boxed in.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease help,\u201d the woman said, again and again, her voice rising to a scream.<\/p>\n Then, her pleas stopped.<\/p>\n By the time support arrived, the observer was gone. All that remained was an empty SUV, engine running, abandoned in the middle of the city\u2019s snow-lined streets.<\/p>\n Referred to locally as abductions, it was at least the fourth such disappearance of the day \u2014 the third in a span of less than 30 minutes.<\/p>\n The observers call themselves commuters. They are locals who have organized to resist \u201cOperation Metro Surge,\u201d a massive U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol campaign targeting Minnesota\u2019s undocumented population, by monitoring federal operations in the Twin Cities. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both agencies, has called the incursion the largest immigration enforcement operation in history.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was so scared. The terror in her voice was really, really horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Three days before the commuters were taken, the new head of Metro Surge, Trump administration border czar Tom Homan, announced<\/a> a \u201cdrawdown\u201d of 700 federal officers and agents. The president had tapped Homan to head the mission a week earlier, appointing the former ICE acting director<\/a> to take over from Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, whose heavy-handed tactics culminated in three shootings in three weeks, including the killings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti.<\/p>\n Homan has vowed to take a more \u201ctargeted\u201d line of attack in Minnesota. His announced drawdown has fueled speculation that the civil rights abuses and unlawful arrests documented in viral videos and court filings during Bovino\u2019s tenure may be coming to an end. On the ground, the feeling is quite different.<\/p>\n In a message circulated among commuters Friday, the community group Defrost MN, which uses crowdsourced data to track federal immigration operations, warned residents of an \u201cuptick in abductions\u201d \u2014 which refer to arrests of both immigrant community members and legal observers \u2014 following Homan\u2019s takeover and an increase in the number of government personnel and vehicles involved in those operations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNational attention on Minnesota has waned with the departure of Bovino and rhetoric by Homan that things are de-escalating,\u201d the group noted, but recent data and reports from commuters in the field did not support those conclusions. Despite orders<\/a> to the contrary, the group continued, \u201cAgents continue to draw their weapons and deploy chemical agents against observers.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the deportation pipeline out of Minnesota continues to flow, with 66 shackled passengers loaded onto a plane the night of Homan\u2019s address \u2014 the highest total in nearly two weeks \u2014 according to evidence<\/a> collected at the Minneapolis\u2013St. Paul International Airport.<\/p>\n Friday\u2019s midafternoon disappearance of multiple commuters in quick succession provided visceral evidence that, despite the change in leadership, the struggle between President Donald Trump\u2019s federal agents and residents continues.<\/p>\n Commuter Kaegan Recher was among those who hurried to the scene of the observer who disappeared while on call.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was so scared,\u201d Recher told The Intercept. \u201cThe terror in her voice was really, really horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n In Minneapolis and St. Paul, as well as the surrounding suburbs, tens of thousands<\/a> of immigrant families are relying on churches and mutual aid for food and financial support. People have not left their homes for weeks. Local schools have reverted to Covid-era online measures to support immigrant students too terrified to come to class. Those students who still attend in person are transported by U.S.-born neighbors and family friends. Campuses at all grade levels are patrolled by volunteers in fluorescent vests, an effort aimed at deterring federal agents\u2019 practice of targeting parent pick-up and drop-off sites.<\/p>\n\n
Response to a Siege<\/strong><\/h2>\n