Minnesota Now

This month, Children’s Minnesota will pause some gender-affirming care. The health system announced Tuesday that starting Feb. 27, it will stop prescribing puberty blockers and hormones to patients under 18. Hospitals and clinics around the country are under pressure from the Trump Administration. It’s proposed ending Medicaid and Medicare funding for providers that continue these treatments to minors.

One of the providers that will likely take on patients who had gone to Children’s Minnesota is Family Tree Clinic. MPR News host Kelly Gordon spoke with Family Tree’s Executive Director Annie Van Avery to explain the significance of the decision.

Two Minnesota school districts and Education Minnesota, which represents the state’s teachers' unions, filed a lawsuit Wednesday to block DHS from conducting immigration enforcement activity in or near public schools.

This follows DHS’s decision to remove limitations of immigration enforcement at sensitive locations like schools and churches. Duluth's public school district has signed onto the lawsuit. The district sent an email to its families this morning that said it is quote "fighting for the safety and stability of our learning environments."

MPR News host Kelly Gordon spoke with Duluth Public School District Superintendent John Magas to explain further.

Tom Homan, the White House official leading the federal immigration operation in the state, announced that 700 federal agents will leave the state today.

MPR News host Kelly Gordon spoke with MPR's Estelle Timar-Wilcox, who was at the press conference at the Whipple federal building, to hear the latest.

A coalition of 12 mayors in Twin Cities suburbs are banding together to support their communities amid the ICE operation. It’s called the “Cities for Safe and Stable Communities.” One of the suburbs involved is St. Louis Park. Mayor Nadia Mohamed joined Minnesota Now to talk about this new coalition.

When two Brooklyn Park women were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, they would up helping an agent through a medical emergency. Their arrest, captured on Brooklyn Park police dash cam, also gives an inside look at how local police interact with ICE.

Tippy Amundson and Heather Zemian shared their experience with MPR News.

All immigration officers in Minneapolis will receive a body camera. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the change on social media yesterday. We talked to an expert about what it means.

Two women said they provided emergency aid to a seizing ICE officer who detained them in Brooklyn Park. We hear their story.

Plus, Border Czar Tom Homan has said he'll consider taking immigration officers out of Minnesota if local governments cooperate with ICE. He wants help from county jails, specifically. We learn how that works.

And many events have been taken off the calendar this year due to the situation in Minneapolis. We talked with the city's tourism agency about the economic impact.

Plus, hear special coverage of a press conference by state and school leaders about the impact of the ICE detention of children.

The surge of ICE activity in Minneapolis has led tens of thousands of people to flood downtown for a variety of protests against ICE. But it's kept many others— like those afraid of violence, harassment or arrest by ICE agents— far away from downtown. Events from graduations to conferences to concerts have been canceled or moved outside of the city. The tourism organization Meet Minneapolis conducted a survey about the impact of ICE on tourism in the city.

Of the 101 restaurants, event businesses, hotels, arts organizations, attractions and service providers that responded to the survey, 80 percent said they have had canceled, postponed or reduced bookings and sales as a result of ICE activity. 90 percent of those businesses said that fear and stress is affecting the operations of their business.

A senior vice president at Meet Minneapolis, Courtney Ries, told MPR News that the 13 Minneapolis hotels that responded to the survey said they lost around $3 million in revenue from the ICE surge this year. That’s after more than 40 groups and events connected to the hotels canceled, including two large events at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

“When travelers are looking at Minneapolis, there is a lot of uncertainty,” Ries said. “Our job is to advocate for our community and businesses. Who have obviously experienced a lot of heartbreaking emotions over the killings as well as the struggle for businesses to survive.“

According to Meet Minneapolis, of 2,030 American travelers surveyed, nearly half said they would avoid travelling to an area with visible ICE activity.

“This is a very acute situation for many of these businesses. We’re seeing a lot of questions about how event attendees are going to feel when they come into the city,” Ries said. “We’ll continue to host things like the auto show, the boat show, the totally rad vintage fest, the Minnesota school board association meetings, but with more information because attendees have more questions.”

Border Czar Tom Homan has said he’d take federal immigration agents out of Minnesota if local leaders cooperate. And one form of cooperation that he’s said the federal government wants is more access to people in county jails.

Some counties notify ICE when people who could be deported are about to be released from jail. Sometimes, the jails hold these individuals for ICE for up to two days. And some counties don’t do any of these things.

MPR News host Kelly Gordon spoke with Linus Chan, an immigration lawyer and law professor at the University of Minnesota, to explain why there's variation in how sheriffs handle immigration detainers in county jails.

Every Homeland Security officer in Minneapolis is now being issued a body camera. That’s according to Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem who said the move is effective immediately.

MPR News host Kelly Gordon spoke with Lauren Bonds, the executive director of the National Police Accountability Project, to get a better understanding of what this means for accountability efforts.

DHS was asked whether cameras are for only ICE agents in the city of Minneapolis or statewide. They were also asked how long it would take for cameras to be up and running. They did not answer those questions.

For some immigrant families and people of color in Minnesota, two months of the immigration operation means it’s been at least two months of feeling like they have to hide in their homes out of fear. For others, it’s been two months of watching violent confrontations while scrolling on your phone or in-person as an observer.

MPR News host Kelly Gordon spoke with Ana Marielle Rivera, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist in St. Paul, about what this means for mental health.