The parish I belong to sends out weekly reflections that often provide food for thought. Once in a while, however, a reflection offers up a clinker.
Our pastor wrote a reflection on Feb. 2 entitled “Do a small act to brighten someone’s day.” It was a reflection on Christ’s salt and light teaching (Mathew 5:13-16). And there was a clinker in the reflection.
Our pastor wrote, “As I write this, the chaos and evil taking place in Minneapolis are at the top of the news.” I immediately wondered what the “evil” was that was taking place in Minneapolis. It became clear in the next sentence. He wrote, “The people from that community who make sacrifices and go to great lengths to support their neighbors bring light to a very dark place. We should see the good that they are doing and give glory to God!”
ICE is Evil?
Our pastor could have referred to the evil being perpetrated through the corruption and fraud that has been taking place in Minnesota. But the evil he was referring to was what ICE was doing. And the protestors harassing ICE were giving glory to God by supporting their neighbors. I disagree.
I wondered how law enforcement personnel carrying out legitimate, lawful tasks could be called evil. I also wondered how impeding law enforcement from the lawful discharge of their duties is giving glory to God. It is, in fact, a crime to impede law enforcement from the lawful discharge of the duties. And some of the members of Minneapolis community doing the impeding were occasionally violent and overly aggressive in the tactics they employed. Passive, peaceful protest was not being practiced.
Of course the mainstream media says ICE was not “lawfully discharging their duties.” They paint with a very broad brush and then highlight a few instances in which ICE employed some questionable tactics. But how accurate and truthful is the media being? We know that Americans do not trust what the media is telling us. Why believe the reporting on Minneapolis?
We simply do not yet know the truth of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Renee Good or Alex Pretti. And we certainly do not know to what extent the ICE Agents in Minneapolis may have veered from the lawful discharge of their duties. The media is focusing on the tragic to evoke emotion and outrage. However, I suspect the agents are actually discharging their duties as humanely as possible. But this doesn’t fit the picture the media is trying to paint.
And why isn’t the media saying anything about how protestors are illegally, and sometimes violently, impeding law enforcement? It’s not at all black and white. It’s all actually pretty gray – and slanted.
An Archbishop’s View
I’m guessing that Detroit Archbishop Edward Weisenburger’s op-ed in the Detroit Free Press on Feb. 1, may have been the catalyst for our pastor’s statement. (The Archbishop’s op-ed was subsequently featured in the Detroit Catholic on Feb. 4, entitled “ICE violence, child separations put America’s soul in crisis.”)
I was shocked at the Archbishop’s rhetoric.
He wrote, “Having largely failed to detain and deport the large numbers of violent criminals as promised, is Immigrations and Customs Enforcement now rounding up legal asylum seekers for the sake of an optic of success?”
Yet, according to ice.gov/statistics, 199,237 criminal illegal aliens (those with criminal convictions) were arrested in 2025. That’s a fairly large number.
Additionally, according to DHS, “Since January 20, 2025, DHS enforcement operations have resulted in more than 605,000 deportations. DHS has prioritized removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens as part of the Trump Administration’s efforts to return law and order to the United States.”
So roughly 30% of the illegal aliens deported in 2025 were criminals who did some really bad things.
Weisenburger also wrote, “In the last few weeks, we have witnessed a 5-year-old child, Liam Conejo Ramos, separated from his mother and quickly sent with his father from Minnesota to a detention center in Texas. This fast relocation of detainees seems to be a policy that seeks to separate the detained from family, community or any local legal assistance.”
But is one isolated instance indicative of a policy “that seeks to separate the detained from family, community or any local legal assistance”? Or is it just an isolated instance? And were the father and son separated or did the father simply abandon his son?
Poor Arguments
Archbishop Weisenburger is offering completely fallacious argument called a hasty generalization. I would expect a much stronger and more logical argument from a highly educated Catholic archbishop.
He also wrote, “We then witnessed the killing of Renee Good, whose death at the hands of ICE agents was ruled a homicide by the local medical examiner’s office. Rather than allowing for a transparent and independent investigation of the death, our federal government is uncooperative, and insisting on doing only the equivalent of an internal investigation.”
Of course Renee Good’s death was a homicide, as was Alex Pretti’s. A homicide is the killing of one human being by another. But whether or not they were legal or illegal homicides is yet to be determined. And an internal investigation is the first step in determining whether the homicide was legal or illegal.
(And calling Good and Pretti “martyrs,” as Yakima Bishop Joseph Tyson did in another recent article, is also pretty outlandish.)
Archbishop Weisenburger, near the end of his op-ed, also stated, “It seems that Americans can only envision two options: Either open borders with no restraint, or closed borders with no immigration of any kind.”
Seriously?
America allows in more immigrants than any other country on the planet. And the U.S. immigration statutes are both just and humane. We let one million legal immigrants into our country every year. Presidents, along with Congress, can also allow in a number of refugees and asylum seekers over and above this number. But Joe Biden ignored our immigration laws. His administration let some 10 million illegal immigrants into the U.S., and some percentage of them were really bad people. The wheat and chaff need to be separated.
