MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
President Trump has threatened to use the military to stop the protests in Minneapolis by invoking the Insurrection Act. We'll have more on what that would mean in a few minutes, but we're going to start with a report about the situation on the ground.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
On Wednesday, immigration officers shot another man, this time in the leg, which sparked unrest on the city's north side.
MARTIN: NPR's Meg Anderson is in Minneapolis and is with us now to give us the latest. Good morning, Meg.
MEG ANDERSON, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: You know, looking at this from the outside, things seem pretty volatile. But thankfully, you're there. So could you just describe what you're seeing?
ANDERSON: Yeah. There are now as many as 3,000 federal immigration officers on the ground or arriving soon here in the Twin Cities. That's nearly five times the number of Minneapolis police officers. And, you know, the city is sometimes quiet until it is really, really not. And that's because the fierce resistance to this ICE surge continues to be noisy as community members are following immigration officers in their car, honking and whistling. Here's how that sounds.
(SOUNDBITE OF HONKING)
ANDERSON: And I should note the observers filming and making noise. Those peaceful acts of resistance, even though they're chaotic, are protected by the Constitution. But ICE has responded to some confrontations over the last week with a lot of aggression. Over the last five days, NPR reporters, myself included, we've seen ICE officers using tear gas, flash bangs and pepper balls to disperse crowds. But the community here, you know, it's responding in quieter ways, too.
MARTIN: Well, say more about that, if you would. How so?
ANDERSON: Yeah. So if you drive around the Twin Cities, you'll see parents and other community members standing guard outside of schools and day cares with whistles around their necks. Residents are collecting food donations and giving rides to people who are afraid to leave the house. And people are afraid to leave their homes. I spoke to one woman, an asylum-seeker with two young U.S. citizen children. She asked to only be identified by her first initial, A, because she's afraid she'll be deported if she's identified. She has not left her home in several weeks.
A: (Non-English language spoken).
ANDERSON: She said she feels like she can't see a future, a stable tomorrow for herself or her family. And these fears, being afraid to leave the house, they're not unfounded. NPR reporters have witnessed immigration officers stopping and even detaining people of color seemingly at random on the street. I should note that just yesterday, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the administration, accusing it of racial profiling against Latino and Somali people here.
MARTIN: And President Trump also threatened yesterday to use the Insurrection Act against Minnesota. Would you explain exactly what that would mean?
ANDERSON: Yeah. So first, the president has threatened to use that law many times before and hasn't. Still, in a post on Truth Social, he said he would invoke the act if state officials, quote, don't "stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the patriots of ICE." That law is more than 200 years old. It's controversial. Basically, it would give the president sweeping powers to deploy the military here without the state's consent. The last time it was invoked was during the 1992 riots in Los Angeles.
MARTIN: And how are local leaders responding to this?
ANDERSON: So Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he would challenge the use of the law in court. He emphasized in a statement to NPR that Minnesotans are responding peacefully. There's no reason for that law to be invoked. Senator Amy Klobuchar has said the administration is escalating the situation and not the other way around.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Meg Anderson. Meg, thank you.
ANDERSON: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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