Category: Witness

  • When the Law Becomes the Fear

    When the Law Becomes the Fear

    Paschal Nwokocha speaks plainly about immigration, dignity, and the cruelty of turning people into political targets. His words are blunt, but the truth usually is. This conversation is part of 345-Witness, a project about seeing immigrants not as abstractions, but as people building lives, families, and communities here in Minnesota.

  • Seeing the People Behind the Policy: Why I am creating Witness: The Human Impact of Immigration Enforcement

    I am creating *Witness* to document the human impact of immigration enforcement through portraits, interviews, and reporting. By sharing these stories, I hope readers better understand lives often hidden behind politics and headlines, and that understanding leads to a more humane conversation. If you have a story that should be part of this project, I…

  • They Come Because They Have To. They Contribute Because That’s Who They Are.

    They Come Because They Have To. They Contribute Because That’s Who They Are.

    In this interview, Laura Cooper cuts through the noise around immigration. We talk about why people leave home, what they face when they arrive, how families rebuild, what immigrants contribute, why citizenship means safety, and why Minnesota was ready to stand up when the pressure came. At the center is a simple truth: immigrants are…

  • Taken

    Taken

    Inside the families apartment, a father explains why his wife did not come home from work. A baby no longer sleeps through the night. A fourteen-year-old weighs whether it is safe to attend school. This is not a headline. It is a family adjusting to life after their wife and mother was taken.

  • After the Third Shooting, Minneapolis Asks What Comes Next

    After the Third Shooting, Minneapolis Asks What Comes Next

    The images are best experienced on a larger screen. In the bitter cold of late January, Minneapolis found itself once again at the center of national attention. This was the third time in recent weeks that federal immigration enforcement actions had led to gunfire on the city’s streets, and the second such incident to result…