On Jan. 5, thousands of additional federal agents were sent to Minneapolis in what Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons called the agency’s “largest immigration operation ever.” Two days later, an ICE officer shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, and ICE agents executed a violent raid at a Minneapolis high school. Even more federal officers were sent to Minnesota following these events, contributing to a growing culture of fear among vulnerable communities in Northfield and on campus.
ICE activity in Northfield over the past few months has posed a real threat to community members. Schuyler Vogel, College Chaplain, chair of the Northfield Human Rights Commission and a member of Carleton’s Immigration Task Force, specifically mentioned the impact of Adan Nunez Gonzalez’s deportation in November. Nunez Gonzalez, who had lived in Northfield for over a decade, was filmed by his son as ICE agents broke his car window and forcibly arrested him.
“That’s truly disturbing for people to see: a neighbor, who has kids in the schools, someone who’s just living their life here with us, taken and deported,” Vogel said.
According to Vogel and community watch groups, there were several sightings of confirmed ICE vehicles in town over winter break, as well as ICE agents going door to door on Division Street asking businesses for their employee papers. ICE vehicles have also reportedly been spotted in Northfield several times since the beginning of Winter Term, and ICE agents in an unmarked car pulled over a local high school student on their drive to school. Vogel also said ICE officers have stopped informing local police before appearing in Northfield, a practice that had previously been expected of federal agencies.
On Jan. 8, a professor at St. Olaf and the Carleton Democrats Instagram page reported that ICE officers had booked 15 rooms at the Fairfield Inn in Northfield, but later that evening, these warnings were rescinded. Reporting by Northfield KYMN radio on Jan. 10 explained that while a government agency did contact the Fairfield Inn to book a block of rooms, the inn did not have space available. Although the initial warning was incorrect, the possible attempt to locate ICE officers in Northfield still heightened community concern.
This recent activity, in close proximity to campus, has been worrying for many in the Carleton community, especially international students and non-white students. While ICE agents have not been seen on the Carleton campus to date, the school website makes clear that federal agents can legally enter public campus spaces without warning.
Since the beginning of Winter Term, a variety of email newsletters to the Carleton Community have all addressed ICE presence in Northfield and the possibility of ICE agents entering campus. For many members of the Carleton community, receiving updates about relevant information is necessary but painful. According to Camila Hernandez-Quintero ’26, the ever-present threat of ICE activity in Northfield is itself damaging to vulnerable Northfield residents and students, a problem she feels is not adequately recognized.
“Fear has a huge effect psychologically and physically,” Hernandez-Quintero said. “It’s something that people have to sleep with, and it’s there every time they’re awake — having to be stressed about, if not themselves, then their families. You don’t want to call attention to yourself. It’s just not safe; you can’t know automatically, just by looking, who supports you… or who might support you, but only with weird caveats that really just mean they don’t. I don’t think administratively that there’s enough recognition for how [current events] can affect people, how it is straight up disabling for some people.”
Local groups like Northfield Supporting Neighbors (NSN) and the Northfield Human Rights Commission have mobilized in response to concerns about ICE presence, providing resources for vulnerable Northfield residents. NSN accepts volunteers to give rides, run errands and serve as verified observers for its ICE alert system.
Within Carleton, the chapel and the Carleton Students Association co-sponsored a candlelight vigil on Jan. 12 for “Renee Nicole Good and the many other victims of ICE violence.” More than 100 students attended a “resistance against ICE” information session at the Weitz Center for Creativity on Jan. 13. Carleton students have also participated in protests against ICE in Minneapolis and Northfield.
“The violence, the kidnapping of people and going after schools: it’s all just so unjust, and I feel very helpless about it,” said an anonymous junior who attended protests in Minneapolis last week. “It is a federal occupation at this point, and what can I do except to try and be a body out there and show that it’s not okay and that the people aren’t going to stand for it?”
The junior described the protest as calm, with minimal police presence and many supporters. They also noted that many people from vulnerable communities supported the protests, but could not participate due to safety concerns.
“There are a lot of immigrants in that neighborhood,” they said. “A lot of them stood by the windows, and maybe occasionally opened it to wave or show signs saying ‘Thank you for supporting us,’ but they [were] afraid to join that route and afraid to even leave their houses. I have the privilege of being able to go out and being able to exercise my First Amendment right, and I want to use that privilege.”
While the junior said they were glad to have attended, they highlighted other accessible forms of support.
“I wish that there was a little bit less judgment in folks taking those other steps,” they said. “Folks deciding to donate money, or folks deciding to deliver meals, and folks deciding to just spread the word.”
Hernandez-Quintero also emphasized the importance of recognizing other forms of support. While she said that protesting can be productive, she worries that many people see protest as a way to fill their “social justice quota” without engaging in activism in other parts of their lives. She specifically mentioned that one of the best ways for Carleton students to support vulnerable people right now is to engage with the local immigrant community, which she described as “isolated” in Northfield.
“Students here do not actually realize how big the immigrant community is in this town. So the thing I would say is: actually try to meet their neighbors,” she said. “They don’t even realize how many immigrant families live here… It’s such an example of the white gaze: where you assume that it is white until proven otherwise.”
Hernandez-Quintero also said that the school itself needs to take on some of this responsibility.
“Some years ago, when I was a freshman, one of the members on the board of trustees admitted that Carleton had given up on recruiting students of color from Northfield itself… I wish people would learn more that the immigrant community [of Northfield] does not talk about Carleton like somewhere they belong to, or they would be safe in, or that their children even have a possibility of going to; that’s just really, really messed up,” Hernandez-Quintero said.
Advocates in town and activists on campus all urge individuals who are not at risk from ICE activity to reach out to their neighbors and classmates.
“The people who do have privilege can use that privilege to help make other people feel safe. So navigating our moral calculations around these things feels really important. And, asking ourselves: ‘What is required of us in this moment where we are facing a lot of disturbing actions on the part of our government right now? What is our responsibility? What’s the responsibility to our neighbors, to other people here, to ourselves, and our future generations?’ It’s not an easy time to be doing this work,… but I think it’s important that we’re not silent,” Vogel said.