Obviously, there are similar narratives to this and the George Floyd fallout - the location, civil rights, law enforcement, etc. One of the most difficult things for me in 2020 was personally trying to sort through my own feelings amidst the chaos. Beyond just the killing of George Floyd, everything blossomed into so many political and idealogical debates - law abiding protestors vs. dumb agitators destroying property. From BLM, and "all cops are bastards" (ACAB) being spray painted all over town, to citizens trying providing aid, food and money. Between well intentioned police officers truly trying to keep the community safe to the law encorcement bad actors that are fueled by macho rage and abuse of power, juxtaposed with my personal beliefs that safety is one of the necessities for a thriving community.
The BLM movement was confusing - I never knew specifically what they were asking for. As usual, the extreme activity on both ends get the attention, but it's hard to know what to support when every movement has its fanatical followers that are amplied most. We've discussed this ad nauseam as it relates to algorithms and political polarization. It needs nuance, but that's difficult and few people are interested in truly helping or finding common ground. This ICE operation feels unique though in that I feel deep down this shouldn't be happening. There's less ambiguity because I'm seeing, and feeling, the net negative of all this. When I look around and ask myself, "Will this ultimately make our community better?" It's a resounding "no" for me. |
I believe I shared this video with you in the past, but if you haven't watched it, I highly recommend it. It's already had 3.7 million views. Liz Collins is an independent news journalist married to Bob Kroll, a retired Minneapolis Police lieutenant and former union president. There is SO much the mainstream media in the Twin Cities refuses to tell us about the death of George Floyd and the riots that ensued.
The Fall of Minneapolis
I agree completely with your statement that:
"As usual, the extreme activity on both ends get the attention, but it's hard to know what to support when every movement has its fanatical followers that are amplified most."
And I always try to watch, review, analyze, dissect, and understand the extreme activity on both sides of any issue and come to my own unemotional, unbiased, educated and informed conclusions.
Many claims erroneously associate these ICE raids with the recent fraud scandals in Minnesota, as though these detainments would have a meaningful reduction on the fraud that's occuring. It's abundantly clear that this fraud is a massive issue - and it absolutely has to be handled - but it should target any and all of the individuals responsible for this mess, regardless of their citizenship.
ICE isn't the most effective agency for that job. It's true that this fraud is disproportionatly coordinated by the Somali community. Find the perpetrators - regardless of their citizenship - and punish accordingly, but doing a sweep of "all illegals" is by no means the best way to resolve this.
One of the most frustrating issues with anything political is that things get posited as an either or situation, like we're somehow only left with two polarizing options. It's either "leave our border wide open" or "aggressively patrol, question, detain, and deport all illegals".
Under this logic, anyone criticizing ICE is thereby supporting open borders, fraud, and criminal activity. In reality, immigration can absolutely be a problem AND this can be the wrong way to handle it. Somali communities can be committing substantial amounts of fraud AND it can be wrong to stereotype their culture as "garbage". |
Agree, agree, agree!
Since I am nowhere near the target demographic of these operations, I tried to imagine a scenario that's analogous to this that might affect me. Given the recent spotlight on fraud, let's imagine that the federal government announces a crackdown on tax cheaters. They claim that fraud is 'everywhere' but they weirdly focus primarily on Minnesota. They insist that it's aimed only at major offenders - the millionaires and billionaires swindling huge amounts of cash.
In practice though, agents begin visiting business owners at random - at their offices, on job sites, or in your case, while musicians are playing at their shows. They demand that you justify your tax filings on the spot. You're told you're free to go if you can immediately prove your income, deductions, and compliance, otherwise you may be detained while things are sorted out.
Soon, the advice becomes "carry your tax returns everywhere, just in case". The burden shifts from the government proving wrongdoing, to regular people proving innocence, and suddenly we're all living with constant anxiety - not because we're criminals, but because enforcement has become arbitrary, blunt, fear-driven, and untethered from reasonable suspicion, despite the underlying issue being a genuine plague that needs to be handled in a strategic manner. Just a thought experiment, and one I hope to never live in! |
If this scenario came to pass, America would truly be over and done.
