Federal agents chased off from Minneapolis restaurant helping people impacted by increased ICE presence
Surveillance video from Monday afternoon shows several men exiting an SUV outside Wrecktangle Pizza in Minneapolis’ LynLake neighborhood.
“They stormed up on our door to try to get in,” said Breanna Evans, co-owner of Wrecktangle Pizza.
Employees and community members chased off those ICE agents, Evans said, after they tried to enter her restaurant.
Video appears to show the agents leaving, but not before deploying chemical agents, which were kicked right back at them by the crowd.
“We probably put a target on ourselves like that by helping people, which is sickening,” Evans said.
The visit comes after a Wrecktangle Pizza fundraising campaign for nonprofits, which the owners said raised more than $83,000. In addition, the restaurant donated pizzas, one for each customer’s purchase, for people impacted by the increased ICE presence.
Just down the street, community members like Syd King stand guard outside Smitten Kitten, on the lookout for ICE.
“If ICE is going to stay here, then I’m going to stay here,” said King. “We’re sticking together as a community.”
Inside Smitten Kitten is an outpouring of support for immigrant neighbors. Donations are pouring in, food and household goods, for people trapped in their homes.
“We have people calling us from all over the world trying to help,” said JP, owner of Smitten Kitten. “At one point, the store was just full, as are all the neighboring businesses.”
Since there wasn’t room for all those donations, neighboring businesses like Twin Cities Leather made extra space to store them all.
“Forty-eight hours ago, this room was filled taller than me with donations from the community,” said Karri Plowman, founder of Twin Cities Leather.
Community members are coming together with a strong message for ICE.
“Minneapolis strong community first. They don’t belong here, they’re not this community, they’re not what we believe in. We support and love each other and you can see from that video what happens when they try to f*ck with us,” Evans said.
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