Minneapolis council strengthens ordinance preventing immigration enforcement; bomb threats reported at Augsburg

The Minneapolis City Council unanimously voted Thursday to strengthen the city’s separation ordinance, which prohibits city workers from helping enforce federal immigration laws.

Council Member Jason Chavez said the recent influx of federal agents into Minneapolis has been “disheartening” and, in addition to targeting Somali people, has sent the Latino community into the shadows, with people afraid to go to stores or even move their cars during a snow emergency.

“The color of your skin is not a crime,” he said. “Being an immigrant is not a crime.”

Council Member Aurin Chowdhury said the city has “slipped into a complete crisis” with people being “ripped away from their communities.”

The measure passed by the council:

The council also passed a resolution stating its position on how police officers should be disciplined if they violate the ordinance, including the possibility of suspension, demotion and termination, and their opposition to any use of “less-lethal” weapons for crowd control.

Separately, the budget adopted by the council includes nearly $528,000 in funding for immigration legal services — the highest ever spent on this program — and an additional staffer in the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs to provide community engagement and support for immigrant and refugee communities.

“The ICE activity on campus over the weekend and in Minneapolis more generally has attracted national attention. Along with this attention, Augsburg has received two bomb threats via email from the same anonymous person,” Provost Paula O’Loughlin wrote in an email to students and staff. “In both cases, we immediately evacuated the building in question and the Minneapolis Police Department swept the area for explosives. Nothing was found in either sweep and we have no reason to believe the threats were credible.”

O’Loughlin said the messages were reported to Minneapolis police, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the FBI, adding “there is reason to believe that this individual has made threats toward multiple locations around the area, not just Augsburg.”

On Monday, Augsburg President Paul Pribbenow condemned the detention, calling it a violation of the university’s private property and its values.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested Jesus Saucedo-Portillo, whom she described as an unauthorized immigrant, on Dec. 6 while he was getting into his vehicle in a campus parking lot.

In a divergence from what school officials have said about the incident, McLaughlin said officers had a warrant and were obstructed by a university administrator and campus security during the encounter.

Benson said he saw the most vehicles transporting detainees in a single operation Monday since he began tracking and documenting the flights.

Observers have noticed a sharp increase in flight operations run on behalf of ICE this year. Activist group Human Rights First in its October monthly report counted 75 outbound flights from MSP since January.

At 7 p.m. Thursday, more than 100 people gathered outside the Homewood Suites by Hilton in Edina to protest the hotel reportedly hosting ICE agents.

They came with drums, loudspeakers, megaphones and car horns and a goal to make as much noise as possible.

“Our main goal is to let these hotels know that we don’t tolerate their collaboration with ICE,” said Megan Newcomb, an organizer with the Sunrise Movement, which focuses on climate policy and investment in working-class communities. “We’re also here to let these ICE agents know that we don’t want them here.”

Newcomb said the hotel is one of about a half-dozen in the metro area that activists believe are hosting ICE agents. She declined to share how that was determined, only saying activists are “100 percent confident” in their information.

The hotel is the third that protesters have appeared outside of in the last week. At least one demonstration occurred in early-morning hours.

Simon Elliott, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, said an earlier demonstration that began at midnight assembled 60 participants by word of mouth with only three hours’ notice. He said it demonstrated the community is “absolutely in opposition to this ICE operation” and to hotels “profiting from this racist ICE operation.”

As protesters dispersed from outside the hotel’s entrance Thursday night, a guest who was entering the hotel voiced her frustration with the noise and told lingering protesters to go home.

In an interview, Newcomb said she understands the protests would be inconvenient for other guests.