The 11 a.m. Sunday service at the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is conducted in Spanish. The Richfield, MN, church serves an immigrant population, largely Hispanic, in the suburbs of Minneapolis. The parish staff know some worshippers may be undocumented, but they welcome everyone. When federal agents showed up in Minneapolis in early December, looking for immigrants to deport, church leaders naturally wondered what it might mean for their congregation.

What happened next is part of a story that has become familiar—and has made many observers wonder if history’s darkest chapter could be repeating itself. On the morning of Sunday, December 7, shortly before the Spanish service, people noticed a black Ford Explorer with tinted windows driving repeatedly past the church entrance. Someone notified one of the local “Indivisible” groups, which had begun to monitor the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol. At the time, “Operation Metro Surge,” as the Minnesota intervention was called, involved only about 100 federal agents, and local opposition was just coalescing. A notice was posted on the Indivisible group’s Facebook page calling on community members to go to the Richfield church and find out what, if anything, was happening there. 

A handful of local folks promptly answered the call. Among them were John Biestman, a 69-year-old retired banker, and his wife, Janet Lee, 67, a retired speech pathologist. In sworn declarations filed later in U.S. District Court, Lee said she and her husband went to the church because they were horrified “that the federal government might snatch people off the street outside a house of worship.” Biestman said their goal was to “observe and document” ICE activity.  

Read the full article at Moment Magazine