According to the DHS website, as of today almost 500 illegal immigrants who are definitely criminals (murders, rapists, thieves, drug dealers, human traffickers, etc.) have been arrested by ICE in Minneapolis. But the mainstream media is only focusing on possible errors made by ICE and on the protests. But they don’t bother to mention the very questionable tactics employed by the protestors against law enforcement agents who are trying to do a very difficult, and often life-threatening job.
Almost 3 million illegal immigrants were deported during Obama’s presidency, but the left-leaning mainstream media was relatively quiet about this. The mainstream media certainly did not criticize Obama (and neither did our bishops). And most of the people deported during his presidency were not “threats” (the website americanimmigrationcouncil.org tracks this stuff, here and here for instance).
President Trump, however, is going after really bad illegal aliens and he is being soundly criticized by the left-leaning mainstream media. (And, no, I’m not a Trump fan or a MAGA supporter; I’m an Independent when it comes to politics.)
Law enforcement agencies, like all organizations made up of humans beings (including the Catholic Church), make mistakes. The deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti are tragic, but we do not yet know all of the circumstances surrounding their deaths. And the Minneapolis protesters have made their share of mistakes, too. Doxing agents, harassing agents, and warning criminals when ICE is around is not law abiding.
Loyalty
I wrote an article on immigration in 2018 in which I expressed wonder at how God decides in what country someone should be born. I then pointed out a not-too-often mentioned Catholic teaching — CCC 1880.
The teaching states, “A society is a group of persons bound together organically by a principle of unity that goes beyond each one of them. As an assembly that is at once visible and spiritual, a society endures through time: it gathers up the past and prepares for the future. By means of society, each man is established as an “heir” and receives certain “talents” that enrich his identity and whose fruits he must develop. He rightly owes loyalty to the communities of which he is part and respect to those in authority who have charge of the common good.”
So are illegal immigrants to the U.S. showing loyalty to the communities they were born into by leaving that community? Or should they be working for change in the country in which they were born?
Some immigrants are certainly legitimate asylum seekers and refugees. But I tend to think that most illegal immigrants are just looking to capitalize on the “American Dream.” And in doing so they are abandoning the communities to which they owe loyalty.
Maybe instead of criticizing law enforcement personnel in the most welcoming country in the entire world for trying to enforce its laws, Catholic bishops should refocus their energies. Tending to our spiritual needs might be a good idea. But if our earthly needs have their attention, maybe our Catholic bishops (and Rome) they should spend more time trying to figure out how they can help the poor and oppressed in third world countries and in other countries with corrupt, Marxist, and dictatorship governments.
22 thoughts on “Is Evil Taking Place in Minneapolis?”
And respectfully, the Holy Face Chaplet per Father Lawrence Carney, the preferred weapon to fight Communism, Modernism, these sorts of things. Sister Marie of St. Peter received this message and was contemporaneous to Karl Marx. A bit like the Chaplet of Divine Mercy is so powerful. More Holy Face Devotion posts please.
Any AWFULs here? Affluent White Female Urban Liberals, a test to our country.
Thank you President Trump, there is a good chance we would not have seen Israel or Ukraine invaded under your guidance.
I hope ICE sleeps well, they’ve tried to keep them up at night, outside the hotels. Those tragic deaths, none since MPLS brought on some cooperation with the Feds just like New Orleans and other cities so, whom caused the problems is not difficult to see.
As a former military cop with mob/riot experience and over 35 years of training law enforcement officers I would offer this observation. The selection and training process for law enforcement dramatically improved between 1970s and 1990s. Unfortunately, the selection and training at some levels has deteriorated. For example, some states allow convicted felons (with minor offenses at least several years old) to be cops.
The Border Patrol and ICE agents used to get between 5-6 months of training. Due to the hiring surge demand, selection standards were lowered and many ICE officers only get 6 weeks of training. I don’t know how many hours of the “use of force continuum’ (the most critical training for their duties) they get, but my guess is less.
To me, that is THE problem — “gung ho” kids with less screening and training. That is what often determines what we see in the news.
Still, New Orleans, almost all cities except Minneapolis (MPLS) and LA has not seen this ruckus. The movement is not organic. President Obama deported, awarded Tom Homan a medal. No problems!
Mr. Van Son you say you’re not a Trump fan /MAGA supporter as well as an independent but all you have to do is read between the lines of your article about Minnesota /ICE to see that isn’t quiet true.
What were the “crimes” the 199237 arrested in 2025? You want to throw out #’s and statistics…..give us some reasons /statistics for what they were arrested for….parking ticket, going 60 in a 55 zone. You should be ashamed of yourself for putting out such crap without real facts to make a point. WWJD ??
Richard, one of the CS Comment policies is ‘no attacking the writer.’ By doubting my truthfulness that is exactly what you are doing. It got your comment temporarily deleted.
Be that as it may, there are 3 links in my article to the ICE and DHS websites. They are there for a reason. Had you taken the time to explore the stats at these links you would realize how silly your statement “give us some reasons /statistics for what they were arrested for” is. You should be ashamed for committing the sin of slander.
