‘I can’t risk going to work’: As ICE arrests escalated, mom, son huddled at home, afraid to leave for groceries or school

After an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent killed Renee Good in early January, any interaction with the outside world, even taking out the dog, feels like a risk for Nuvia, who asked we use her first name for fear of ICE retaliation. 

“I didn’t have an appetite, because, looking at the videos and seeing how they were treating people was just crazy,” she said. 

Like many Minnesotans, Nuvia is receiving crucial help from her neighbors and community. As lawmakers vote down proposals for emergency rental assistance, schools, food banks and small aid operations run out of homes are filling the gap for families affected by federal immigration enforcement. 

Even as those donations slow, requests for assistance are rising, volunteers say. 

While watch groups have reported fewer ICE detainees being flown out of Minnesota since the Feb. 12 Metro Surge announcement, federal agents continue to operate in Minnesota, especially in Twin Cities suburbs.

‘Any regular day’

Nuvia starts her day by making breakfast for her 11-year-old son, who has been attending school virtually for the past month. 

“[I’m] making it seem like any regular day, getting breakfast ready, cleaning the house, and just getting lunch ready for him,” she said. “I was just following the school schedule, thinking I’ve got to make it kind of familiar where he feels that he’s still in school.” 

But it’s not an easy task. They largely haven’t been able to leave the home, save for church and doctor’s appointments, since January. 

“We couldn’t go and buy our own groceries. We can’t go out and do laundry, so trying to explain to my son the reasoning behind why we can’t come out was difficult,” she said. “Mentally, it was really draining to just be home every day.”

Nuvia, who usually works at a retail store, had just taken a second job cleaning offices before the operation escalated. She was supporting family members, who haven’t left their homes since December. 

“It started to get really difficult, where [I was] like oh my god, I can’t afford this, I can’t pay this, so I ended up getting a second job to help out with the bills,” she said. 

But after Renee Good’s death, numerous racial profiling incidents and workplace raids, Nuvia no longer felt safe at work, though she and her son are U.S. citizens.

“I can’t risk going to work and then something happens to me, and my son never sees me again,” she said. “It was really hard to sleep,” she added.

Crucial aid, difficult decisions

Every Monday or Tuesday, volunteers from her son’s school drop off essential groceries like eggs, milk and canned soup, Nuvia said. 

Laura Mitchell, a member of the parent-teacher association at the school, said the initiative started in December as a small group of parents patrolling school grounds during arrival and dismissal. 

“The core of our work, especially at an elementary school, is de-escalation and the safety of our kids,” she said. 

But it quickly mushroomed into a coordinated effort, with volunteers helping children get to and from school, fulfilling grocery needs and raising money for rent and bills. Now, neighbors and other community members are supporting 155 families every week. 

“It’s taken a lot of different forms. Sometimes we have partnered with food shelves that already have the food packaged, and then our role is just to get our vetted drivers to be able to deliver that food,” Mitchell said. “Other times, we put together a grocery list, both a traditional grocery list and then a halal list, because a lot of our families are Somali as well.”

In the past week, food and financial needs have continued, while transport needs have ballooned as children start going back to school. However, donations have slowed and the organization is behind on fundraising, Mitchell said. 

“We might have to make some really challenging decisions about how we support families when we don’t have enough funds to pay everyone’s rent,” she said. 

“I feel like the media attention nationally has moved on, and I think a lot of folks, my family included, spent a lot of money that we did not have to try to support our neighbors, and we don’t have much left.”

Requests haven’t slowed down

Smaller operations, like the one baker Angelica C. runs out of her home, are seeing fewer donations too. 

Angelica and her mother, Marcia, have been collecting donations in their living room and distributing them to families after seeing their own family members struggle to leave their homes out of fear.

One afternoon in mid-January, they each put in $100 and bought 10 boxes of groceries from Walmart and Sam’s Club. That night, Angelica posted on Facebook, hoping to reach families who needed help.

“Nobody was texting me that night, so I was like, I don’t know what we’re going to do with this food,” she said. “But then the next day I woke up and there were 300 messages.”

Soon, Angelica started receiving grocery donations from her workplace, people on social media and neighbors on NextDoor. At one point, every entrance in their home was blocked by piles of cereal boxes, fresh vegetables and diapers. 

“I saw one of my managers was going to throw away about 100 bags of popcorn. They were still good. They were brand new, sealed,” Angelica said. 

“I asked him, can I take those two boxes? And they were like, ‘Oh, yeah, here, take them.’”

Angelica thought the requests would slow down after the Operation Metro Surge announcement, but she, her boyfriend and her mother are still putting together boxes for new families. At the same time, the donations have tapered and her once overflowing living room is beginning to look sparse.

“I’m helping as much as I can with what I have,” Angelica said. 

Better days ahead

Last Friday, Nuvia took her son out to the store for the first time in over a month. They picked up ingredients to bake a cake, and some Legos to build later that weekend. 

“It was really scary, because it’s like, ‘Oh my god, I need to carry my passport, I need to carry my paperwork, I need to carry my son’s paperwork to prove that we are U.S. citizens,’” she said. 

She wishes she could bring him to a movie or eat dinner together at a restaurant like they used to, but as March approaches, she has to start thinking about rent again. 

“Sometimes he’ll be like, ‘Mom, I have my piggy bank’ … so he can help me with the bills.”

Despite the continuing financial and emotional stress, Nuvia is hopeful that better days are ahead. She plans to go back to work next month, and her son is joining his classmates in person again. 

“I went to church I believe two weeks ago, but it was a little scary, because the church was empty. There were a few people there,” Nuvia said. “But yesterday, it felt different. You could see the community starting to come out, families starting to come out of their houses.”

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