ICE Comes to the American Heartland

RS Reports ICE Comes to the American Heartland After the government declares mission complete in Minneapolis, aggressive ICE occupation continues in small-town Minnesota By Stephen Rodrick Stephen Rodrick Contact Stephen Rodrick by Email View all posts by Stephen Rodrick Photographs by JENN ACKERMAN March 4, 2026 M agdalena fought hard for her American dream. Now, it is dying on the side of a road near the Shakopee, Hy-Vee supermarket. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents surround her car with handguns and rifles drawn. They are all wearing masks. More agents swarm the car in front of her. It holds her two teenage daughters. They are both American citizens and on their way to school. An ICE agent starts banging on her windshield. She doesn’t know what to do. The agent with the rifle demands Magdalena’s papers. “Roll down the fucking window!” He stares her down. Magdalena is frightened. All she can do is beg for her children. “Let them go. They are citizens. Please.” Life in Shakopee Magdalena grew up in Mexico City. (Those appearing in the story by first name only have had their names changed to protect against ICE retribution.) She tells me that when she was 12, her mother crossed the border with her older brother because she feared her son would become entangled in gang violence. Her mom came back for her two years later, and they crossed the border into Texas. Mom and daughter split up after crossing the border — reasoning that traveling as a family made them more suspicious. She spent a week alone in a Texas border motel waiting for a ride to Denver. She often thanks God that nothing unspeakable happened to her. Around two weeks later, she was reunited with her mom and brother in a town called Shakopee, Minnesota, about 25 miles from Minneapolis. The main bridge over the Minnesota River into Minneapolis often floods over in the spring, making the journey into the city a 90-minute trip. But a new bridge was built high above the river around 1996, and o...