Hundreds protest deportations in Richfield march
Hundreds of demonstrators momentarily blocked traffic in the heart of Richfield, Minnesota on Saturday, as protest against the Trump administration's immigration policy continued across the Twin Cities.
A march to Richfield City Hall, led in part by Minnesota's Immigrant Right's Action Committee, comes days after two workplace raids across the state.
On Wednesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained seven at a St. Louis Park manufacturing company. The next day, more were detained at a Duluth roofing job.
Details about both incidents remain scarce.
"I.C.E is not very transparent about their operations, it's very difficult to know exactly what they're doing — but what we're seeing here now is their expansion on attempts to remove folks," said Kellie Rock, a community organizer for MIRAC. "This is a tactic to strike fear into communities to try and scare immigrants away. To try and keep people from their jobs and coming out. Unfortunately, it's working."
Rock says many mixed-status families are staying home from work, school and other community events.
"Those fears and those anxieties have already been really high, but with those two workplace raids we've seen, it feels really real," she said.
