Old White Men, Facts, Reels, Student Protests

While in Minneapolis a couple of weeks ago I had just finishing playing pickle ball and was leaving the club as I was running late for an appointment. As I walked by two other players I heard them talking about the Mayor of Minneapolis in a negative disparaging manner. I know both of them. Both are in their 80s, nice guys and good PB players. But in this moment, they were old white guys complaining about something of which they had little knowledge or empathy. For the record, Mayor Frey had done an incredible job in an extremely difficult situation. One which was thrust upon him by a branch of the federal record.

The end of January some of the local pubic schools where I live in AZ closed in solidarity of the National “no work, no school, no shopping” protest against ICE and their actions specifically in Minnesota, but really throughout the country. I was not surprised, but disappointed regarding some of the comments I came across social media where I live in AZ. I felt the comments lacked both information and again empathy.

Facts
Fact 1: The high estimate of illegal immigrants in Minnesota is 130,000 though some estimates are significantly lower. By comparison, there are almost 4 Million illegal immigrants in Texas and Florida combined. In the US total estimates range from 12 Million to 14 Million illegal immigrants. This means Minnesota has 1% of the total illegal immigrant population.
Fact 2: As I write this there are over 3,000 ICE agents in MN. Totally there are about 22,000 ICE agents. Minnesota now has almost 14% of the total ICE agents but 1% of the illegal immigrants.
Fact 3: Ten years ago the ICE budget was about $6 Billion and after that increased to about $10 Billion. In addition, ICE has been a supplemental $75 Billion to be spent over four years. The ICE budget is the largest by a substantial amount of all the federal law enforcement agencies.
Fact 4: 32 people died in ICE custody in 2025. Numerous studies over various time periods found the crime rate for illegal immigrants is less than the crime rate those born as American citizens.
Fact 5: DHS says ICE is arresting the worst of the worst. KMSP in the Twin Cities did an analysis and found as of January 14th there had been about 2,000 arrests of which about 10% were considered to be the worst of the worst. Less than half of the 10% [4.7%] had been convicted of violent crimes. Some of those were already serving time in a Minnesota correctional facility and were transferred directly from the MN facility to ICE. A National study of ICE records found that 5% of immigrants detained by ICE were convicted criminals while over 70% had no criminal record.
Fact 6: There were more than 3 Million ICE deportations under President Obama which was done safely for residents of the area, much small budget, less agents and no violation of the 4th or 5th Amendments.
Fact 7: A study by an independent tax analysis estimated that undocumented immigrants in 2022 paid $222 Million in Minnesota local and state taxes. Nationally, it is estimated that undocumented workers paid almost $100 Billion in local, state and federal taxes.

Comment: For a 20-year time period ending 2019, there were 288 school shootings in the US. The next highest country had 8 over the same time period. Last August at a private catholic elementary school in Minneapolis there was a school shooting leaving two children dead and 17 injured. I would suggest most if not all children go to school knowing there could be a school shooting at their school at any time. Many if not the vast majority of schools in the US have drills of what to do if there is an active shooter in the school building

Reels
There are multiple videos of encounters citizens, lately in Minnesota with ICE Agents but actually throughout the Nation. Most can be found using a search engine. In addition there are multiple posts with eye witness accounts of ICE encounters with both people who are legal citizens and immigrants who may be here illegally. I would guess that many if not the majority of students and have seen these reels and posts. Here are some of the reels I have watched.

City Council Meeting: I have watched teenagers in separate tell their city councils that their friends, especially hispanic friends live in terror of ICE and it does not matter if they are legal or illegal. They said the city needed to protect locals of all ages and background from ICE. One called the Mayor of the city a coward.
Retail: Many have watched the video of an hispanic 17 year-0ld teenager in a suburb of Minneapolis being dragged out of a Target crying and saying he was legal. He was later found a few blocks away bruised and crying.
Home: ICE dragged an elderly Hmong man out of his house in his freezing weather wearing only his underwear. With no warrant, they broke down the man’s house brandishing guns. His four year-old grandson watched crying. ICE eventually realized he was a US citizen
Testimony: Students have watched a disabled Minneapolis woman born in Wisconsin who on her way to an medical appointment when she was dragged out of her car by ICE agents after they had broken the car window and slashed her seat belt. No warrant and not charged, she was taken to an ICE facility where after telling agents she needed medical help lost consciousness and was finally rushed to an emergency room. She has testified as to how she was treated and felt she was going to die.
5-Year Old: They have watched a 5-year who was detained in Minnesota after which he was with his father and transferred to an ICE facility in Texas. They were on the way to being deported when a Texas Judge ordered they be released and returned to Minnesota. The father had legally applied for asylum in 2024. The boy became ill in the detention center but was denied medical treatment.
Coach: A baseball coach in NYC protected his players from ICE agents when they approached some of the players during practice.
Killings: Students have watched multiple videos of the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. They have also watched eye witnesses talk about the killings and what happened. When DHS officials and other Administration leaders say both were they were domestic terrorists, they know this is simply not true. Alex Pretti’s death was ruled a homicide and I suspect that Good’s death also be considered a homicide.
Protests: They have watched not thousands but tens of thousands of Americans protest not just ICE’s treatment of immigrants but any American who objects to ICE’s actions.

For the record, there are no paid protestors. That is simply not true. I know some of the thousands of protestors in Minnesota. I also know a few of the 100+ pastors who were peacefully protesting and then arrested by ICE. N

I saw several comments which said students should not be protesting, but in school. I would suggest in this particular instance, students and faculty are much better off protesting. They are not just protesting the terror ICE is creating in communities and ICE’s violations of the 4th and 5th Amendments but also ICE’s lack of basic decency. In addition, students are affirming their future rights. If ICE can go through communities wearing masks with no warrants, ignoring civil rights along with basic decency when treating others, how will they treat them in the future. Many students are aware of Martin Niemoller’s famous poem or “First They Came” poem or the various quotes by the famous German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer from the mid-1930s until the end of WWII.

I would strongly suggest the protesting students are on the right side of history along with all the Americans who are protesting the actions of ICE and the Administration leaders who support ICE. If I am correct on the history observation, what does that make all those who object to the protesters?.