I saw flashing lights outside my window and my heart fucking stopped.

I live in suburban Minnesota, thirty minutes away from Minneapolis, in a nice area where ICE activity has been mostly quiet. There are at least three POC families on my quiet dead-end street. One has young children.

"They're coming for them," I thought. "They're going to abduct my neighbors." Fuck. They've come to suburbia. The terror is spreading. No one is safe.

I ran to grab my coat, whistle in hand, set my phone to record, and stepped outside. I wasn't exactly sure what my plan was - whistle, scream, record - try to interfere and potentially get shot? I wasn't thinking about this, I was just fueled by pure adrenaline. I had to try to help my neighbors.

The sense of relief I felt when I saw the police car and ambulance was immeasurable. "Oh," I thought, "it's just a medical emergency. It's not ICE."

Just a medical emergency.

Imagine living in a world where you feel relieved to see a police car outside your neighbor's home. Where you feel relieved that your neighbor had to call an ambulance. This is our reality in Minnesota.

ICE is not abducting people from their homes in my neighborhood in suburban Minnesota yet. But I was ready to believe that they were without a moment's doubt. And I believe that it is only a matter of time. My city police collaborated to "protect" ICE agents at a noise demonstration at a hotel. Who is protecting us?

This is our reality in Minnesota. No one is safe.