For immigrants in Brooklyn Park, political violence brought added dimensions to fear and confusion

On Monday after the arrest of Vance Boelter the Center for Sufferers of Torture CVT called clients living in or around the Brooklyn Park area the same neighborhood where DFL leader and Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were killed the past weekend We have been reaching out to them to find out how they re doing see if they have any questions about what happened and just to hear a little bit about their reactions and how we can patronage them revealed Sara Nelson a scheme manager at the CVT Nelson who MinnPost spoke with on Monday added that clients in Brooklyn Park were prioritized due to their proximity to the crime scene and that the center would likely hear from clients living in other parts of Minnesota as the week unfolds The major reactions to the weekend s violence from clients in Brooklyn Park were fear and confusion One client revealed Nelson spent the entire weekend in a single room something Nelson believes to be a trauma response Related New app offers virtual promotion for young African immigrants and refugees Mary Niedermeyer chief executive officer of CAPI an organization headquartered in Brooklyn Center supporting refugees and latest immigrants noted on Monday morning that CAPI s leadership band a large number of of whom are immigrants themselves were left shaken up by the events of the weekend The story is very familiar and has really I think hit home for a lot of folks Niedermeyer commented One individual was just speaking about watching political unrest unfold in their country and the concern about the similarities between what s happening in our country in the modern day and what happened in their country While the Hortman murders and the shootings of Sen John Hoffman and his wife Yvette left numerous Minnesotans reeling there are added dimensions to the fear and confusion felt by immigrant communities chosen of whom have faced or feared political violence in their countries of origin This was particularly true of those living in Brooklyn Park where a quarter of residents were not born in the U S The biggest piece for our clients was not being sure that the police had their best interests at heart and not being sure that this wasn t ICE trying to pick up immigrants explained Nelson of the response from clients living in Brooklyn Park Majority of of the CVT s clients are presently seeking asylum in the United States while others are refugees Though these groups are similar there is a legal distinction between the two While those seeking asylum and refugees may be fleeing similar circumstances refugee status is determined before entering the U S and asylum is sought after entry Refugee vs asylum seeker The legal definition of a refugee per United States code comprises people who are not able to remain in their own countries without risking persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race religion nationality membership in a particular social group or political opinion Before entering the U S prospective refugees are referred to the U S Refugee Admissions Operation and after a profitable application and interview are able to arrive in the U S Asylum seekers are also fleeing persecution or a fear of persecution in other nations but have not been classed as refugees by the U S regime before entering the U S or approaching a port of entry Once they are on U S soil they may go about the process of applying for asylum While asylum seekers are permitted to live in the U S while their cases are being processed that does not mean that they cannot be detained by ICE According to Julia Decker director of guidelines at Immigration Law Center there are attorneys in her organization working with people detained by ICE Several times Decker added these folks are also applying for things like asylum or humanitarian protection They didn t necessarily feel like the high police presence in their neighborhood was there to keep them safe or understand why they were there disclosed Nelson of the CVT s Brooklyn Park clients That was a big piece that was really terrifying for them because they ve had experiences back home of police not keeping them safe The presence of police dogs which have been used in other nations to torture or apprehend clients of the CVT was additionally upsetting Language comprehension also led to confusion Alerts to shelter in place and other population communication about the manhunt for Boelter had gone out in English and officers knocking on doors in the area spoke English a language not all latest immigrants fully understand One CVT client deduced for example that someone was shooting people randomly rather than the violence being targeted Others had no idea that Boelter had been apprehended on Sunday Though Jaylani Hussein the executive director of CAIR-MN an advocacy and civil rights organization serving Muslim Minnesotans was travelling out of state that weekend he and his organization pivoted to sharing information as the weekend s tragedy and resulting manhunt unfolded CAIR-MN was able to send out informational emails to around Muslim society members and on Saturday night Hussein met virtually with public leaders to speak about safety For Hussein events like these demonstrate the need for state community safety communications to partner with community-based media or organizations to reach out to Minnesota s minority communities including social media channels and public radio stations The greater part of those partners are not major media outlets Hussein revealed They re a lot smaller journalism organizations within the contexts of the Hmong population Somali population and the different immigrant populations like the Latino population While Hussein thinks the state is aware of these expected partners he added that he believes these organizations and media serving immigrants should be priorities for state contact and communication in the event of a safety issue With Boelter now apprehended and Hoffman and his wife Yvette recovering from their wounds one could argue that this is over But the reality is that the effects of this violence and its impact on the safety of society members is still yet to be seen I think everybody is still processing and trying to understand what s happened and what the ramifications are going to be mentioned Decker speaking to MinnPost on Monday hours after Boelter was apprehended It s maybe just an illustration that no country no society nobody is immune from something happening like this What we often hear clients say is I fled this and I thought that this was safe I thought this was a safe calm country I thought this was a country where I could raise my kids and not have to deal with this Nelson mentioned The post For immigrants in Brooklyn Park political violence brought added dimensions to fear and confusion appeared first on MinnPost