Rev. Jennifer Hosler, PhD

I flew home from Minneapolis late this morning and federal agents had already murdered another person observing ICE activity. Yesterday, I marched with more than 50,000 people, filling the streets of downtown Minneapolis, chanting, ICE OUT!  I spent two days learning from community members and interfaith clergy, people traumatized by the violence in their community but resilient and persistent in their commitment to justice, love, and the protection of their neighbors.

DC’s federal occupation and ICE surge in DC paled in comparison to what is happening in Minneapolis. Imagine federal agents flooding your town or city, at numbers that greatly surpass your local police. Minneapolis is *swarming* with ICE, dwarfing the local police force.

Near where I was staying (at a home, not a hotel), ICE targeted a truck delivering construction supplies. Immediately, a dozen neighbors were outside, filming, blowing whistles, to alert that ICE was present. In the face of that witness, ICE left. On Thursday, I participated in ICE watch with other interfaith clergy, walking down Lake Street (a hotbed of ICE snatching and a beautiful immigrant corridor). Much of resistance is mundane, keeping persistent presence amidst ordinary life, until crisis comes and there are swarms of heavily armed and armored agents ready to beat and spray and snatch and shatter (literally and figuratively). In a minute, ICE sweeps in and out.  One set of clergy folk saw ICE harass a pregnant woman with several children in her car, with half a dozen agents looming. That time, no one was snatched away; it finished in a minute.

Again and again, I heard how community responses have organized to keep people safe, when hospitals are not safe, schools are not safe, grocery stores are not safe, churches are not safe.

There are miracles each day: grassroots medical care, congregational safety practices, community food deliveries, and so much more. There is also grief upon grief every day. One organizer was late for our training because she was delivering breastmilk for a 3-month-old whose mother was kidnapped by ICE, leaving no one at home to care for the infant. While I was in Minneapolis, sweet Liam Conejo Ramos was taken, a child made a prisoner – even though “we’re going after the worst of the worst.”

One beloved colleague carried a fantastic sign, “Hail Mary, full of grace. Kick ICE out of this place!” In the legacy of our ancestor Mother Mary, we too call on God to scatter the proud, bring down the powerful, send the rich away empty, lift up the lowly, and fill the hungry with good things (Luke 1:46-55).