"I'm Pissed Off That ICE Was There Again."

Hi,

I am writing from LA, where I've returned for some (very minor!) surgery tomorrow.

But Minneapolis sits very heavily on my mind, to the point where I feel incredibly guilty for leaving. Reporting needs to be done now more than ever. Greg Bovino may have been dumped, but that's all performative. The assault on Minneapolis is far from over. ICE continues to inflict their specific type of horror, as documented today by the types of observers I embedded with a few days ago.

Yes, the same monsters that unloaded 10 bullets into a restrained and unarmed Alex Pretti are still just that – monsters – going after kids eating their ice cream and telling the public, "You raise your voice, I erase your voice."

Yes – they want to kill some more.

With all that in mind, you can understand the anger in the words spoken in this footage I took at 9.52am on Saturday (47 minutes after Alex was executed):

"We're not going to fucking leave, this is our home motherfuckers. We're going to fucking hang you from the trees."

I'd also like to note that I've seen a lot of people online, and in the news, casually saying, "But Alex brought a gun to a protest". That paints a certain image of Alex, so it's important to remember there was no protest. Alex was just going about his day, when he was killed for:

a) Filming ICE
b) Protecting a woman from ICE

I think it's important we don't forget that in all the noise.

Today I wanted to share an email I received that made me tear up, significantly. It was from a reader – "F" – replying to my piece about going out on an ICE patrol, and being filmed for ICE's database.

That story focussed on a business that ICE goons had been harassing for the last week.

The email started nicely, but by the end my jaw was sort of on the floor. It reminded me how incredibly small the world is, and how we have to care for each other.

I've gotten the all clear to share it with you from "F", and it's also been cleared with the business. I've edited it down slightly for clarity, and removed information that is sensitive.

"I am a born and raised Minnesotan from St. Paul. My husband – also Minnesotan – and I have been temporarily living in Arizona, but will be headed back to Minneapolis in March.

All that to say, my family and friends are still in the Twin Cities – and these past few weeks have been really tough seeing my hometown hit with so many tragedies and not knowing what to do, or feeling like I wasn't doing enough to help. 

Which is why I was so grateful to see you arrive in Minneapolis. I knew that you had a large following, and not just from out of state, but from outside the country. I don't know that people outside of Minneapolis are truly understanding just how terrible it is there and knowing that a journalist with integrity was there to show people the truth, and to do it with kindness and compassion gave me a sense of hope that more people would begin to fully realize the scope of the situation. 

Last night before bed, I clicked on your most recent Webworm article and upon seeing the first photograph looked at my husband and said, "Oh my God, I think David was at [BUSINESS NAME]."

I grew up about six blocks away in the home that my parents still live in. I know that neighborhood by heart. I'm old enough to have grown up in a time where we were sent out to play until the street lights came on.

My parents are retired, but my mom works part time at [BUSINESS NAME].

As I scrolled the article and saw the pictures I just knew, but my husband convinced me that, "Lots of people live above their businesses" and, "He doesn't mention St. Paul, just Minneapolis". Which is a ridiculous reason from him, because he knows everyone from outside of Minneapolis calls every town in the Twin Cities "Minneapolis".

No judgment, just fact!

Honestly, I think he just couldn't believe it. We spent two weeks in New Zealand this past October, and our drive to Hobbiton took us right by Bethlehem. It was too much to think that not only were we just in David Farrier's childhood neighborhood, but now he was in ours?

No way, too weird. 

Even though my gut told me otherwise, I agreed he was probably right, and went to bed.

This morning, I called my dad to check in – and he told me ICE had been at my mom's work again yesterday. I immediately started telling him my suspicion about your article, and the second I told him there's this journalist from New Zealand, he cuts in and says, "Hmm, I wonder if that's the guy I spoke to yesterday?" 

That sealed it for me: I mean, what other Kiwi could my dad have stumbled upon yesterday? I sent him the article and he saw your picture and was like, "Yea! That's him. Nice guy."