It's not surprising that two or more attempts have been made to assassinate Donald Trump when Democrats, liberals, late night comedians and the mainstream media repeatedly call the President "Hitler" and Governor Walz calls ICE agents the "Gestapo". If this was 1940 and I had access to Adolph Hitler and a weapon, I would be eager and proud to take a few shots at the guy who started WWII, caused the deaths of 75-80 million people and murdered more than six million Jews - and I would be an international hero for doing so! Democrats, Frey, Walz and the mainstream media are encouraging these threats and actions by the nature of their claims. And now Governor Walz is comparing Minneapolis children to Anne Frank in Nazi Germany! Iran recently a announced that-
If you are seriously concerned about and inclined to think of President Trump as "Hitler", ICE agents as the "Gestapo", Republicans as "Nazis" and Minnesota children as "Anne Frank", you need to brush up on your knowledge of history, and this would be an excellent place to start- |
 |
Read this top secret document featuring Chief of the Security Police, SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Heydrich, called the Wannsee Protocol described as:
"The following persons took part in the discussion about the final solution of the Jewish question which took place in Berlin, am Grossen Wannsee No. 56/58 on 20 January 1942."
Most people - including Minneapolis Mayor Frey, Minnesota Governor Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, "ICE Watch" minions and most of the legacy media news anchors and cable news celebrities have absolutely no idea what REAL Nazis were all about.
The evidence regarding Somali fraud pertaining to empty childcare centers, nonexistent medical transportation services, the "Feeding Our Future" fraud, and phony autism and health care clinics is incontrovertible, currently estimated to involve more than $9,000,000,000 dollars. I'm sorry, but your tax fraud scenario is simply silly - besides, I was already called before the IRS a few years back and required to prove I was paying my fair share. That system is already in place.
In the meantime, a Democratic Virginia lawmaker is backing a bill that would ban the state from verifying a nonprofit's eligibility to provide and receive federal taxpayer benefits, a move that comes as scrutiny over the misuse of taxpayer funds continues to intensify. Her proposed legislation?
That sounds like something the Minnesota legislature should implement ASAP!
| Stepping back from all the details - what are we even doing here?! Immigration is absolutely a problem. I want the border tightened. But is this honestly best way to tackle any of this? By terrorizing communities? |
Communities that harbor and protect illegal immigrants, and city and state officials who knowingly release convicted criminals back into the Minneapolis community under "sanctuary city" claims are NOT making the city safer.
| Yes, please target the criminals if you have verifiable, reasonable suspicion, like they did in the ride-along video. Outside of that, we should focus our finite money and personnel on the border to stop the bleeding. New immigrants are specifically a problem when they haven't assimilated to our culture, don't have a job, and are living off our safety net. It's unjust to compare a non-citizen living Minnesota working as a dishwater, cook or janitor that are contributing to our community, paying taxes, and often taking on the jobs that absolutely no one else will. |
This is a popular narrative for people who welcome illegal immigrants into the United States and want them to stay.
"Who's going to wash our dishes, landscape our lawns, replace our roofs, sweep our floors, harvest our crops, care for our children, and work in our restaurants if illegal immigrants are forced to leave?"
"The argument that crops would rot without a specific, often exploited, labor source is a recurring theme in American history, previously used to justify slavery and currently part of the debate surrounding immigration reform and farm labor policies. The economic argument that Southern agriculture (especially cotton) would collapse without enslaved labor to harvest crops was a central pro-slavery justification in 19th-century America." - Perplexity AI
| These law abiding, working immigrants are people we not only want but need in our communities. It's hard to overstate how essential these immigrants (citizen or not) are to our economy. They are primarily working the low-wage, physically demanding jobs that are difficult to staff. If we're deporting multiple workers for every single criminal that's found, it's hard to say how sustainable that is without wiping out large swaths of industries that heavily rely on these workers. |
Wouldn't it be better to pay a fair and living wage to any people willing to do that work? And I don't mean $30.00 an hour like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani promised for 2030, but the Minneapolis minimum wage as of January 1, 2026, is $16.47 an hour or $654.80 for a forty hour week. That's $34,050 per year in a city that has a poverty line of $15,650. Would prices for food and services normally provided by illegal immigrants rise?
Probably - but if we honestly care about the health, welfare and standard of living for all, that is a sacrifice we should be willing to make.
Saying we should allow illegal immigrants into the United States to do all the shit work white people are not willing to do is a really flimsy basis for assuming the moral high ground. It simply incorporates slavery into society for slave labor wages. Let's end wage slavery for all!
"Slavery ended because machines finally got cheaper than slaves - and ending it no longer meant economic collapse. That's it. The reason slavery lasted so long everywhere was simple: people couldn't imagine keeping the economy running without it.
Britain banned slavery only after squeezing every drop of profit out of it. America ended it only when it was tearing the country apart. If it had really been about values, the Founding Fathers would've been the first to abolish it - since slavery went against everything they claimed to stand for."
So why is wage slavery advocated for illegal immmigrants in 2026? Don't immigrants, Latinos, Mexicans, Somalians, Asians, and brown lives matter?
|
