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On Jan. 7, a 37-year-old woman was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during confrontation between agents and people protesting their presence. That turn of events has given me the responsibility to share my experience with ICE as a bystander on patrol Jan. 6.
The events on Jan. 7, while a clear escalation, are just one example of ICE sowing fear and terror in our community. I was on patrol for ICE with my partner and other community members around 3 p.m. Jan. 6 at the Central Plaza on 45th and Central Avenues NE in Hilltop. There had been community reports of ICE being active in that area throughout the day, so we showed up in support of our neighbors.
I was pacing up and down the sidewalk in front of the strip mall when I saw a blue SUV with no plates drive past me. I quickly followed it behind the building toward the dumpsters, where I witnessed two more unmarked SUVs pull up to surround a young man on an electric scooter. Four or five men in masks and vests labeled ICE jumped out. They asked him for his Social Security number, if he had a visa, and if he could prove his citizenship. I could not hear his response over the sound of whistles and car horns, but they held a phone camera to his face and let him go.
I then followed the sound of whistles to find two more unmarked vehicles back in front of the strip mall. I ran over to see a masked agent holding a can of pepper spray to my partner’s face, threatening to mace them.
We followed the vehicles throughout the parking lot as they moved to a different store on the same lot. Before leaving the lot completely, one of the SUVs, which was facing my partner and I, accelerated toward us in a perceived attempt to run us over, or at the very least a threat to do so.
After the agents left, it was clear that fear was radiating throughout the strip mall. All of the shop doors were locked, with customers watching the events unfold through the window, looks of terror across their faces.
