The despondent faces and the cries, cries and pleas of these men, women and children in solitary confinement will haunt me forever. But perhaps even more unforgettable was the laughter of the agents nearby.
Video shows Patti and Brandon being arrested by ICE on the streets of Minneapolis.
Patti O’Keefe said she and a friend were arrested by ICE in Minneapolis after trying to warn neighbors.
I live lightly in the middle of a normal block in Minneapolis. If I don’t have enough to bake, I sometimes borrow eggs and vanilla from the neighbor on my right. My partner is shoveling snow from the sidewalk of an elderly neighbor’s house. In gratitude, she knitted him a hat. People on the street keep an eye on the cat while we are gone. In other words, it’s a fairly typical American area, and probably not too different from where you live.
Imagine hearing that heavily armed masked agents are going door to door in your neighborhood, violently arresting people from your gardener to your grandparents. No questions or warrants presented. what would you do? Especially when we know that having more community members as observers reduces the likelihood that masked agents will commit violence.
That’s what my friend Brandon and I were doing on January 11th. I heard reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were pepper spraying a guard’s car that was blocked from my house, so I went to warn others. I am a US citizen and have lived in Minneapolis for over 14 years. This is a place where treating others the way you want to be treated is more than just words.
As we drove to the scene, Brandon and I saw several ICE agents returning to two unmarked vehicles. They turned onto a side street and we followed for about 40 seconds, blowing our whistles and honking our horns. The purpose was to let the neighbors know that ICE had arrived.
We acted knowing that it was our legally protected right to monitor and sound the alarm on actions taken by government agencies. And a government that claims to be of the people, by the people, and for the people must protect this right and not attack people of conscience who exercise it.
But attacking us is what ICE did. The agents got out of their cars and surrounded our car, shouting for us to stop following them. As I was walking back to my car, one of the agents suddenly turned around, as if deciding, “Hey, what’s going on?” and ran back to my car and sprayed pepper spray into the vent near the windshield.
“You guys have to stop interfering with us. That’s why that lesbian man is dead.”
Brandon and I were paralyzed with shock, our eyes and throat burning. When we did not turn our vehicle around immediately, ICE officers returned, broke the windshield of my car, dragged us outside, and arrested us, without warning or asking us to exit the vehicle.
They separated us. I was put in a car alone with three agents. Once they got in and closed the door, the teasing began.
One agent took a photo of me and showed it to the other agents who laughed. Another called me ugly. “You guys have to stop bothering us, that’s why that lesbian man is dead,” his colleague said, apparently referring to Renee Goode. I felt nothing but fear and vulnerability in front of the masked men with weapons strapped to their bodies, the men who claimed to be protecting our city.
When we got to the Whipple Federal Building, they put shackles around my ankles. I asked four times to call them and was denied my legal right to do so. I begged for water and had to be allowed to relieve myself in another crowded cell with a toilet behind a short wall.
On my way to the cell, I passed a cell full of people who appeared to be Latino and East African. The despondent faces and voices of these men, women, and children (reportedly as young as 5 years old) and their cries, cries, and pleas will forever haunt me. But perhaps even more unforgettable was the laughter of the agents nearby. Is our life just a joke to them?
Eight hours later, I was released without charge. Because even these investigators had no credible claim that I had done anything wrong.
ICE is arresting people for no reason. We can stand up against tyranny.
President Donald Trump and his administration are making us less safe by spreading lies based on how our neighbors look and speak.
In the Twin Cities alone, I’ve seen people being arrested for no reason while on the job, and an old man being taken out of the shower into the freezing cold wearing only his underwear and a blanket. Local schools were forced to cancel classes after ICE attacked staff and sprayed tear gas at students during the attack on Roosevelt High School, according to the teachers union.
These actions put us at risk. They are designed to terrorize our communities with unchecked and unaccountable brutality.
When ICE took me into custody, the other two people in my cell said they were Marine Corps veterans. These women said they enlisted for the same reason they felt they had to act as ICE monitors: to protect their fellow Americans.
One veteran who suffered scrapes and bruises on her wrists and ankles from an attack by ICE agents spoke of how ironic and shocking it was that the first time she was held at gunpoint was the very government she was sworn to serve.
I’m lucky to be back home. You can return to your work, your loved ones, and your community. The 100 or so people I saw in the ICE facility may never see the homes they built or the families they raised. After being killed by Border Patrol and ICE over the past 12 months, Alex Preti, Renee Good, Keith Porter, and dozens of other people who died in custody have become mere memories for their families. And our Twin Cities are under siege by masked militias fighting against a regime whose leaders are spreading lies and instilling fear to divide and distract us, while eradicating our health care, jacking up prices, and handing more money to their billionaire supporters.
But in the United States, people who believe in freedom and justice for all stand up against tyranny. we sound the alarm. We support our neighbors. Now is the time for us to come together. And tell Congress to protect our freedoms by refusing to fund these attacks against us.
Patti O’Keefe lives in Minneapolis.
