01/14/2026
I'm forwarding this post from a friend Melissa Tubbs Loya in Minneapolis (if you check her FB out, she includes videos). This is what the Gestapo looks like. It's happening in America. The dictatorship is real.
Read on.
Hi friends. So...my city is being targeted by the federal government and I want to tell you what that looks like. I’ve been off FB for a while now (why is for another post), but what’s happening in Minneapolis is both unbelievable and all too real, and I don’t think a lot of America knows just how grave the situation has become, even if you’ve seen a few things about it here and there. I know that some of what I’ll say here will make me seem reactionary and maybe crazy. I’ve accepted that. It’s truly hard to believe the level of violence we’re seeing here, even as we’re living it, so I know it will be hard to believe by those living in places where this isn’t (yet) happening. I’ll also be posting several videos in the comments showing a lot of what I’m talking about here. I don’t know how long they’ll last up on FB, or if they’ll be removed for showing violence.
There’s really no way to say it, save to be blunt: the federal government has weaponized itself against us. There’s an ICE operations tracker on iceout.org. Go look at the nationwide map and zoom in on Minneapolis. It is staggering to see the number of operations in Minneapolis compared to anywhere else in the country. The initial surge last week was comprised of 2,000 agents; the terrible surges in other cities like LA and Chicago have been around 200-400. Within the past few days the administration has said they’re sending 1,000 more agents, and yesterday we’ve seen evidence of that in the Border Patrol spreading throughout the city. By comparison, the police force in Minneapolis (not the whole metro, just the city proper) is 600 officers.
You’ve likely heard about the killing of Renee Good. There is a lot going on alongside that which is not receiving as much coverage nationally. As some examples, big and small: ICE has indiscriminately beaten and maced large groups of people—kids, parents, teachers—at school dismissals, repeatedly going to some of the same schools over and over. They are on the streets pulling people from their cars based solely on skin color, without any information about who they are before hand, so they cannot be people ICE is looking at for immigration violations. They are ramming and wrecking vehicles of people they accuse of following them, arresting those people, and driving off leaving their empty cars wrecked in the streets. They are beating people down hard for standing by and filming their actions. They are using battering rams to break down doors of homes, and there is beginning to be talk of them going door-to-door to homes as the Vice President said they would. They are marching in full tactical gear through our stores, gas stations, restaurants, and streets, causing a constant undercurrent of fear. A friend works at a small embroidery shop, where they came in demanding I-9s for all employees without a warrant. It wasn’t clear what would happen to them if they didn’t comply.
I could go on, for a long time. The treatment of people who live here by federal agents is growing increasingly violent by the day. It is hard to know where this will end. Minneapolis, sadly and perhaps more than any American city, is recently trained in how to live through tragedy. The killings of Jamar Clark in 2015 and Philando Castile in 2016, and the terrible days after the killing of George Floyd in 2020 forced city leaders and residents to wrestle with some very hard truths. They have learned some things, and both city leaders and residents have faced what’s happening now with clear resistance and resolve not to respond with violence against our city or local police (who have done a remarkable job so far of not working with ICE or BP, protecting the city’s citizens, and giving protestors space to grieve and mourn and be angry about what’s happening to our city and us). I don’t know that another American city could be pushed as we’re being pushed and have held out for as long without the city imploding. I believe that may be the end goal of the administration here. I could talk more about that, too, but my main point in this post is to describe to you what it’s like here in Minneapolis right now.
For those worried about our family, we’re doing ok. We live in a suburb, and while ICE has been in all parts of the metro area using the tactics I describe, including ours, their most intense action has been in Minneapolis proper. Still, we’d take all your prayers. And a call to your representatives in DC, for any good that does any of us anymore. Things are not okay in Minneapolis right now. I’ll post some videos in the comments. Some of them are very graphic and there is strong language in them.
