“Operation Metro Surge was supposed to create disunity among our people…instead…people in central Minnesota united across our differences in every possible way”
For the last few months, there has been confusion and mayhem here. Operation Metro Surge expanded to the rural part of the state, including Saint Cloud. We had a heavy presence of federal law enforcement here, and the impact was huge.
The short-term impact, which we are seeing right now, is that the lives of immigrants and refugees have been completely disrupted. Because of fear, they have been unable to go to work or even just run errands. Businesses have been affected; just last week, a business owner told me that his revenue has gone down more than 50 percent. Many businesses may not survive in the long term.
The long-term impact of Operation Metro Surge will be even greater. I can’t overstate the amount of trauma that this operation has caused. Many of the people who federal agents targeted have arrived in our communities fleeing from refugee camps and war zones where they were traumatized by men with guns. Now that trauma has been reinforced, right here in Minnesota. The consequences for our community’s mental health will be with us for decades to come.
But there is another long-term impact, one the federal government did not expect.
Since the operation began, we’ve seen community organizations and individuals flexing their muscles all over Minnesota, working fast to help their neighbors in new ways. We’ve seen constitutional observers coming out to document the actions of federal agents. We’ve seen rapid responders putting their lives on the line to protect their neighbors. In the entire 10+ years I’ve lived in Minnesota, I have never seen this kind of heart and kindness.
Operation Metro Surge was supposed to create disunity among our people. Immigrants and refugees from different cultures were supposed to turn on each other to save themselves. Immigrants with U.S. citizenship were supposed to give up their undocumented relatives. And white people were supposed to thank the federal government for taking Black and brown people away.
Instead, the operation has united us more strongly than ever before. To protect each other and our families, people in central Minnesota united across our differences in every possible way. We built new networks of solidarity and support built on well earned trust.
Today, the work before us is clear. In central Minnesota and across the state, we need to keep united, to keep protecting each other, and to organize to build more power through solidarity. We are stronger and more mobilized than ever before, and our work has just begun.
In solidarity,
Ali
