Added To ICE's Database

Hi,

I've been overwhelmed with your thoughtful commentary underneath 'The Quiet Courage of Minneapolis', 'It Was a Point Blank Execution' and 'He Was Murdered By ICE, Our Government'.

Due to the nature of the last few days I haven't had a chance to get into the comments myself to reply – but please know I've read them all. They're hugely appreciated and meaningful.

A few days ago I mentioned I was in a number of private Signal group chats, with locals out tracking ICE. Today, two of them let me join them as they went out on patrol. We agreed that I'd keep the specifics of how they operate out of the story, for their own safety, and for the safety of other "observers."

So just after 11am, I met Glen and Becky (not their real names) in a Target parking lot. To be specific, the Target that ICE commander Greg Bovino likes to shit in.

After some discussion around what I can and cannot record (I can't record audio from the live Signal group call that will be running the whole time), they tell me they've been doing this for about a month.

"The main purpose for me is protecting our neighbors," Becky says. "It's going to be all of us unless we do something about it collectively – or everybody's gonna deal with us at some point," Glen adds.

The network of people doing these ICE patrols is fully decentralised. There's no leader instructing them – just a bunch of people who love Minneapolis logging in, and taking on various roles in organic shifts throughout the day. Some are out driving, some are firmly placed in front of screens doing admin.

The result of this action is summarised well by Erik Hane in Welcome To Hellworld:

"There is nowhere ICE can go in this city where they won’t soon be met by a dozen locals ready to record and impede their actions, and the whistles we’re all wearing mean that many other people will soon be at that location too. 

They made a mistake in picking Minneapolis.

They came here believing that the same old lines of division that animate their entire political project—race, culture, class—would be reason enough to keep people in their homes while they went about their violent work. Instead we are out there in every place they are, showing them that every person in this city is one of our own."

Over time this group of locals – known to each other via only their screen-names voices – has grown.

And today, as always, a bunch of them are out on patrol.

Most of the day is spent driving around street, parks and parking lots looking for vehicles that could be ICE. There are tells: certain models (big, with tinted windows and no plates) are red flags, but over time ICE has become more slippery. They're adding whacky bumper stickers to their vehicles, and riding with only one agent up front to appear more "normal".

Anytime we – or someone else in the encrypted call – sees a suspected ICE car, the number plate is fed into the group and admins do a plate check against their own database of verified ICE vehicles.

If confirmed, the cars are followed.

If ICE stops outside a house or business, people like Glen and Becky wait with them. Sometimes they'll approach, making sure the agents know they're being filmed.

If ICE gets out and approaches a house or business, whistles are blown and more and more observers converge to film the kidnapping, and any violence, on as many cameras as possible.

Patrolling the day after Alex Pretti's murder comes with a certain weight. Afterall, Alex was filming ICE agents shortly before he was executed.

"There's like two switches," Glen tells me. "Either they're gonna fuck with you and like be an asshole [verbally] – or they're gonna come in really hot with a gun in your face. Like, those are kind of the two versions of that interaction."

There's also the fact that The Department of Homeland Security is filming back. As reported by Ken Klippenstein a few days ago, "The ultimate goal is to create a list of anti-ICE protestors, which the Trump administration believes are part of an organized network of domestic terrorists."

One day you're out minding your own business – the next you're a domestic terrorist.

Klippenstein's reporting echoes what a snarky ICE agent in Maine had already told an observer who'd asked why ICE was filming her: "Cause we have a nice little database and now you’re considered a domestic terrorist. So have fun with that," the agent replied.

Glen and Becky say all of this is running through their heads – but that they're not stopping anytime soon.

"Like if you or I go to Whipple [the local ICE detention centre Webworm visited], we're probably going to be out in a day," says Glen. "They're not going to keep us forever – at least at this point. But we have neighbors that if they go to Whipple, we may never see them again. That's the thing that is happening on a daily basis here."

Today, our efforts end up being concentrated on one particular business with immigrant roots that ICE has been harassing for the last week or so. Becky tells me ICE vehicles have been doing semi-regular drivebys, and have been parking outside. It's foreboding, creepy and stressful for anyone in the area.

"They're just here a lot. And so I think they want to do a raid."

Every time ICE shows up, an observer is present – and so far, Glen and Becky believe that fact is fucking ICE off.

Today is no different. After about 45 minutes at this particular location, a known ICE vehicle shows up. It pulls in a few cars behind us. I can see one agent in the front, and a number of shadowy heads in the back.

After some waiting, the ICE vehicle slowly pulls out and idles down the road at an intersection. Glen gets out and approaches. Becky stays in the car. She doesn't say, but I get the feeling she's more nervous today than usual. I can understand why.

I join Glen, who approaches the car and asks how they're going. The ICE agent offers some sarcastic rebuttal, before both men tell each other to mutually "get fucked".

At one point during the short exchange the back window rolls down, and ICE starts filming what I can only assume is Glen and I. Department of Homeland Security database, here we come.

The window rolls back up, and ICE ambles off. Glen and I join Becky back in the car. She's been in touch with people in the building, who've asked if we – or some other observers – can be here in a few hours to make sure they're safe as they move in and out.

"I think people see the worst of it – the things that are filmed," says Glen. "And there's a lot that's going on here on a daily basis that is more banal, but it's still just as horrifying and dystopian. And there's a lot not getting filmed."

They tell me about a tow truck taking away a perfectly good looking car – apart from its blown out windows. And another car sitting up the curb of an intersection, abandoned. Each of those is a potential horror story; a family broken apart.

"There is an omnipresent violence and oppression that is impossible to escape," Glen says. "It's everywhere."

We don't see RAX050 for the rest of the day. Neighbors stop by, aware of what we're going – and they're all grateful. "Fuckers," one woman says to us out her car window, gesturing to where ICE had parked.

Today's story is a good one: Nothing terrible happened in front of us. We didn't see any kidnappings, and we didn't witness any any violence. To Glen and Becky, that's a successful day.

They say that any second, minute or hour ICE spends engaging with them – instead of potentially harassing and kidnapping their neighbours – is a win.

Just after dinner, Becky sends me a text she'd received that demonstrates why they do what they do.

At this stage, I'm leaving Minneapolis tomorrow. I imagine I'll be back – hopefully for better reasons. Or maybe to keep documenting the US's fall into fascism.

After Glen and Becky drop me back off at Target, I get in my car and head back to Alex' memorial. Locals are out offering free coffee and hot soup. I'm so used to this now, it no longer seems unusual.

Just down the street, the memorial to Alex Pretti is packed with people. It's busy but quiet. The ground is now covered in flowers and messages – echoing various truths we know about Alex. He was an ICU nurse. He had so many friends. He was loved. And he was executed right here – his crime apparently recording some ICE agents on his phone, and attempting to help a woman.

As with the murder of Renee Good – the people here aren't forgetting.

David.