About this Editorial: This article is an opinion-based piece intended to advocate for a specific viewpoint and stimulate community discussion. While grounded in research and interviews, editorials differ from news articles in that they offer a persuasive stance and a call to action. The views expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the Academy of the Holy Names administration.
Just one month into the new year has brought so much heartache and turbulence to the heart of Minnesota. Federal agents have fatally shot several Minnesota citizens, with the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti sparking controversy, protest, and outrage surrounding ICE’s growing presence, and their violent nature, across America’s communities. As students of the Academy, the awareness surrounding this issue has utmost importance, with so many communities needing support and compassion across the nation.
Kelsey Killgoar (‘26) said, “Jesus was not a white American man, he was a Middle Eastern man. A lot of people being deported are of the same background as what we believe Jesus was. As a Catholic school, we need to be reaching out to communities that are being oppressed by the government. Legality does not equal morality.”
Since Trump’s inauguration, the number of people getting detained by ICE everyday has grown by over 75% in just one year. Specifically, the American Immigration Council states some statistics regarding this surge in Immigration Enforcement. Including the $45 billion used to fund ICE with the passing of the “Big Beautiful Bill”; the 91% increase in ICE detention centers; a jump by 600% of “at-large” arrests in American communities; and a 2,450% increase in detentions of people with no criminal record.
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Besides general increases in detentions and funding, the current administration has removed previously protected areas such as schools, hospitals, and workspaces, allowing detentions in all areas that were previously deemed “sensitive locations”. Additionally, citizens have reported racial profiling in ethnically diverse neighborhoods in states including New York, Minnesota, Washington state, California and Illinois. Approaching legal residents and citizens of color with hostility, Americans have been forced to be cognizant of their names, language being spoken, and stereotypes amidst their everyday activities.
Another striking policy expansion includes the detention centers detainees are being sent to. These consist of small jails, closed-down prisons, and large camp-style houses like Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz”. With growing death rates and unsanitary conditions, protestors and critics alike worry about the fate of immigrants in America and public safety in general.
Specifically in Minnesota, its citizens are experiencing the most uproar. Beginning with the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good. On the morning of January 7, Good was dropping off her six-year-old son at school. Minneapolis parents had been taking extra precautions to watch children walk into school due to the influx of Federal Agents and the removal of sensitive locations protecting immigrant children from being detained at school. Things took a turn for the worst when ICE approached Good and her partner in her car. After a few minutes of arguing and refusing to get out of her car, Good uses her car to leave the scene, in doing so she almost hit the ICE agent standing in front of her car, and she was shot three times and killed. Although there are arguments over whether Good had malicious intent, former President Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) leader discusses how agents are trained to never go in the front of a car, that their job is not to escalate violence with citizens, but to de-escalate these situations.
This pattern of struggles with civilians persist, Federal ICE Agents had a similar shooting on January 24. During a protest and struggle that was filmed by Pretti, it seems that agents were shoving a female protestor and spraying some sort of mace in her face. Pretti used one arm to cover his face from the spray, one arm to record, and began to resist the agents after their encounter with the other protestor. Things took a turn for the worst when some agents reported he was armed, and he was then shot and killed. While there are some arguments regarding whether he was armed or not, he was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry in public.
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Controversy has also risen in Minnesota over the detention of children. One case specifically causes uproar, the detention of five-year-old Liam Ramos. After returning home from school and trying to reunite with his father, ICE agents detained the little boy. The Guardian reports that agents attempted to use him as “bait” to get his father to answer them. He was later sent to a detention center in Texas. Although Vice President J.D. Vance has defended this act, discussing their intention of protecting the child while detaining his illegal alien father, the family attorney rebuttals this statement with papers conveying their open asylum case and documentation of their legal US port entry.
A friend of senior Sydney Thomas and Minneapolis resident, Kira Koerner, shares how she sees several ICE agents surrounding schools during her morning commute; she’s witnessed Roosevelt High School and their ties to protest, as well as families in the area being tear gassed as students were leaving school property; people are detained and deported everyday leaving their vehicles started on every main street. She also shared information about the protest perspective, school was cancelled and businesses closed to show support for this cause, she recalls how the city has been so tight-knit but at what cost. Koerner emphasizes how people are so scared, legal US citizens of hispanic backgrounds are closing their businesses, her hispanic friends tracking ICE before they can go out for dinner or errands, pre-schoolers scared to go to school and see their friends torn from their families or returning to an empty home with their parents deported.
She continues, “Minnesota has responded very peacefully, we want to protect our neighbors and it’s making the community closer together, united under one cause. But that cause is disgusting and it shouldn’t be happening like this.”
Through these tragedies, Minnesota continues to convey the complicated nature of law enforcement brutality. This state was the home of George Floyd’s death and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests and is doing it once again by refusing to succumb to ICE’s takeover in their home towns. Today, thousands of citizens have been taking everyday as an opportunity to protest the current administration, protect their neighbors, and utilize their civil rights. Jacob Frey, Minneapolis Mayor, uses these peaceful protests to condemn the Trump administration and urge ICE to “get out” of their streets. This pushback has eventually led to Border Control Commander, Greg Bovino, to leave Minnesota and return to El Centro.
This crisis underscores once again the importance of one to utilize their first amendment rights: protest and assemble, publish these often distorted tales, and call out the injustice going on in America. Immigrants built this country, yet even legal residents that have devoted their life to community contribution are being targeted, profiled, and attacked. Asylum seekers who risked their lives to pave the way for better futures are having their families torn apart. US born and raised citizens are getting killed for standing up for one’s neighbor.
