Khadijah Ali
Donald Trump claims that he has deployed federal immigration agents to various cities to apprehend illegal immigrants and to fight crime. While thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been deployed to Minneapolis and other cities across the US, they have gone about terrorizing ordinary citizens.
ICE and border patrol agents have shot and killed two American citizens in Minneapolis in a matter of weeks. On January 7, Renee Good, a mother of three was shot while sitting in her vehicle. She had just dropped off her six-year-old son at school.
On January 24, federal agents shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti, a male nurse at the Veterans Hospital. He was killed while agents pinned him to the ground. Pretti was trying to protect a woman being pepper sprayed by federal agents.
The Department of Homeland Security alleged that Pretti, who was carrying a legally-owned Sig P320 handgun, had drawn it on federal agents. Video footage by bystanders refutes this allegation.
Both Ms Good and Pretti were US-born citizens. Even if they were illegal immigrants, that does not give federal agents the right to shoot and kill them. Such killings have caused outrage in Minnesota, a state with a population of 5.84 million people.
On the night of January 25, a huge crowd of protesters descended on a hotel believed to be housing federal immigration officers. Activists spray-painted ‘f**k ICE’ on the hotel’s windows and battered their way into the lobby, while armed agents attempted to hold them back.
The agents called for local backup, which reportedly arrived late but refused to physically evict the protesters. The protesters were eventually removed from the hotel lobby when more federal agents arrived and used tear gas against them.
Both the governor of Minnesota Tim Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey have expressed outrage at such blatant disregard for the lives of citizens. Governor Walz has called for the immediate withdrawal of 3,000 ICE agents from the state before they kill more innocent people.
Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey has been even more vocal. He told ICE “to get the f**k out of our city”. On January 26, he had a phone conversation with Trump after which the mayor announced that some federal officials will leave the city on January 27.
Among them was the thuggish senior Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino. He hag led the highly visible federal crackdowns, including operations that sparked mass demonstrations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and Minneapolis.
Bovino’s actions drew fierce criticism from local officials, civil rights advocates and congressional Democrats. He aroused even more anger when he publicly defended the killing of Pretti and supported claims that the victim had drawn his gun before he was shot and killed.
Local politicians have made no secret of their opposition to the ICE deployment. The state of Minnesota has sued to halt ‘Operation Metro Surge’, while Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has assured all residents—illegal and legal—that city police would not cooperate with federal agents. At a press conference in December, Frey said that his officers would “fight ICE on the streets.”
State Governor Walz has also sided with the protesters. He has demanded Trump pull “his 3,000 untrained agents” out of the state. Walz is not alone.
High-profile Democrats like California Governor Gavin Newsom and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have encouraged the protesters calling for further demonstrations. Clinton even called on them to “stand up and speak out” for their “freedoms.”
While Trump’s zionist-trained thugs in uniform have been deployed to Minneapolis, Chicago and Portland (Oregon), these are not states with the highest concentration of illegal immigrants. That ‘honour’ belongs, in addition to California ( a Democratic state), to Republican-run Florida and Texas. So why have federal agents not been deployed in these states?
Trump has deployed the ill-trained thuggish federal agents only in Democratic states. It is inescapable to conclude that he is targeting Democratic states with the specific aim of provoking a backlash that would ultimately result in a civil war.
The six states with the largest unauthorized immigrant populations in 2023 were: California (2.3 million); Texas (2.1 million); Florida (1.6 million); New York (825,000); New Jersey (600,000); and Illinois (550,000). Trump has threatened to deploy federal agents in New York City. The new mayor, Zohran Mamdani has said he would challenge their deployment.
Compare that to Minnesota where the population of illegal immigrants is 100,000 out of a total population of 5.84 million. This works out at 1.7 percent of the total. So, what is driving Trump’s assault on Minnesota, especially its capital city Minneapolis?
There is a sizeable Somali population in the state. They have done reasonably well setting up businesses and getting into politics. Ilhan Omar, of Somali origins, has been elected twice to the House of Representatives from Minnesota. She was assaulted by a man during a town hall meeting in Minneapolis on January 27 but appeared unharmed.
Trump is an unabashed racist. He has publicly called Somalis “dirty”. Such language has not gone down well with many Americans. They recognize that the US is a country of immigrants.
Trump’s mother Mary Anne Macleod was an immigrant born in the outer Hebrides, Scotland. She migrated to the US in 1930. Two of Trump’s three wives including the current one Melania, are immigrants. She can barely speak English and has a sleazy past. It has led some commentators to quip that immigrants would do jobs that most American-born citizens won’t!
Trump is not opposed to all immigrants; only those of a particular colour. Hence, his targeting of Somalis.
It is, however, his obsession with clinging to power that he wants to provoke a civil war. He sees that as his best chance to sabotage the November Congressional elections that he fears the Republicans will lose.
If the Democrats take control of both houses of Congress, there is a high probability that they will impeach Trump. In that eventuality, he will be forced to resign and will end up in jail for his many criminal acts.
He does not care if he sets America on fire, as long as he can retain power. This also explains why he seeks wars abroad so aggressively. The zionists are pushing him into these misadventures that will only result in disaster for the US.
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