I'm sorry to ramble, there's just so many emotions currently.

Above all I'm pissed off that ICE was there again. I knew about them being there last weekend, but I found out from your article that they've basically been stalking the shop. When I asked my mom why no one told me all week, she just explained that it wasn't on purpose. They all are just so exhausted.

And I get it. My mom goes to work, locks the door, and when a customer comes knocking she has to try and determine if they are actually a customer or undercover ICE. And if she makes the wrong call and lets the wrong person in, what will happen?

I know my dad and sister have been trying to help patrol and keep an eye on the outside of the building as you saw yesterday. At the end of the day they are all just so concerned for the owners of the business. 

You may have already been told this, but it's worth reiterating that the owners of the shop are good and kind people. They are legal refugees, here as asylum seekers from Myanmar. In fact, the husband was a photojournalist who they wanted to persecute for truth telling.

Every day I wonder if this is going to be the day that I get a call with bad news about these amazing people. They came here with their small child after surviving the horrors of their own government, were able to make a new life, and are participating in the "American Dream" by owning a small business.

And now they find themselves facing another government who wants them gone.

Something about knowing that you, as a truth-seeking journalist yourself, were there helping to protect them from the American government of all things, helped ease a little of the anxiety I've been carrying around. 

I am immensely grateful for all the people in Minneapolis who are doing whatever they can to help each other right now. I am especially grateful to the people who take big risks by patrolling. It is only because of them that I am able to find any sleep at night. 

Thank you for everything you did while in Minneapolis, and I'm sure will continue to do after you return home to speak up about the absolute insanity that is happening.

And way to survive one of the coldest spells in Minneapolis in years. I know first hand how bone chilling that cold is. There's a specific crunch the snow makes when the windchill is -20 or below. I hear that sound in all the videos I'm seeing and I am just in awe of everyone making it through those elements in order to stand up and do what's right." 

-F.

Just to reiterate, I went out with a random couple on ICE patrol. I wrote about it, and a Webworm reader happened to have parents that worked at the same business ICE was harassing in my piece. And they had no idea about any of this.

I came away from Minneapolis with a lot of feelings I still need to figure out how to process. I'm not sleeping great, and can't even imagine what it's like for people who don't have privilege and an exit route (New Zealand) like I do.

I have never encountered such a kind, caring, inclusive, passionate group of people who care deeply about one another, and practice the type of mutual aid Webworm fantasised about years ago. As we were getting teargassed by masked goons, I think about the cafe that let us inside to escape the smoke.

They gave us water and food, and let us wipe our snotty disgusting noses on their freshly laid out napkins. Those are the types of Americans – and there are a lot of them – that could topple fascism.

Witnessing that kind of behaviour also highlighted what utter scum ICE, and their ilk, are. Because there is another type of American who wants to maim and murder and kill on behalf of the government. I knew they existed, and I'd seen them before, but witnessing their smarminess up close – contrasted with the beauty of the people of the Twin Cities – really made it pop.

And that has left me feeling incredibly unsettled, angry and upset about what I witnessed. I feel that a lot of the US has no idea how bad this is, let alone the world.

When Greg Bovino got shunted, I saw a bunch of people rejoicing like the fight was over, or that it was at least some kind of giant leap. It feels a bit like when everyone in my bubble was convinced Kamala Harris was going to win the 2024 election, when Donald Trump so clearly had it sealed.

The United States is a place fueled by Christian Nationalism – and I feel unless you grew up adjacent to that world, you don't know what a powerful, messed up cult that is. And you don't understand what is going on now.

The one thing I can do with my anger is use it to fuel more of my reporting here. I'm not exactly proud to say it, but anger drove all my reporting in Arise church, and it drives a lot of the stuff I do – from Tickled to Mister Organ. It drove my reporting in Minneapolis. If I was to soften that, I'd say perhaps a sense of justice motivates my reporting. But let's be real – I'm angry.

David.