“S” texted: “Are you available to come to the jail today? I have a woman wanting to sign a DOPA paper. I want to make sure she understands it.”

That day, I learned that DOPA stands for “Declaration of Parental Authority” which gives guardianship rights to another in the absence of the parent – a document the detained mother needed notarized to allow a neighbor legal rights to make medical, school, travel and general care for her three children.

We entered the booking room. I translated. The Sergeant notarized the document. It will be valid for one year or until she returns, which is dubious. ICE advised her sign a self-deportation paper. Her lip trembled as she spelled out her children’s names and birthdates. Tears trickled down her cheek when she signed her name. The Sergeant handed her a Kleenex.  I looked deeply into her eyes and whispered our support. Hugs are prohibited.
         “¿Acaso no estoy yo aquí, que soy tu Madre?”, 

Outside, I slid across the sidewalk back to my car, scraped a thin glaze of frost off my windows and pumped up the heater. Time to call my husband before heading back.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

“It’s terrible!” I told him. “There is ice out here everywhere!”

He gasped, “What? Ice everywhere? Where are you?”

Then, it hit me.  “Not ICE! Frozen water type of ice!” I explained and heard a sigh of relief.

In Minnesota, Ice Out used to be a warning for ice fishermen to remove their fish houses from the thawing lakes. It meant that spring was coming and people would be fined if their houses and debris wasn’t cleaned up before the lake melts.  Leave only footprints.

“ICE Out” is now a fervent chant throughout the state of Minnesota.  What is I.C.E.? Their mission? Are they making the streets safer or making daily quotas of arrests, putting folks on planes to Texas and beyond? No due process. No constitutional nor human rights? Why the masks? The guns? On a hunt. Disregard for the naturalized, asylum-seekers, previously protected status groups and American citizens… who happen to be brown?

On January 23^rd, 50,000 people showed up in sub-zero Minneapolis chanting:  ICE OUT. One thousand pastors from all religions heeded the call. Next day, Alex Pretti was gunned down. An American citizen… wrestled to the frozen ground of Minnesota’s winter. 
          La Virgen whispers: “Estoy aquí”             

A barrage of messages fly into my inboxes.

 “N” texts me: “What about my son? Would you let me know if ICE is in town?” Her adult adopted son is Guatemalan. He has all the features of an indigenous Mayan.

I’ll keep you posted,” I type back. A week later it happened.

“A Target employee was picked up Saturday on his way home from work.” 
        “¿Acaso no estoy yo aquí, que soy tu Madre?” 

Another friend, mother of two adopted, now adult children from India reported that she is driving her daughter to work in St. Paul. She doesn’t want her son in the area.

Another friend wants me to call her Korean sister. Despite a life of working with NGOs around the world, her sister is concerned about leaving her home here in this rural town. I forwarded lawyer contacts to them from the list we are collecting.
         La Virgen whispers: “Estoy aquí” 

The clatter of chatter, zips back and forth through cyber-space.

Yes, ICE is in Little Falls. Picked up a few workers from the dog food plant. When other workers saw that, they stayed in the plant all night.

Yes, some Franciscan Sisters are visiting nearby farms with DOPA forms, just in case.

Yes, ICE showed up at a friend’s office asking questions. She is a naturalized citizen.
        “Estoy aquí”   

As I bundled up for a walk around the woods tonight, an unknown number showed up in my text feed.

“Hello, usted nos dio su número. . . you gave us your number in case there was a problem. Es que agarraron a un señor que trabajaba en Target. They took the husband of a friend.”
      “Estoy aquí”

Minnesota is under siege. Yes, I use the word, siege. This is government sponsored terrorism. We have to define words, but not sugar-coat them. The concept of alternative truths needs to be called out. They are lies.  Ironically, one word, from one man could stop all of this.

Wherever you are, hold a space and say: “Estoy aquí… I am here.”