St. Anthony Village residents discussed ICE activity with their elected officials. (Michael McKinney)
On the evening of January 27, community members in both St. Anthony Village and Columbia Heights met with their respective city officials for “listening sessions” to discuss concerns surrounding federal activities in their cities.
In St. Anthony, around a dozen people met with city Mayor Wendy Webster, Councilmember Jan Jenson and Councilmember Lona Doolan, among others.
A few residents expressed concern about the city’s response to federal operations. “As of 2023, roughly 12% of the St. Anthony population is foreign-born,” one person said. “We’re a small community. I think it’s on us to make sure that we’re protecting those people.”
One resident said ICE agents “are frequently violating traffic laws,” saying they had been driving without license plates, and asked if St. Anthony’s Police Department could get involved in any way. “In my view, why wouldn’t you pull them over and give them a ticket?”
Charlie Yunker, St. Anthony Village city manager, responded, saying, “immigration enforcement is not the purview of local law enforcement, so they don’t participate in any of those activities,” clarifying that law enforcement doesn’t collect data on immigration.
A few residents expressed frustration that the city’s chief of police was not present for the meeting.
Another resident, who said he was a U.S. citizen, said he did not feel safe in his neighborhood. “I carry my passport wherever I go,” he said. “The Constitution doesn’t stipulate treating certain people exceptionally while ignoring other people. I have suffered a lot in this community… This isn’t just coming from the government.” Another resident echoed those concerns, saying: “When I go outside, I can be taken (by ICE). Does it make a difference if I’m here legally or not? We’re very scared. Our kids are scared.”
Another individual spoke directly to their representatives: “I would really love to see a stronger and braver voice coming from our city council in terms of what we see with our own eyes is happening here. To have it not acknowledged is its own kind of denial.” They asked that St. Anthony call for a temporary eviction moratorium, and also asked for more “uniformity and connection between the schools and the police department.”
“We have seen ICE vehicles circling the schools,” one resident added. “These are families who are afraid to leave their homes.”
City officials said they had not spoken about ICE activity in the past because they had been advised against it. “The feedback that we were hearing from immigrant populations in other communities was: ‘Don’t put us on the radar.’,” Webster said.
A few residents asked officials if St. Anthony police could help them if they were threatened with detention by ICE agents.
On the morning of January 28, the St. Anthony Village City Council released a “Statement on Community Safety, Inclusion and Immigration Enforcement.” It clarifies that “City personnel are focused on local public safety and services consistent with applicable law and City policy,” later saying that “Residents should feel safe calling 911.”
Matt Markham, Columbia Heights police chief, answered questions about federal agents to an audience of roughly 175 residents. (Michael McKinney)
The scene in Columbia Heights
In Columbia Heights, roughly 175 people convened at John P. Murzyn Hall for a similar meeting. Mayor Amáda Márquez Simula opened the meeting before largely handing things off to Police Chief Matt Markham.
Markham said one of the biggest challenges facing the Columbia Heights Police Department (CHPD) is navigating the differences between state law and federal law, as well as parsing the implications of court decisions. He added that some staff members of the CHPD carry their passports with them. “If I’m confused, I think I know where you guys are at,” he said.
At least 35 residents took turns asking questions of Márquez Simula and Markham over the next two hours.
When asked if Columbia Heights police could intervene in ICE activity, Markham said that “if (agents) are stopping somebody and making an arrest, (CHPD) can’t intervene.” He added that federal law enforcement agents “don’t share operational information with us. Telling us when they’re in town doing stuff — that was gone long ago.”
“If I go and send my officers to interfere, they’re going to jail,” he said. “I have to decide, are we going to de-escalate or escalate? Do we want the Insurrection Act?”
Multiple residents said they had been stalked by ICE agents, asking what protection they had against such activity. Markham said “there’s work being done in the background,” saying the CHPD had “documented incidents of Constitutional violations.”
Someone else asked what Columbia Heights was doing about fraud, presumably referring to the recent Medicaid fraud scandal. “I’m done talking about the illegal (immigration) problem. You’ve got ICE here for a reason.” They met a mixture of applause and jeers from the audience. Markham replied, “Fraud that is reported to us is investigated.”
Columbia Heights residents gathered in Murzyn Hall for a listening session about recent federal activity in the area. (Michael McKinney)
A resident proposed a hypothetical: “If I’m giving somebody a ride to school and I’m pulled over by masked men with no identification, am I obligated to open my window? Can I call 911?” Markham said residents should call 911 and tell agents that they’re on the phone with 911. “They’ll be happy to comply once an officer gets there. But I don’t know what they’re going to do.”
A few minutes later, another resident said they called 911 and that the dispatcher “told me they are not allowed to do anything
because of ICE.” Márquez Simula said the resident should elevate calls like that to the dispatcher’s supervisor.
A resident asked if CHPD is coordinating with police forces from nearby cities. Markham said departments were not coordinating against ICE, saying he couldn’t discuss activities in great detail.
Márquez Simula said she is coordinating with mayors of nearby cities and pointed towards Columbia Heights’ efforts to help “the people who aren’t represented” in the room, echoing the comments made by St. Anthony Village city officials hours earlier. “(Members of marginalized) communities have said: ‘Please don’t put a target on Columbia Heights.’ For the last year, we were not advertising the things we were doing to keep people safe.”
A resident who teaches in Columbia Heights asked about “how we collectively provide aftercare, specifically for our children.” Márquez Simula said it could be “really wonderful” to assemble a task force, proposing programming for kids, art therapy and additional funding for social workers. “Our children are going to be going through this trauma for a long time,” she said.
Near the end of the meeting, in response to a question about how Columbia Heights would rebuild trust with residents in the wake of ICE activity, Márquez Simula said some residents aren’t reaching out to the police or fire departments because they feel unsafe doing so. For now, she said, “we are in survival mode.”
