Minnesota Olympians, different athletes communicate out on federal immigration brokers in Minneapolis : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5817x3878+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F92%2Fa1%2F2839352749bc8c4a4129eca37a44%2Fgettyimages-1369323997.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5817x3878+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F92%2Fa1%2F2839352749bc8c4a4129eca37a44%2Fgettyimages-1369323997.jpg" class="img" alt="ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA - FEBRUARY 08: Bronze medallist, Jessie Diggins of Team United States celebrates with a flag during the Women's Cross-Country Sprint Free Final flower ceremony on Day 4 of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at The National Cross-Country Skiing Centre on February 08, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, China. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)" fetchpriority="high"/> Cross-Nation skier Jessie Diggins of Afton, Minnesota celebrates with a flag in the course of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Video games. Matthias Hangst/Getty Photos AsiaPac disguise caption

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Matthias Hangst/Getty Photos AsiaPac MILAN — The Winter Olympics are set to open this Friday in Italy, some 4,600 miles away from Minneapolis, the epicenter of the uproar over the Trump administration's hardline immigration enforcement ways.

As American athletes flip their consideration to the Video games right here, some — together with a number of from Minnesota, which is residence to a few of Workforce USA's greatest stars — have spoken out within the wake of the taking pictures deaths of two U.S. residents by federal brokers in January.

"I need to ensure you know who I am racing for after I get to the beginning line on the Olympics," wrote Jessie Diggins, the cross-country snowboarding star and three-time Olympic medalist, in an announcement she posted to her Instagram on Saturday alongside a photograph of herself celebrating with an American flag on the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.

"I am racing for an American individuals who stand for love, for acceptance, for compassion, honesty and respect for others. I don't stand for hate or violence or discrimination," the submit continued. Diggins, 34, grew up in Afton, Minn., lower than an hour's drive from downtown Minneapolis. She is predicted to compete in six cross-country occasions on the Olympics this month and will contend for a medal in all of them.

The day after 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot to dying by Customs and Border Safety brokers on a Minneapolis road, Workforce USA hockey participant Kelly Pannek paused a post-game press convention for her skilled group, the Minnesota Frost, to name the aggressive immigration enforcement "pointless and simply horrifying."

"It is clearly actually heavy," stated Pannek, who's from the Minneapolis suburb of Plymouth, as her Frost teammate and fellow Workforce USA member Taylor Heise — one other Minnesota native — nodded. "What I am most proud to symbolize is the tens of hundreds of those who present up on among the coldest days of the 12 months to face and combat for what they imagine in."

Different Olympians who will not be from Minnesota, together with snowboarders Stacy Gaskill of Denver and Bea Kim of Palos Verdes, Calif., have spoken out prematurely of the Video games. "The Olympics are extra than simply sport. They symbolize international unity and peace," wrote the 19-year-old Kim in a submit on Sunday. "Range is what makes the US so particular. It's woven into the very cloth of our nation."

The Winter Olympians be a part of a vocal refrain of distinguished athletes who've spoken up concerning the Trump administration's ways in Minneapolis.

Indiana Pacers level guard Tyrese Haliburton, who was a part of Workforce USA's gold medal run on the 2024 Summer time Olympics in Paris, wrote that Pretti "was murdered," and the three-time Olympic gold medalist Breanna Stewart held an indication that learn "Abolish ICE" at a sport for the 3-on-3 league Unequalled final week. "I believe that when human lives are at stake, it is larger than the rest," she stated in a press convention afterward.

In Milan, a hospitality area for family and friends of Workforce USA athletes was renamed over the weekend to drop the phrase "ice" from the identify.

In an announcement, the three governing our bodies who function the newly-named "Winter Home" stated that the brand new identify would higher swimsuit the intent of the area, which was initially referred to as the "Ice Home."

"Our hospitality idea was designed to be a non-public area freed from distractions the place athletes, their households, and buddies can come collectively to rejoice the distinctive expertise of the Winter Video games," reads an announcement launched by U.S. Determine Skating, USA Hockey and US Pace Skating of the identify change, which was first reported by USA Right this moment. "This identify captures that imaginative and prescient and connects to the season and the occasion."