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ICE, meet snow. As federal agents aggressively raid and detain immigrants in cities across the US, people working to prevent these arrests are using the abundant snow on the ground to fight back.<\/p>\n
In videos of confrontations in Minnesota<\/a> and Illinois, people have thrown snowballs at federal agents who are trying to apprehend their neighbors, often as agents are using force or wielding weapons. In many instances, the agents then responded with more aggression, using pepper spray or teargas against protesters.<\/p>\n In Minneapolis on Monday, agents tried to arrest a woman, holding her in a snowbank, according to video of the incident<\/a> posted by Minnesota Public Radio. At one point, she appears to be partially handcuffed, and an agent drags her around a snowy street. Bystanders shout at the agents to \u201clet her go\u201d as a chorus of car horns and whistles blare to let the neighborhood know agents are there. An agent holds a taser in one hand and points a weapon at the crowd. People start throwing snow at the agents, one of whom holds a canister of orange spray he repeatedly uses on the protesters.<\/p>\n One woman who joined the scene told the Associated Press<\/a> that ICE agents were aggressive from the start of the interaction. \u201cI didn\u2019t see anybody throw any hard items,\u201d she said. \u201cThe snowballs were definitely being thrown, but we didn\u2019t start throwing snowballs until they started dragging her around by her wrist.\u201d<\/p>\n Brian O\u2019Hara, the Minneapolis police chief, spoke out against ICE tactics after the incident. Federal agents called local police to the scene, claiming they were under attack. He said his officers determined the scene was safe, so they \u201cdisengaged\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been training our officers for the last five years very, very intensely on de-escalation, but unfortunately that is \u2026 often not what we are seeing from other agencies in the city,\u201d O\u2019Hara said.<\/p>\n Protesters also threw snow at agents in Elgin, Illinois, during a confrontation over a man\u2019s detention. Agents responded with teargas and pepper munitions, local media reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n As ICE has ramped up its actions, communities have responded with rapid networks seeking to prevent immigrant arrests and deter ICE from patrols \u2013\u00a0from blowing whistles, to shouting at agents, to throwing snowballs. The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota sued<\/a> the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies this week, alleging on behalf of several Minnesota plaintiffs that agents have violated the rights of those observing and protesting ICE actions in the state.<\/p>\n When asked about people throwing snowballs at federal agents in Minneapolis and Chicago, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said: \u201cICE stays frosty \u2026 but rioters should be aware, assaulting an officer is a federal crime.\u201d<\/p>\n