Former President Barack Obama sounded a warning on Wednesday that “the tactics being deployed by federal agents in Minnesota” represent an even bigger threat to “the basic freedoms of every American.”
In a message posted on social media, the former president noted that “more and more Americans are voicing their outrage” at the aggressive deportation campaign currently being led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol in the state.
But Obama said that “it’s important to understand “the broader implications of what this administration is doing and the threat it poses to the basic freedoms of every American.”
The ramped-up presence of immigration agents in Minnesota led to the fatal shootings of ICU nurse Alex Pretti earlier this week and mother Renee Good earlier this month.
In addition, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) recently expressed dismay that the raids have the state’s younger residents living in fear of being detained or possibly killed amid the operations.
“Here’s a podcast that does a good job of laying out what’s at stake, and why all of us need to get off the sidelines to demand change,” he said.
A few hours later, he made another post suggesting ways Americans can help people in Minnesota “peacefully protest and support their neighbors.”
Obama’s posts and podcast recommendation comes a few days after he called Pretti’s death a “wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.”