After speaking to a packed room at Belgrade Avenue United Methodist Church Tuesday, Edwin Torres described what’s been going through his mind amid Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ presence in Minnesota.
“I am scared,” said Torres, a network manager for the Immigrant Defense Network. “I am someone who, for 25 years, was undocumented. I am now a green card holder and I’m afraid. I’m afraid for what it means for myself and my family.”
Torres said when the Trump administration announced its metro surge operation, IDN quickly made a realization: With thousands of agents, they could go anywhere. As a result, IDN launched the Brave of US tour.
IDN’s North Mankato stop is among 30 constitutional observer trainings the organization plans to host throughout the state. In partnership with COPAL Minnesota, Tuesday’s event armed attendees with a variety of tools.
“What are their constitutional rights if they get detained, if they get stopped, if they get questioned by a federal officer. But also how to safely, legally be able to observe and document,” he said. “The same laws that press has to be able to show up to a crime scene, show up to an incident and be able to record what is happening, we’re following the same rules.
“Then what we do is we take that information and give it to our legal partners to document if there’s been any violations of civil rights or any violations of constitutional rights,” he said.
Torres said they are teaching observers how to spot warrantless entries and excessive force, and that agents have to identify themselves.
“What we’re [also] tracking is if they’re doing random stops, where the only basis that someone can conclude as to why I got stopped was the color of my skin or my accent,” he said.
COPAL and IDN’s Handbook for Constitutional Observers says when documenting, observers should practice S.A.L.U.T.E. That stands for size (how many people and/or vehicles there are), activity, location, uniform, time and equipment.
Protocols also call for observers to: wear a constitutional observer badge if they can; identify themselves verbally as a constitutional observer; stay at a safe distance and avoid physical contact; record events with photos and video; and ask questions to ICE and witnesses about what’s happening.
Attendee Brooklyn Wiltscheck of Mankato said she felt called to attend Tuesday’s event because she feels what she’s seeing is wrong.
“I figured I would do what I can to play my part,” she said. “Everyone has a role, whether you’re going to be here protesting, at home preparing meals, tracking license plates — everyone has a role.”
“I do hair, and I have clients who tell me everyday that either one of their children’s friends got taken, one of their sisters got taken, they got a deportation letter, lost her job, they took her visa, which was insane,” she said. “She’s fighting cancer right now and they gave her a letter to get out. I have other families who are too afraid to leave the house.”
Anna Wilhelm, also of Mankato, said she and her husband have been trying to stay as informed as they can.
“I’d already signed up, but on a more personal level, my husband’s a construction superintendent and one of his contractors was taken by ICE this week, so it just confirmed what we already knew, that we needed to do something,” she said.
“We want to be as prepared to help out as we can be. Make sure that the people who need it have the right information and that we can spread that.”
Torres said IDN has seen over 5,000 people sign up for their trained observers interest form.
“I am not shocked. This is Minnesota,” he said when asked what it means to have community support. “Minnesota has been at the forefront of a lot of issues, and in Minnesota, we protect each other.”
Torres said COPAL will continue to hold trainings and the Brave of US tour is headed to Rochester next.