The ICE surge is fueling worry and nervousness amongst Twin Cities youngsters : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb8%2F3a%2Fea1d59ea48199b643121bc80049d%2F2026-01-14-frost-mplsice-11.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb8%2F3a%2Fea1d59ea48199b643121bc80049d%2F2026-01-14-frost-mplsice-11.jpg" class="img" alt="A Minneapolis woman who asked not to be identified sits for an interview with an NPR reporter inside her Minneapolis home on Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. Evan Frost for NPR" fetchpriority="high"/> A, a mom of two younger daughters who're U.S. residents, hasn't left her Minneapolis condominium in over a month, for worry she'll be detained by ICE officers. She says her 2-year-old is crying extra and having extra tantrums due to on a regular basis indoors. Evan Frost for NPR conceal caption

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Evan Frost for NPR On an icy block in south Minneapolis, the road is comparatively calm, apart from the sound of honking and whistles close by – protesters alerting this neighborhood to the presence of immigration officers.

In an condominium on this road, the blinds are drawn. Inside, a 2-year-old toddles towards her mom, crying to be picked up.

"We have not gone exterior for something in nearly a month," the mom, A, says in Spanish. NPR is simply utilizing her first preliminary as a result of she is an asylum seeker, and is afraid Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, will deport her.

A lives right here together with her spouse and two daughters, who're each U.S. residents. Her daughters are combating the confinement. The toddler cries extra, throws tantrums. Her 10-year-old cannot perceive why they can not go away the home.

"She retains asking, 'Why cannot we go exterior, why cannot we play within the snow?' And we inform her 'No, no, you possibly can't be on the market alone,'" A says.

She tells her daughter it isn't protected – and that is true. As the huge surge in federal immigration enforcement continues in Minnesota, youngsters have been bodily damage.

The identical day an ICE officer shot and killed Renee Macklin Good, immigration officers used chemical irritants on a crowd that included college students throughout dismissal time at a Minneapolis highschool. Final week, a household making an attempt to get round a unstable protest was tear gassed of their automobile. Their 6-month-old child was hospitalized. In earlier statements about each incidents, Division of Homeland Safety officers defended the actions of immigration officers.

And on Wednesday within the northern suburb of Columbia Heights, federal officers detained a 5-year-old boy, who legal professionals for the household say was used as "bait" to attract relations out of their dwelling. Officers with the Columbia Heights Public Faculty District say federal brokers have detained three different college students, all beneath 18, in latest weeks.

In response to MPR Information, the boy's whereabouts are nonetheless unknown. "Why detain a 5-year-old? You may't inform me that this youngster goes to be categorized as a violent prison," Zena Stenvik, the district's superintendent, informed reporters Wednesday.

Mother and father, academics, counselors and well being care employees throughout the Twin Cities say many Minnesota youngsters live in worry or seeing these fears realized. They fear family members might be taken away, that they're going to witness violence, or get damage themselves.

"Each single affected person I noticed yesterday, we had some dialogue over the elevated stress, trauma, fear, nervousness, despair that's stemming from the presence of ICE in our communities," says Dr. Razaan Byrne, a Minneapolis-based pediatrician at Youngsters's Minnesota, a pediatric well being system.

Byrne says worry is manifesting within the methods youngsters are behaving. Some are having emotional outbursts. Others are regressing in milestones: Youngsters who had been potty skilled, for example, are wetting the mattress once more. And plenty of are asking troubling questions.

"I've had sufferers who've particularly requested, 'If my pal does not come to highschool, is it as a result of they're sick or is it as a result of they don't seem to be protected?'" Byrne says. "'What occurs if I am not with my household anymore?' Saying it flat out."

