A pair of teen Chicago brothers are in the thick of tracking, documenting ICE activity in Twin Cities

In a clip that became instant fodder for memes and late-night TV shows, a federal agent charges toward a Minneapolis protester, slips on a patch of ice and slams onto his backside as cheers and laughter erupt from onlookers.

In another video, Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino pulls a canister from his tactical vest as his agents wrestle a protester to the ground. Onlookers and whistles scream. “Gas, gas, gas,” he says as he pulls the pin and launches it while green smoke spreads.

In each case, behind the camera was a pair of teenage brothers from the Chicago suburbs — Sam and Ben Luhmann.

Over the course of the past three weeks, their widely viewed footage has become part of a prevalent and still-growing effort by community observers to monitor Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity amid the heightened tensions and two deadly encounters with federal agents in Minneapolis.

Unlike streamers and influencers of differing political ideologies who have flooded the area since the beginning of Operation Metro Surge, Sam, 16, and Ben, 17, don’t have a widespread social media following or thousands of subscribers. They do, however, occasionally allow reporters to document their days following and documenting the federal agents’ movements.

The brothers moved here the day after ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good on Jan. 7, and were already on the streets when federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti on Jan. 24.

Sometimes filming and protesting deters agents from making an arrest, but Ben said his main goal is to show to the rest of the country what they see as inhumane and unlawful activity by agents.

Audrey Luhmann said her sons first got interested in September, when she loaded up a van with all eight of her children to help document an ICE operation in the Chicago suburbs.

She and the rest of her family got connected with Illinois’ network of protesters and observers, and Ben and Sam soon started going on patrols by themselves.

She said it’s been “a little scary” for her sons to be in Minneapolis, a seven-hour drive away. But Audrey said she supports their work and views it as an “internship,” doing “boots on the ground, civic engagement” while they stay with a network of family and friends in the Twin Cities. They’re homeschooled and do their homework after patrols each day.

She gave the boys books for schoolwork while they’re here: one on psychology which she described as “how people change their minds,” one on American politics and “Solito: A Memoir” which details the immigration of a 9-year-old boy from El Salvador.

“I’m really proud of them,” Audrey said. “When we watch the videos, it’s like a level of courage that I didn’t realize was inside them.”

“Our Christian faith undergirds our desire to not run from chaos, but to run to it.”

Similar to other organized “observers” in Minneapolis, Ben and Sam hop on the app Signal each day before hitting the streets, following tips on where ICE vehicles are in the area.

Ben drives while Sam sits in the passenger seat, helping with directions and looking around to see if any passing vehicles could be an agent.

During a ride-along Monday, Jan. 26, with a Minnesota Star Tribune reporter, south Minneapolis was unusually quiet and devoid of ICE presence. Ben and Sam said they suspect agents may have reduced their presence briefly because of how outraged the city became when Pretti was killed just two days earlier.

Just before 9 a.m. they get word of an agent vehicle looping through the small residential roads around E. Lake Street in a Dodge Charger. They take a U-turn on Lyndale Avenue to catch up and strain their necks at a red light to spot the agent vehicle about five cars ahead of them.

On days when federal agents are more active, things have gotten contentious for Ben and Sam with agents threatening them despite maintaining a vehicle-length of space from the agents.

“I was told the other day, ‘If we leave this parking spot and you guys follow us, we will rip you out of your car and arrest you,’” Sam recalled.

They have had similar confrontations in Chicago.

Ben, who only started driving less than two years ago, said he does not feel intimidated by agents following the killing of Pretti and is confident in knowing the laws that allow him to film in public.

“We’re going to keep fighting, and they’re not going to stop people from caring about their neighbors,” Luhmann said.

During the first incident on Blaisdell Avenue, Ben filmed as several agents held a protester down on the street as another agent walked around and fired bright-orange pepper spray directly into his eyes — an image captured by a Minnesota Star Tribune photographer.

A couple of hours later they filmed Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino as he and other agents lobbed chemical irritants at protesters in Mueller Park.

Ben Luhmann said he believes the clash in the park was “performative” on the part of agents because there was nothing stopping their vehicles from driving away.

He turns the camera left and right, showing that although there are some protesters near the sides of the agents’ SUVs, none are blocking the vehicles.

“There is nobody in front of you, you can just drive away,” Luhmann yells at agents in the video.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a social media post it was conducting a “targeted enforcement operation” that day when agents were repeatedly harassed and blocked by hostile crowds while trying to take a bathroom break at gas stations.

In the park, the use of tear gas was necessary in order to clear the crowd, DHS said.

“To safely clear the area agents had to use crowd control measures to disperse the hostile crowd,” DHS said in its post.

Ben Luhmann said it seemed like agents wanted an excuse to tear gas the hostile crowd rather than needing to do it.

“It’s so surreal to watch propaganda being made in front of your eyes,” Luhmann said.

They get nervous at how agents will react to them, and that’s part of why they have equipped their car with a dash camera and why Sam wears a body camera. On several occasions the boys have been tear gassed while out at protests.

And although there was little ICE presence on Monday, Sam said they plan to continue to patrol the Twin Cities until the agent presence considerably dies down.

As white teenagers from suburbia, Ben and Sam said they feel it’s imperative to film each day, whether it’s to help others or simply bear witness.