Things Build….
Thousands shut down Minneapolis-St. Paul…
Businesses go along with the shutdowns…
FBI investigation of ICE shooter in Minnesota stymied…
Federal ICE people having issues….
Most Americans think ICE tactics have’ gone too far’….
A possible White House PR campaign is NO match forimages of ICE grabbing 5 year olds and other people out of their home’s….
Mass Protets…
Thousands of protesters shut down parts of Minneapolis-St. Paul on Friday as hundreds of businesses closed their doors, and workers and students stayed home to demand an end to the sweeping immigration crackdown that has roiled the Twin Cities for weeks.
The action on Friday, which unfolded in subzero temperatures, was the most widespread and organized demonstration since federal agents arrived in Minneapolis more than six weeks ago. It was aimed at pressuring the federal government to pull thousands of its agents from the streets.
Businesses, many of them locally owned, closed their doors to halt economic activity, saying that losing a day’s revenue was worth the cost to be part of the effort to end the immigration enforcement.
“There’s a time to stand up for things, and this is it,” said Alison Kirwin, the owner of Al’s Breakfast, a Minneapolis restaurant that closed on Friday. “If it takes away from a day of our income, that is worthwhile.”
The day of protests followed weeks of clashes between Minnesotans and federal agents, mostly in the Minneapolis and St. Paul areas. The immigration operation, which started late last year, has led to some 3,000 arrests, at least two shootings in Minneapolis and chaotic scenes on the streets…..
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“We are meeting ICE violence with nonviolence,” she said. “We are meeting their chaos and cruelty with passion and community.
Hundreds demonstrated at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport earlier on Friday, some from as far away as New York, flitting in and out of one of its terminals to stay warm.
Inside, protesters shared hot chocolate and hand warmers, and compared the layers of clothes they used to brave the bitter cold. After warming up enough to face the elements, they returned to the sidewalk, while police officers warned them to stay out of the street or they would face arrest.
At one point, a group of clergy stepped off the curb, knelt on the pavement and began to pray.
“Everybody’s got a right to live and before this campaign fails, we’ll all go down to jail,” they sang. Protesters, many wearing snow suits and ski goggles, cheered as police arrested a few dozen of the clergy and loaded them onto buses.
That protests on Friday were part of general strike organized by residents, faith leaders and labor unions. The purpose, according to organizers, was to demonstrate the resolve of residents….
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Mr. Anderson, the board member of the St. Paul Federation of Educators, said his union signed on after much debate, and asked members “to decide what that call to action means to them.”
“We decided it was now time to take a stand,” Mr. Anderson said. “It was time to boldly declare that enough is enough. We’re not going to take it anymore.”….
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F.B.I. Agent Who Tried to Investigate ICE Officer in Shooting Resigns…
An F.B.I. agent who sought to investigate the federal immigration officer who fatally shot a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis this month has resigned from the bureau, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The agent, Tracee Mergen, left her job as a supervisor in the F.B.I.’s Minneapolis field office after bureau leadership in Washington pressured her to discontinue a civil rights inquiry into the immigration officer, Jonathan Ross, according to one of the people. Such inquiries are a common investigative step in similar shootings.
Ms. Mergen’s resignation was only the latest shock wave to have emerged from the Justice Department’s handling of the shooting of Renee Good, an unarmed mother who was killed on Jan. 7 as she was behind the wheel of her Honda Pilot.
After the incident, several Trump administration officials described Ms. Good as a “domestic terrorist,” accusing her of trying to ram Mr. Ross with her vehicle. But a video analysis by The New York Times showed no indication that he had been run over….
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Senior Justice Department officials have repeatedly said there are no plans to follow the path normally taken in such situations and pursue an investigation into whether Mr. Ross, who fired multiple shots at Ms. Good, had used excessive force.
Federal investigators have also refused to cooperate with state and local prosecutors in Minnesota, complicating any efforts they might take to open their own investigations into Mr. Ross.
Instead of allowing Ms. Mergen to work with the U.S. attorney’s office in Minneapolis to investigate Mr. Ross, the Justice Department has decided to investigate Ms. Good and her partner, Becca Good, scrutinizing their possible ties to left-wing protest groups in Minneapolis. That decision prompted at least six senior prosecutors in the office to resign in protest….
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Moreover, the Justice Department has started cracking down on protesters who have opposed the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement push in Minnesota.
