I am here because my parents wanted a better life and a better future and thought that America

was the place to try to get that. My mom had a relative in Tacoma, so they went there first. Not the

first people to do so, to come to a new place for a better life. The Mayflower, people looking for

a better life. 1620, Same idea. Thousands of years before,

Paleo-Indians crossed the land bridge to Alaska. Same idea. People have been doing this since

there were people. Only in the latest sliver of history has there been the construct of documentation paperwork related to this idea.

I live in St. Paul, Minnesota. I've lived here for over 18 years. I've always loved it. I love it more

since January. When ICE agent troops stormed into Minnesota by the thousands, detaining and disappearing scores of people,

killing Renee Good and Alex Pretty. The strategy, I think, on the part of the administration,

was a bet that white people, like me, would turn on our immigrant neighbors,

Somali immigrants, Latin American immigrants, Asian neighbors. They lost that bad.

It's Depression Mode. I'm John Moe. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad a lot of people are here.

The surge has, I guess, ebbed a little since the winter, but please know that ice is still in Minnesota,

masked agents still grabbing non-white people, disappearing them without due process.

Minnesota is not alone.

ICE is active all over the country and has been for a while now.

And it's powered by an anti-immigration sentiment and rhetoric coming from those in power.

Immigrants are blamed for higher crime rates, despite overwhelming evidence that the crime rate has always been

much lower among immigrant populations than for the general population.

Again, I'm not present in strategy meetings for these people in power, but another consistent

presence throughout history is to try to make yourselves the good guy by making

someone else the bad guy. And it's easier when that's someone with a lot less power than you,

...