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F4e%2Fd1%2Fd1a879074f3491d6bd2e08655df5%2Ffrost-cedarriversideobservers-4.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F4e%2Fd1%2Fd1a879074f3491d6bd2e08655df5%2Ffrost-cedarriversideobservers-4.jpg" class="img" alt="" loading="lazy"/> A faculty bus pulls away from a bus cease in Minneapolis as Brooke Magid Hart and James Umbanhowar maintain look ahead to ICE officers. Mother and father and neighborhood members have been patrolling close to faculties all around the Twin Cities area. "It looks as if there aren't any stops on what ICE goes to do, they maintain pushing us and pushing us," Umbanhowar stated. Evan Frost for NPR conceal caption

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Evan Frost for NPR Different adults NPR spoke with stated they fear concerning the long-term results that stress might need on youngsters and households. And the surge in immigration officers can be affecting youngsters whose households should not at direct danger of deportation.

"We reside in an immigrant a part of the town. That is who's at our bus cease. These are our mates," says Jennifer Arnold, the dad or mum of a 7-year-old in South Minneapolis. "He instantly was actually upset about it, crying in my lap, nervous about what occurs if one among his classmates' mother and father is picked up when they're in school."

She says her son feels indignant, and has grown quiet.

Kelly Fulton, a mother in south Minneapolis, says her 9-year-old daughter was at a playdate final week on the opposite facet of the block when the opposite mother texted her a video of immigration officers surrounding a automobile whereas protesters whistled and honked.

"She stated that is taking place in entrance of our home proper now," Fulton says.

Within the video, she says, ICE brokers smashed the automobile home windows, opened the doorways, and forcibly pulled out one of many passengers. Fulton rushed over. Her daughter had seen not less than a number of the incident, and saved speaking about it that night time.

"She saved saying issues like, 'I feel I hear whistles. I feel I hear honking,'" Fulton says. "She needed to remain downstairs within the basement, and she or he informed me she felt safer within the basement, away from the home windows. And what she stated was, 'I simply do not need to see ICE.'"

Many neighborhood members are taking motion to attempt to make youngsters really feel safer.

On a latest afternoon, mother and father stood guard as youngsters left the constructing at a Minneapolis elementary college only a few blocks from the place Good was killed. However not each youngster who would usually be there was. In a close-by condominium constructing, one more dwelling had its blinds drawn.

"That is like nothing I've skilled, being trapped in my own residence," V says in Spanish. NPR is simply utilizing her first preliminary, as a result of she is afraid ICE will deport her. V has a piece allow and an ongoing immigration case looking for longer-term authorized standing.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F24%2F23%2F1f3735ea40f2aabe6054df4b670c%2F2026-01-14-frost-mplsice-7.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4500x3000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F24%2F23%2F1f3735ea40f2aabe6054df4b670c%2F2026-01-14-frost-mplsice-7.jpg" class="img" alt="A Minneapolis resident who asked not to be identified sits with her daughter during an interview with an NPR reporter on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. The ICE presenct in Minneapolis has significantly altered her life including her work, her daughter's school, and her community. Evan Frost for NPR (NOTE: source will likely be identified by acronym "V" in story)" loading="lazy"/> V and her 8-year-old daughter haven't left their dwelling in Minneapolis in additional than a month as a result of they do not really feel protected going exterior amid the heavy ICE surge within the metropolis. V says she feels trapped in her own residence. Evan Frost for NPR conceal caption

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Evan Frost for NPR V lives together with her 8-year-old daughter, a U.S. citizen and a third-grader on the college. Inside their condominium, a pastel Christmas tree nonetheless stands within the nook, subsequent to a pile of well-cared-for stuffed animals.

"My daughter has no manner of going out, and I really feel horrible," V says.

The 2 of them have been inside for greater than a month. The daughter is profiting from her college's distant studying choice in the course of the immigration enforcement surge, and neighbors have been bringing them meals.

Her daughter says that within the condominium, she feels protected as a result of ICE cannot are available in. However one thing her mother does not inform her: With a warrant, they may.

The 2 of them sit curled in opposition to one another in an arm chair. Hanging on the wall above them, there is a wooden carving within the form of Minnesota, etched within the center: the phrase dwelling.