Minnesota is Indigenous land, home to the Dakota, Ojibwe, Ho-Chunk, Cheyenne, Oto, Iowa, and Sac & Fox peoples. Everyone else here is an immigrant, or the descendant of one. That history matters, because what we are seeing across the Twin Cities right now is not chaos. It is community. Neighbors know one another. People organize quickly. Mutual aid networks form because that is what Minnesotans do when something is wrong. Despite dismissive claims that people showing up for one another must be “paid agitators,” this is simply what shared values look like when they are put into practice.
At the same time, there is growing concern about how little attention is being paid to children’s safety during these enforcement actions.
We are hearing accounts of children being escorted to bathrooms by officers of the opposite sex, of children separated from caregivers during chaotic arrests, and of children being detained or transported without a clear plan for their emotional or physical protection. It does not take long to harm a child. In moments of fear, confusion, and disorientation, the risk increases yet there is little evidence of policy designed specifically to safeguard children when they come into state custody through immigration enforcement.
We are also thinking about the children who are not detained, but left behind. When parents are taken, families are forced to make impossible decisions in moments of crisis. Hastily completed Delegations of Parental Authority may not be possible. Extended family may also be at risk of detention. Parents are sometimes left choosing between leaving children with neighbors, teachers, social workers, or entering foster care. While we have witnessed extraordinary generosity across Minneapolis, we also know from decades of prevention work that instability, fear, and disrupted caregiving significantly increase children’s vulnerability to sexual harm. Child sexual abuse already occurs at alarming rates; layering this level of upheaval onto families only heightens that risk.
The good news is that protecting children from harm cannot rely on policy alone. It begins with people, and always has. One simple, meaningful action you can take is to commit to being a Safe(r) Adult in your community: someone who notices, checks in, understands boundaries, and knows the signs of distress. Children need protection most when systems are failing. A child's right to safety is not conditional on immigration status. It is a shared responsibility and one we all must participate in.