The surge of immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities is taking its toll on Metro Transit operators who are seeing people being detained at transit stops, and sparking fear in immigrants and employees of color, union officials say.
On Jan, 10, federal agents forced people out of vehicles in front of a bus stop at Bloomington Avenue and East 31st Street in south Minneapolis, according to Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1005 President David Stiggers. The incident shocked the driver and passengers, he said, and significantly delayed the bus.
“This caused a ton of anxiety and fear,” Stiggers said.
As Metro Transit operators carry people across town, they are also witnessing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arresting people at bus stops, an action that may be driving ridership down, he said.
“The bus stops are a prime target for ICE,” Stiggers said.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Operation Metro Surge is the largest immigration enforcement action in American history, ICE officials say. More than 2,000 ICE, Border Patrol and other DHS agents have flooded the Twin Cities. Even more agents were sent to Minnesota this week in the wake of ICE agent Jonathan Ross shooting and killing 37-year-old mother Renee Nicole Macklin Good on Jan. 7, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Many union members who are immigrants or first-generation Americans are anxious about going to work, fearful they could be racially profiled by ICE.
One ATU member originally from Somalia was detained by ICE for more than a month before being released without explanation, Stiggers said. The driver was arrested on Dec. 2 on his way to work, then held in detention in Iowa and Nebraska before being released, Stiggers said. He was reunited with his family on Jan. 6, according to the ATU.
“It just rips at you, man,” Stiggers said.
Metro Transit mechanic and ATU steward Rafael Valle said what’s happening in Minnesota isn’t the American dream his parents sought when they fled civil war in El Salvador.
“This is inhumane,” Valle said.
Immigrant workers are vulnerable during the ICE surge, Minneapolis American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) president Chelsie Glaubitz Gabiou said. Many have been arrested on their way to work, she said, and risk harassment or detention if they opt to continue providing for their families.
“Workers in every industry are indiscriminately being arrested,” Glaubitz Gabiou said.
The Minneapolis AFL-CIO is helping to legally support members who have been detained, she said. The group is trying to fundraise an additional $150,000 for its legal fund this week, she said.
While neighbors and unions have been working to support families, many business leaders are staying quiet, she said.
“The employer class is saying nothing about their workers,” Glaubitz Gabiou said.
There is a call for a general strike on Jan. 23 to protest the ICE surge in the Twin Cities. Although the ATU supports that action, Stiggers said, its contract with Metro Transit doesn’t allow members to participate in such strikes, and they will be advised to work.
