As ICE Terror Forces People Inside, Calls Grow for Eviction Moratorium in MN |
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Rent is due in the Twin Cities, and many families won’t be able to pay. “Operation Metro Surge” has left thousands of families sheltering in place from masked federal agents roaming the streets. With many afraid to go to work or school, bills are piling up, galvanizing calls for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to declare an eviction moratorium.
“It is very expensive to be sheltering in place,” Yusra Murad, a communications organizer at Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia, told Truthout. Murad’s group is a Twin Cities–based tenants’ rights collective that is one of the groups leading the call for the eviction moratorium.
Operation Metro Surge has forced undocumented families in the Twin Cities into a cascade of difficult decisions, and activists warn that without an eviction moratorium, the region faces an impending eviction catastrophe. Many have had loved ones — and their household’s primary income earners — taken by federal agents and have been scrambling to scrape together funds to pay February rent.
On January 15, members of the Minneapolis City Council held a press conference at City Hall after unanimously passing a resolution calling on the governor to enact a moratorium. Council Member Robin Wonsley, who represents Ward 2 and is backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, told Truthout: “Residents also need immediate protection from ICE, which is why the City Council is calling on Gov. Walz to implement an eviction moratorium now. No family should have to choose between keeping a roof over their heads and risking being kidnapped by ICE. This is the choice families have been forced to make.”
While the limits of mayoral and gubernatorial authority are exposed when officials face demands to remove ICE from Minnesota (since doing so would require local police to directly engage federal authorities), declaring an eviction moratorium is undoubtedly within Walz’s power. He has refused to act. Walz did not respond to a request for comment.
During Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s time in office, he has helped facilitate a transformation in how the city approaches housing........