On Thursday, prosecutors filed conspiracy charges against three people who were involved in interrupting a church service in St. Paul to protest a pastor’s apparent work as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official. According to a criminal complaint, the three defendants — Nekima Levy-Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen and William Kelly — “intimidated, harassed, oppressed and terrorized the parishioners.”
On Friday, a pair of federal judges who are overseeing the case denied requests by prosecutors to keep the three in custody as they await trial….
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ICE Agent Charged With Misdemeanor Following Scuffle With an Activist…
The police in Brookfield, Ill., a community outside of Chicago, charged an agent of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week with misdemeanor battery after he was accused of throwing an immigrant rights activist to the ground during a scuffle.
The activist, Robert Held, said he had been filming the agent, Adam Saracco, who was off-duty at the time and filling up his SUV at a gas station after leaving a nearby immigrant detention center. There have been a number of anti-ICE protests at the center in recent weeks.
In an interview, Mr. Held, a 68-year-old trust and estate lawyer, said that he had been using his phone to record the agent from a sidewalk on Dec. 27, when Mr. Saracco approached him seeking to take the phone.
“He had his hands on me and threw me to the ground,” Mr. Held said. “He did grab my phone, but I held onto it with both hands, I had to use all my might. I said, ‘Calm down, you have to de-escalate.’ I heard horns honking and he got off me, he did not get my phone.”
The local police were called to the scene and began their investigation that day. Potential felonies are reviewed by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Mr. Held said he had not been injured.
Even as city officials across the country have criticized President Trump’s high-profile ICE deployments, local prosecutions of federal immigration agents remain relatively rare. In a statement, the Brookfield Police Department said that the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office had reviewed the case and declined to file felony charges, advising that it would more appropriately be charged as a misdemeanor.
The department said the agent had cooperated with local investigators. “He was subsequently charged, cited, and released” on one count of misdemeanor battery, the department said. Mr. Saracco’s court date is in March….
Polling….
Roughly half of voters support President Trump’s deportations and his handling of the border with Mexico, but a sizable majority believes that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has gone too far, according to a poll from The New York Times and Siena University.
Fifty percent of voters said that they approved of the Trump administration’s deportations of people living in the country illegally, while 47 percent opposed them. The president’s handling of the southern border was viewed favorably by 50 percent of voters.
But after a year in which Mr. Trump sent large numbers of ICE officers to conduct raids in several largely Democratic-controlled cities, prompting widespread protests and scenes of chaos on the streets, a wide majority of voters takes a dim view of the agency.
Just 36 percent of voters said they approved of the way ICE was handling its job, according to the poll, while 63 percent disapproved — including 70 percent of independent voters. And 61 percent of voters said that ICE had “gone too far” in their tactics, including nearly one in five Republicans….
Trump worried about Negitive ICE Minnesota actions in the media….
Wants a PR camapign to sell the ICE mission….
The ongoing protests and images coming out of Minnesota have prompted concerns from some Trump administration officials over the optics of the immigration crackdown as Americans grow alarmed by the chaotic scenes unfolding in the state.
President Donald Trump has expressed frustration behind closed doors that the immigration messaging is getting lost, sources familiar with the discussions told CNN. Trump has sought to take control of the narrative, starting with an impromptu press conference on the anniversary of his first year in office.
The president, at times sounding exasperated, thumbed through mugshots of individuals arrested in his immigration crackdown, highlighting their alleged crimes. His message was clear that while there might be some issues, ICE is necessary to follow through on his agenda — to deport the most dangerous criminals back to their home country….
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The potential consequences are both political — with the current operations polling badly, and everyone’s eyes trained on the November midterm elections — as well as practical, particularly if the scenes in Minnesota embolden Americans in other cities to interfere with future immigration operations, they said.
The president has seen the negative polls but does not blame the work ICE is doing on his behalf. Instead he has blamed the lack of clear messaging and “promotion” of what he believes are the positives of his immigration crackdown, sources familiar with the conversation said….
Republicans are worried about Trump’s deportation campaign, and our new poll shows why
A slim majority of voters still support Trump’s deportation agenda, but the GOP base is splintering over tactics.
President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation campaign is starting to make some Republicans uneasy.
As midterms approach, GOP lawmakers, candidates, strategists and people close to the White House are warning that the administration’s mass deportations policy — and the wall-to-wall coverage of enforcement operations, arrests of U.S. citizens and clashes between protesters and federal officials — could cost them their razor-thin House majority.