Masked anti-ICE agitators have escalated tensions again. Terrorizing Minneapolis drivers with Hamas-like checkpoints on public roads, agitators are now stopping vehicles and demanding identification in an effort to enforce the borders of Anti-ICE zones.
Videos circulating online show masked individuals approaching cars, particularly those with out-of-state license plates, questioning drivers about affiliations with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Border Patrol, and running license plates through what they claim is a database to check for links to federal vehicles. Organizers have positioned traffic cones, barrels, wooden pallets, old furniture and barricades in intersections, transforming them into roundabout-like structures that slow or halt traffic.
Activists decry federal border enforcement, checkpoints and identity checks as fascist authoritarian tools that infringe on rights and freedom of movement. Yet they are now establishing their own informal borders on public roadways, scrutinizing identities, conducting surveillance, unlawfully detaining drivers and depriving citizens of their rights.
In one instance captured on video, an activist told a driver, “It looks like in our system that your plates come up as an ICE plate,” before allowing the vehicle to proceed.
The actions occur against the drawdown of immigration agents, and “unprecedented” local and federal cooperation, led by White House Border Czar Tom Homan.
Homan, who held a press conference on Tuesday Feb 3, called the illegal checkpoints a joke.
“This is illegal. You can’t do that,” he continued. “My message to those folks is, what are you doing? You really think you’re stopping ICE and CBP from doing their job? It’s a joke. The only people you’re hurting is your own community who wants to go and get groceries and pick up their dry cleaning or go to work, whatever. You’re just hindering them. Stop. Stop.”
Homan also emphasized the unprecedented cooperation while telling reporters that police were responsive to his call.
“When I was made aware that the roadblocks exist, I called the chief of police, and he went and disbanded them after I got off the phone with him. He has promised to take enforcement action,” Homan said.
Minneapolis police and Public Works crews reportedly worked to remove several blockades, citing public safety hazards and traffic disruptions. Yet, some reports indicate protesters plan to expand such efforts citywide, potentially aiming for hundreds of similar setups.
