Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Feds Target Undocumented Somali Immigrants; Local Officials Speak Out
Reports of ICE activity in south Minneapolis started swirling on social media Tuesday morning and were quickly confirmed by the New York Times, which writes that the new ICE operation is "said to target Somali migrants." The operation involves roughly 100 officers and agents from around the country, and arrives after President Trump spent several days disparaging the Somali community. “When they come from hell and complain and do nothing but bitch, we don’t want them in our country,” Trump said during a Tuesday cabinet meeting, in a real pot/kettle situation.
The invasion, which the NYT says "focuses largely on Somalis with final deportation orders who are living in the Twin Cities," prompted Minneapolis and St. Paul officials to host a press conference this afternoon. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey discussed positive contributions of the Twin Cities Somali community and affirmed the city's commitment to Somali and other immigrant communities. The mayor also promised that Minneapolis police "will not collaborate with any federal agency around doing immigration enforcement work."
Sahan Journal's Katelyn Vue reports that four Somali residents and one Latino resident have been arrested by federal agents between Monday and Tuesday, per the Minnesota Immigrants Rights Action Committee.
It's as good a time as any to brush up on your rights, and MPR News spoke with a lawyer about what to do if you're stopped by ICE. There's also the following info compiled by Minneapolis's Ward 9 Council Member Jason Chavez:
Social Workers Add "Human-Centered Approach" at 911 Call Centers
You ever read a story and think, "Now, why haven't we always done it that way?" For Sahan Journal, Katrina Pross reports on the Minnesota 911 centers embedding social workers as a way to better help callers in crisis. The pilot program is new to the the Minneapolis 911 call center, where Melanie Yang recently became the first social worker thanks to a pilot program through Hennepin County. Ramsey County has several social workers in its call center; their pilot program got its start in 2023.
Nancie Pass, the director of Ramsey County’s Emergency Communication Center, tells Pross that social workers take a more sensitive approach than is traditional—and that the traditional approach can at times escalate a situation unnecessarily.
“I think they’ve done a tremendous job taking calls and giving them the human-centered approach that is really needed,” Pass says.
New Ulm's "Experimental" Approach to Housing Shortage
In the southern Minnesota city of New Ulm, lawmakers are tackling a big problem with small spaces.
New Ulm has a housing shortage (the total vacancy rate hovers below 1%), and that's a tough problem to address (as it is for many MN cities), since high construction costs have caused many developers to stop building homes under $250,000. Over recent months, reports Jp Lawrence for the Star Tribune, New Ulm City Council has voted to approve the construction of tiny homes, shed houses, and "barndominiums," part of a deliberate approach to developer proposals that might be seen as “out there,” City Manager Chris Dalton says.
It's an approach other cities throughout the state are trying, according to Ryan Allen, an urban and regional planning professor at the University of Minnesota. “We’re starting to see the balance shift; they’re willing to be more experimental in the face of the lack of affordable housing,” he says. “Things have gotten critical enough in many contexts that I understand the instinct to throw a lot of things at the wall and see what sticks.”
Heights Theater Sold
Not to developers! Don't panic! The historic Heights Theater has been purchased by Brody Sheldon and the Schopf family, longtime owners of Chicago's Music Box Theatre, according to Dustin Nelson at Bring Me the News.
The Heights will close briefly after its annual New Year's Day screening of Holiday Inn and reopen on January 9 with Jim Jarmusch's new movie, Father Mother Sister Brother, but... that's about all the change that's on the horizon, it sounds like. BMTN reports that the theater's recurring programming isn't going anywhere, and either are annual screenings of films like The Shining. The Film Noir series the Heights hosts each February in collaboration with the Trylon Cinema? The Hitchcock Film Festival? Still happening.
So, how about it? Some good news for once. Hopefully this classic theater will be screening movies new and old for many decades to come.
