Contact: Jana Kooren, jkooren@aclu-mn.org 651-485-5925 (cell), 651-529-1693 (office)
Mankato, Minn –The following statement can be attributed to Julio Zelaya, the Greater Minnesota Racial Justice Project Coordinator:
The Trump administration’s war on immigrants played out in Minnesota with the most recent raids at Christensen Farms in Minnesota and Nebraska. The ACLU opened an office in Greater Minnesota because our immigrant communities here are vulnerable and growing. Immigrant communities in Minnesota are being targeted in a campaign that seeks to separate families and, in its wake, rattle small rural communities to the ground. Congress needs to take action and pass immigration reform immediately because every day that goes by means more families are being torn apart.
Rural America is not ICE’s playground. Our Constitution endows rights to immigrants no matter their status. We will fight tirelessly to ensure that due process and equal protections under law are upheld by federal and local agents. If violations of people’s rights occurred during the raid, we will take action to ensure the Constitution is upheld and again prove that its decree reaches even the darkest corners of detention centers.
The ACLU-MN is a non-profit organization that works to defend the civil liberties of all Minnesotans. Learn more at www.aclu-mn.org.
