A University of Minnesota students is sharing what it's like for him as immigration enforcement actions continue across the Twin Cities. He's Hispanic, and says he is living life in constant fear.
The young man didn't want to give his name. He's just that afraid of being caught up in the widespread immigration enforcement, even though he is a citizen.
"It is a fear of mine that, you know, someone's going to approach me," he told WCCO's Susie Jones. "Or someone's gonna pull me over and be like, 'hey I need to see some identification.' Just getting stopped and having a whole confrontation in that way."
He's actually thought about what he would do in that situation.
"One of it now is, which a lot of people are doing is carrying their passports. Carrying the passport along with me, and that's a way of, I get stopped, showing an identity and hoping that that's like, you know, good enough," he explains. "That they accept that and say like, 'hey, look, here's my passport.' This is, you know, a way for me to prove that I'm a United States citizen."
He says he also would do his best to follow orders.
"Because, unfortunately in these situations you're usually outnumbered and you're kind of fearing for your safety."
He said this is the first time in his life that he has feared for his safety as a U.S. citizen.
"Definitely one of the very first times that I have felt genuine concern and fear, I think for myself, and especially for my loved ones and my friends."
The fear of being detained by immigration agents in the Twin Cities is making life difficult for many people of color. That includes law enforcement, who laid out concerns about alleged federal racial profiling during local immigration enforcements.
Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said that while local law enforcement supports lawful immigration enforcement, he said what's happening now is not the same thing. And he added one of his officers, who is a woman of color, was pulled over by ICE agents, highlighting those valid concerns by civilians in the Twin Cities.
"When they boxed her in, they demanded her paperwork, of which she's a U.S. citizen and clearly would not have any paperwork," said Chief Bruley. "When she became concerned about the rhetoric and the way she was being treated, she pulled out her phone in an attempt to record the incident. The phone was knocked out of her hands. Prevented her from recording it."
Bruley says once she told them she was a police officer, they left without apologizing for the mistake.