Here’s an interesting article: “My Students Protesting ICE Cannot Answer One Question On The U.S. Citizenship Exam.” https://thefederalist.com/2026/02/17/my-students-protesting-ice-cannot-answer-one-question-on-the-u-s-citizenship-exam/
We are fighting against powers and principalities that seek division and chaos in this nation. Did you ever wonder why ICE seems to be so evil only in Left leaning areas where they are attacked by protestors egging them toward violence? Did it ever occur to you that these protests are an attempt to paint this administration as tyrannical and shift focus away from the absurd fraud by Somalis and others allowed by the Left government in that state?
As for the bishops, sad to say but most of them cater to the Left rhetoric, and last time I checked they make a boatload of money helping immigrants, illegal included.
You are correct. A masked extrajudicial secret police patrolling the streets of American cities definitely causes division and chaos.
There is major problem with current immigration policy. The president campaigned on the flawed position that countries were emptying their prisons and insane asylums and sending people to the US who would “poison the blood” of our nation. He depicted them in the most unfavorable terms and promised to go after the “worst of the worst.” Instead of targeting the worst of the worst of the worst, he opted for a military model of “shock and awe”, sending over 3,000 agents dressed in tactical gear to Minneapolis to Home Depots, schools, churches and other venues. The vast majority of people rounded up had no history of violence. Many were just people who had lived and worked in the area for years without any problems. One father had 3 sons who were citizens and served in the US military. A flawed premise and poor execution has led to the backlash and resistance that we see today.
Wrongs have been committed by people on both sides. However, the tactics used by ICE to detain those they are instructed to detain are NOT the standard detention and round up procedures used in past administrations. Please do not argue that these are more violent people because the statistics do not prove this. These are by and large not violent people being rounded up for deportation. They are threatening US citizens with deportation.
As for citizens warning non-whites about ICE being in their neighborhoods, non-whites have every right to fear ICE questioning them, US-citizen or not. Im not afraid of their intimidation tactics. As a white person who has a slight accent, I am stopped, questioned, and by ICE every week about my citizenship status and then threatened even though I was born and raised in the US just because I converse in four languages.
Two articles for those who think it serves God for Catholic Conferences and their bishops to advance the Republican agenda-
‘’On a mission from God: inside the movement to redirect billions of taxpayer dollars to religious schools,” 1-13-2025, ProPublica.
‘’Will the Texas Supreme Court legalize child abuse,” The New Republic, 2-5-2026. The Texas Conference of Catholic Bishops supported the parental rights amendment that is before the court.
IMO, far fewer right wing Catholics will be welcomed into heaven than they presume.
Jefferson warned, in every age, in every country, the priest aligns with the despot.
Catholic Conferences should not be advancing either party’s agenda unless the agenda is 100% Catholic. But there is nothing wrong in working to advance legislation that is in keeping with Catholic Teaching. A good deal of caution is needed, however, because there is always the problem of unintended consequences, as the Texas parental rights amendment problems show.
Too many of our clergy are lazy and stupid. Welcome to the New Springtime.
Love they neighbour – why is it so simple but hard to do – all the justification in the world doesn’t account for the brutality of some of the ICE offices, separation of children and the snatching people off the street who have done nothing wrong. For all those that have done wrong Christ offered forgiveness. As Christians and catholics where is our love and commitment to Christ the fact that we are prepared to justify cruelty and we chose the rhetoric of division and hate – Love they neighbour turns out to be very hard thing to do.
People killed by fentanyl smuggled in, someone not authorized to be in the country killing someone, a young lady like Karen Riley, human trafficking across the USA and I’m sure smuggling is,lucrative. Some die or go through other horrendous things on the journey here. The list is long. Who loves their neighbor again? Thanks ICE for your service.
Archbishop Weisenburger comments reek of politics and is inflammatory. Will he be denying Holy Communion to ICE supporters? These are men and women who give up their lives to stop illegally drug traffic, illegal weapons, child trafficking. They see this stuff daily and probably see this evil in their dreams as they try to sleep. Now you have Cardinals who are for ending anger and hatred and inciting violence against these officers. I’ll pray for his soul and pray that the death of any ICE agent wasn’t incited by his rhetoric. Seeing that this Cardinal was instrumental in stopping the celebration of the Latin Mass, his comments are to be expected.
I pray to God that no one evil enough to work for ICE has a wink of sleep ever again.
Emotionalism is not rational thinking. Maybe praying that evil people everywhere and anywhere experience a change of heart would be a better prayer.
Oh that the Bishops would have been so diligent in calling out the blatant, despicable evil that came out of Biden s administration. A “devout” Catholic. They obviously live in a narcissistic bubble. After their complicity with the Biden administration during COVID, they should never be trusted in their judgements again. They should actually be rending their garments, repenting publicly, and humbling themselves for aligning with secular evils in the name of Jesus. It’s obvious they have no fear of God whatsoever. They’ve replaced God with government and act as though the government is now the voice of God that we must obey because they do. They’re just angry and resentful because their funding got cut off. Proof is that they had nothing to say about the grave evils prior to that.
Well said. Exactly what I was thinking.
. “It’s obvious they have no fear of God whatsoever.”
Every accusation is an admission with MAGA.