Email from Family in Minnesota

Our family in Minnesota knows we worry about them, and so yesterday they sent a family-wide email.

This is surely one of many thousands like it. Maybe you’ve written one of these. Maybe you will write one of these.

Below is the email from Jen (with permission and with original formatting):

Update from MN

Hello family and friends outside of Minnesota,

Many of you have reached out to see how we are doing and Pete and I both thank you for that. We appreciate it. As middle-class White people, Pete and I are largely ok. Technically, speaking. And I cannot believe that is a sentence I just typed in the year 2026. But here we are. Our neighborhood is relatively quiet. For now. We are doing what we can to support those that we can. We are speaking out and calling our representatives. So far 20,000 people in this state have taken conscientious bystander training. As actors, Pete and I have created/rehearsed monologues or responses if we find ourselves witnessing the illegal doings of these “agents”. The people here are subdued, but not hopeless. Defiant, but not violent. We are doing our best to protest peacefully as this is what our constitution allows.

Why do I write to you of these things?

For a few reasons: 1. Depending on what media you are seeing you may be getting no coverage on this or varying degrees of truth to outright propaganda. I thought it best you hear it from someone who is actually living in MN right now. 2. No matter where you fall on the political spectrum I believe we can all agree that we have rights in this country: free speech, the right to peacefully protest, the right to due process to name a few. 3. Any support we can get, even if it is simply trying to combat disinformation with truth, from within our country or around the world is helpful and important. 4. If you wish to do other things, this is a good website which compiles many places/groups that are trying to help combat this situation. https://www.standwithminnesota.com/.

Now to some things that are happening here:

In addition to Jonathon Ross murdering Renee Good, the very same day they went to a high school and attempted to arrest students and staff. One day after this, 6 men with guns kicked in the door of someone’s home without a legal warrant and dragged the husband out in cuffs. He is an American citizen. Today local law enforcement in and around the Twin Cities held a press conference calling out these “agents” in breaking the law. They are now targeting and attempting to detain off-duty officers. Every single one of the officers they targeted are people of color. It is straight up racial profiling. They are smashing car windows and tear-gassing people including toddlers. People are carrying their passports and birth certificates around with them and often they are not even allowed to show these “agents” their paperwork before they are beaten and/or abducted.

I have a dear friend who passed her citizenship test 6 years ago and is now carrying her documentation with her wherever she goes. She did everything “the right way” yet she is worried. Frankly, because she doesn’t look Hispanic or African she will probably be ok. Again, I can’t believe I just typed this sentence. Our nephew’s elementary school (in a very affluent, predominantly White suburb) canceled their school’s International Night for fear it would draw Immigrant Enforcement to the school. Pete and I are witnessing field trips to the Science Museum cancel left and right because schools are afraid they will target the children.

These people are not targeting the “worst of the worst” as they claimed they would do. They are not following the law or allowing due process. Minnesota is under siege. They are now telling observers who are giving witness and recording these crimes that “they should learn a lesson or they will be next.” Currently, these “agents” outnumber our local law enforcement 4 to 1. Donald Trump and Noem have particularly targeted Minnesota even though our state falls far behind other states in the amount of undocumented workers. Everyone is on edge. No one is untouched by this chaos.

I don’t know what is going to happen. I don’t know what has happened to empathy and humanity. I do know that I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my ancestors who immigrated here from Sweden, England, Ireland, and the Netherlands. But they did. So for their legacy and for the little kids who deserve to live without fear I will continue to show up and help where I can.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and feel free to share this with those who may be curious to what is actually happening in Minnesota.

Love to all of you. Take care of each other.
Jen and Pete