History Department Chair Lori Kearney said, “There is a quote I find very poignant during this time period. It’s by Eli Wiesel, and I think it was significant when he said it and it is significant today. He said it in 1986 during his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. He said, ‘Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor never the tormented.”’
As a Catholic school, where our institution instills in us the values of critical thinking, empathy, and service, it is up to us to resist these injustices, hold our government accountable, and protect our community. The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary even go as far to show their immense support for migrant communities, even discussing “advocating for human rights, offering direct support, and fostering welcoming [environments].”
Spanish teacher Micky Stagg said, “I believe in treating all immigrants with dignity and respect regardless of immigration status. However, I believe that it is in the best interest of all immigrants and the receiving country, to immigrate legally. Open border policies and sanctuary cities undermine the rule of law and can unintentionally create conditions that human traffickers use to exploit and harm those that come without documentation. My own parents, grandparents, and older brother fled Cuba after the Communist takeover. My family sought safety by lawfully applying for asylum. In my opinion, this process, while difficult helps to protect both migrants and the integrity of our immigration system. We can be welcoming without abandoning order and accountability.”
It was the Cuban and Italian immigrants who migrated here and built our city from Ybor factories long ago, and now it’s time for the diverse region to unite and protect this city from being torn apart, as social media has seen with raids and threats of deportation at the Tampa International Airport.
Social Studies teacher Olivia Rivas said, “Like what happened in Europe during the Holocaust, Argentina had its own dark period of history. It is important to note that Argentinian politics between the period of 1946-1981 saw transitions of power 24 different times, if my memory serves correct. The political landscape in Argentina was fragile and tumultuous. Argentina’s Dirty War refers to the period between 1976-1983 in which a military coup organized to overthrow Isabel Perón from office. The coup was organized by Lieutenant Jorge Rafael Videla. This new regime, under Videla, imposed censorship, closed the national congress, banned trade unions, and targeted any sympathizers of the left-wing. Under this new rule students, union members, and really anyone suspected of dissenting against this autocratic rule. Los Madres de Plaza de Mayo was started by the mothers of the children who ‘disappeared’ to help to find answers from the government for the whereabouts of their children. When they would go to ask the authorities about their children, they were told that they should just assume that they no longer have children, in some cases. Others were told that the whereabouts of their children was unknown. Every Thursday Los Madres would march in front of the presidential palace at 15:30 to bring awareness to their plight to find their missing children. Asociación Civil Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo was founded in 1977 when the babies of Los Desaparecidos were illegally ‘adopted’ by military families. “Their cause is to help to reunite the children to their surviving biological families” (Hall). I bring all this historical context to say that fear can be a great motivator for silence. Hitler and Argentina both used fear to silence their oppression. We have seen that post Holocaust and Dirty War that not all citizens agreed in the tactics and actions of their governments. I would caution the world to not fall into this ‘conspiracy of silence’ because it is scary to speak up in opposition to what is wrong.”
For years, history classes have taught us that stories like Anne Frank’s matter. Students have been told that people being deported from Nazi Germany were unfairly targeted and deported time and time again, but when will it be realized that there’s possibility that these genocides could happen again. Countries like Argentina and their dirty wars were portrayed as a disservice to its citizens and it’s clear this disservice shouldn’t be transfused to the American people. It’s dependent upon the youth’s decision whether they want to stay quiet or fight for change. It’s critical to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself and America can return to its state of civic efficacy it once held before hostile administrations reformed political polarization.
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It’s critical that the youth and American communities combat the exploitation of ICE, not only in Minnesota but across the country. Here are some opportunities to peacefully subside the crisis:
- Call your representatives and senators: urge them to decrease ICE funding
- Post awareness around the deaths, unfair detentions, and violence going on around the country
- Ask questions and dig deep into research regarding these events; see all stories, angles, and experiences that led to these tragedies
- Donate to immigration centers, clinics, and advocacy boards
- Show care, love, and empathy to all neighbors at this time
English Department Chair Sara Moses said, “This is a time that calls us to reflect on how we view and understand humanity. As a community grounded in the dignity of the whole person, committed to mission work supporting migrants, women and children, and the poor and marginalized, it is hard to see what is going on and ignore these values.”
There’s nothing more Christian than treating others as we would ourselves, and right now that entails caring for neighbors, immigrants and citizens alike; serving communities being targeted; promoting peace and protection instead of hate. I challenge all students, faculty, and those associated with the Holy Names Tampa community to use their voice, their power, and their free will to fight the hate bursting around migrants and return back to America’s state of stable public safety.
Senior Mia Debourg said, “I think that the recent actions of ICE in Minnesota are very upsetting, and I disagree with the actions they took against Renee Good and Alex Pretti. The act of targeting innocent people, citizens even, and tearing apart families is an issue that I believe to be morally wrong. All people are allowed to exhibit their personal rights without receiving backlash, so these actions completely counteract that fact. Furthermore, I don’t see the point of ICE detaining innocent people who benefit their communities and the economy especially when they are including children, taking them out of school. These are innocent people, many without any criminal record, who are being punished over actual criminals, more of which are statistically proven to be US citizens.”
Valeria TC • Feb 1, 2026 at 1:06 pm
Ava, I’m really glad that you’re shedding light on such an important issue that directly aligns with Academy’s SNJM core values.