Readers Write: Minneapolis City Council, aftermath of Operation Metro Surge

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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I would like to weigh in on the failed proposal to punish a couple of downtown hotels because they may have housed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents over the last couple of months. I am responding as a business owner, a Minneapolis resident, a trained rapid responder, an observer, a protester in all the marches, a driver of scared employees, an employee food donation supporter and someone with so many of the roles many of us have had to play recently. The past two months have been a nightmare and a huge cost to our residents, my business and the city. I am also angry, but ...

We will not get back to a vibrant city by picking and choosing which legally operating businesses are allowed to stay open. They get to make public decisions that help or hurt them on their own. We need all of them to stay open. It is the responsibility of the City Council to help bring all of us back, not to narrow the field based on politics.

Revoking the liquor licenses of a couple of businesses due to a political disagreement would have set a dangerous precedent. Would my business license be at risk because an ICE agent ate there? What kind of surveillance state would be required to monitor every patron and every client to ensure we are politically “correct”? What will be the next issue that some on the City Council think is particularly egregious in the way one or two of us operate while simply trying to make a living within the parameters of the law? That would be an authoritarian approach to take in the wake of the very authoritarian actions we have all just endured.

A city is filled with people of all beliefs and backgrounds. If someone dislikes a particular business because of its perceived politics, they are free not to patronize it, to protest it, to boycott, even. But our city government should never cripple a business that is operating according to our city’s own laws. We need tourism, we need hotels, and we need people swarming our downtown with dollars to spend. Supporting that ecosystem is the work of the City Council. Retribution is not the answer, as we are all too well aware.

Molly Broder, Minneapolis

I would like to add, however, that I really hate the “abolish ICE” screed, as it has the same chilling effect as the “defund the police” diatribe. It’s absolutist tripe that is not only unrealistic, but it’s an angle easily used by the alt-right as a cudgel to discredit any reasonably nuanced and necessary reforms. U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar has repeatedly used this simplistic “abolish ICE” phrase to describe her position. I really try to be supportive of Omar’s stances since she is the leadership voice for my district but she tends to take such politically volatile and impossible positions. These outbursts tend to generate negative political theater that reflects poorly on her Minnesota constituents.

Let’s not squander the international gravitas that Minnesotans have earned by our recent ICE experiences. We want ICE to be governed by the same rules and constitutional amendments that all other government enforcement officers are required to follow, but we still do need Border Patrol and control agencies. On a larger scale, President Donald Trump’s interpretation of what Americans generally want from a national immigration policy possibly represents the most overarching miscalculation to date of his assumed MAGA “mandate.” It doesn’t help that the “abolish ICE” mantra gives material support and ammunition to right-wing media, incessantly linking any realistic immigration policies to a leftist “open-border agenda.”

Connie Clabots, Brooklyn Center

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I understand that “abolish ICE” doesn’t poll well, but if Democratic candidates want to be taken seriously, they need to offer a real alternative vision. What I’ve heard so far sounds uninspiring to the point of tone-deafness.

You want to improve conditions at detainment centers? Unmask agents? Prosecute Renee Good and Alex Pretti’s killers? These things are all necessary, but they’re half measures. Do you want to stop the next Operation Metro Surge, or do you just want to soften it?

I’m sympathetic to Democrats’ reluctance to dismantle ICE, but I need them to present a compelling alternative. I’m listening. I’m happy to hear them out. I want vision. I want specifics. I want to believe that they’re serious. I want to feel confident that they’ll do something to prevent this from happening again. Thus far, abolishing ICE is the only plan of action I’ve seen anyone propose that moves the needle. If you don’t believe in it, and you aspire to win my vote, show me something better!

Eli Parker, Columbia Heights

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Our country made some huge, costly mistakes in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. One of those mistakes was the invasion of Iraq. Another was the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. The recent invasion and occupation of our state by agents from the DHS forces us to confront this mistake and take steps to rectify it. The federal agents that occupied our state were not just from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but also Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Both of these fall under the umbrella of the DHS and that is why we should abolish not just ICE but the entire DHS.

This infrastructure endangers all of us. As the pool of immigrant targets shrinks, the companies that benefit from this spending will need new profit centers, so the targets will shift to include anyone who speaks out against the government. The recently released National Security Presidential Memorandum-7 asserts an expansive definition of terrorism to include a broad swath of citizens. This will be the legal justification for their surveillance and detention.

The fact that this is a form of stimulus spending means it will be very profitable for the companies that secure the government contracts for collecting and analyzing data and warehousing people. These profits will create their own economic momentum making it harder to stop in the future. That is why we need to stop it now before it gets too big and profitable. We must abolish ICE and shut down the DHS.