WOODBURY – For the last couple months, the public has been a flurry of mixed emotions when asked about ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement). Specifically, in the past month Minnesota has been covered in cases of ICE officers and civilians clashing. According to Reuters 58%, of Americans believe that ICE has gone too far. This number seems to grow with events ramping up and more and more incidence coming out of suspected misuse of power and authority.
Merije Iljazi, a NHS senior, is one of many current students with strong reactions to the news.
“Citizen or not they are detaining citizens based on their look or accent,” Iljazi said. “I don’t like ICE, they are not doing their job correctly and they are being unjust.”
While some think that ICE has gone too far, however, others support them as valid law enforcement as school resource officer Chris O’Toole does.
“I think they conduct themselves well with other problems they tackle and you don’t really hear anything from any other cities,” O’Toole says. “It’s more of Minnesota not cooperating and this is why ICE looks bad.”
While some students and campus members see unlimited jurisdiction for ICE, Principal Mykal Kuslis understands the polarizing reactions to the news. When asked about what his approach would be if ICE came to the campus, his response is dictated by R14 policy.
“There is a district policy on how to talk to ICE, so ,essentially, they would have to meet with us and would have to provide legal documents like a warrant, and if they don’t have a warrant we tell them we cannot allow them to enter.”
As many of the ICE raids either have taken a different form or have created more violence to come out of it. According to Tom Homman, Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations, the ICE raids in Minnesota will begin to come to an end and they will start leaving, as the amount of agents there diminishes.
With that news in mind, NHS students collectively can now take a breath of relief. Students and staff are hopeful that this news, the whole saga of fighting and disagreements, can stop at least in Minnesota, and people on both sides can now start to heal.
