Since Donald Trump took office as president last January, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported roughly 540,000 people and caused dozens of deaths. A year on, Minneapolis, Minnesota, has been riven by protests and clashes with law enforcement following the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens, Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, by ICE agents within the space of a month.
Claire, a 36-year-old mother, teacher, and organizer from the Minneapolis area, is just one of many civilians working to keep her community safe amid the raids and unrest. Here, she speaks to Vogue about seeing her students and neighbors targeted by ICE, losing faith in elected officials, and how people outside the Twin Cities can show their support.
Can you tell me a little bit about what the last few weeks have been like for you as a Minneapolis resident?
We live in Richfield, Minnesota, which is basically South Minneapolis. It’s where the video was taken of two people being detained. That’s a mile from our house. Our area has a very large Hispanic population, so we’ve had a really heavy ICE presence just within our neighborhood basically since they arrived a couple of weeks ago. It has been very overwhelming. Our daughter attends a Spanish immersion daycare in the area, so that was kind of our first bit of mobilizing. The daycare is a chain, and they had already been through this in Chicago, so we’ve been providing rides for all the teachers who feel unsafe driving right now.
School-wise, I had some meetings lined up with my sub—I’m out on bonding leave right now—and I had set up some meetings with parents. It just happened to be that both of these meetings were with Hispanic families and students I’ve had for a couple years. The day that Renée Good was killed was the day I had those meetings set up. Prior to that even happening, they had gotten ahold of me and said, “Hey, can we cancel? We don’t feel comfortable going out.” We had already been planning on moving everything virtual for them, and then everything obviously snowballed after that. Now I know that those students have not been in school since that event. A large portion of our Hispanic students are not attending school right now. It’s heartbreaking, and it’s crazy to see everything happening right outside our front door, literally. It’s crazy to see the disconnect, too, between Metro Twin Cities Minnesota and rural Minnesota, or other states, depending on where they’re getting their information and their news.
What part of all this has been the most difficult to witness?
You know, I think the thing that is most difficult for the parents who have been working together, and all the volunteers that I’ve been working with, is just knowing that the people being targeted truly are just regular people—people we care for, our neighbors that we say hi to on the streets and have little conversations with. Hearing this really charged language about them, like “illegals” and “aliens,” and having that disconnect with who they are as humans is so heartbreaking. The people who take care of our daughter are so lovely and wonderful, and they don’t deserve any of this. Her maestras are a range of ages, so to see that across the entire span, whether they’re in their early 20s or in their 50s, there’s still this same level of absolute fear. It just makes it really real.
How are you seeing families broach the topic of ICE raids with their children?
Our daughter is nine months old, so we don’t have to talk to her about all this yet, but my work friends and I have an ongoing chat. I’m very close to all of them, so we’ve had many discussions about broaching the subject with their children and what they’re seeing in the classroom. We’re really encouraging each other to remain rooted and calm so that we are constantly providing a supportive space for these children, but you know, one of my closest friends is a school psychologist, and it’s such an unprecedented situation that she’s stlil navigating how to talk to kids about all this. When it’s the government that you’re up against, you don’t really know what to do, but we’re leaning on each other and getting ideas from each other.
Is there anyone in political power right now that you’re looking to for support, or do you feel like that support is mostly coming from your community?
I think everyone was feeling a lot more hopeful on Friday, and then Alex Pretti’s death happened. I don’t think there’s a lot of hope in elected officials right now. It’s been a lot of talk, and a lot of things that sound good, but as far as anyone doing anything to actually help… there’s a trial, but anything anyone tries just gets shut down immediately. I hate to say it, but we’re all just really defeated at the moment. A lot of us have been working so hard these past few weeks, and to kind of see it almost regress a little bit, and to be so hopeful and then see this additional situation play out, has been really hard. I think that was a huge hit on morale. But honestly, the thing that has been the biggest beacon of hope has been seeing other cities organize. Watching my friends in Salt Lake go out to their protest yesterday, and just seeing the numbers there, and hearing them sing in Boston as they gather, is just the biggest thing. It’s made us realize that we can really rely on each other. That’s kind of what I keep telling my friends who ask, “What can I do?” Get out there and make noise and amplify the truth of what is happening. Cut through the noise of all those right-wing resources a little bit.
This conversation has been edited for clarity.
