MINNEAPOLIS \u2014 Chicago Bulls guard Tre Jones returned to his home state for Thursday\u2019s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves with a heavy heart.<\/p>\n
The Twin Cities area has been the epicenter of recent conflict around Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity, which began in early December and escalated after the killing of Renee Good<\/a> on Jan. 7. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Minneapolis on Thursday morning with the stated goal of persuading Minnesotans to \u201cstop fighting\u201d against ICE agents, whose actions have included forced entry into homes without a warrant<\/a>.<\/p>\n For Jones, who grew up in the Twin Cities suburb of Apple Valley, the news stories hit too close to home to ignore. Friends and family back home have relayed reports of ICE activity and raids in their neighborhoods. In December, students walked out of Jones\u2019 alma mater, Apple Valley High School, to protest the initial wave of local ICE activity.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been tough to watch and follow,\u201d Jones told the Tribune. \u201cIt\u2019s extremely sad to see the way that people are being treated here.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones was especially struck by reports of ICE detaining and interrogating children on their way to and from school. Four children in the Columbia Heights Public School district were detained by ICE before and after school Tuesday.<\/p>\n One of them was 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, whom ICE reportedly detained and then used as \u201cbait\u201d to entice family members to open the door to their home. Ramos and another child \u2014 a 10-year-old who was walking to school with her mother \u2014 have been transferred to a detention center in Texas.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just sad to think about kids that might have been going to school with their families dealing with these types of things,\u201d Jones said. \u201cIt\u2019s people that weren\u2019t causing any harm to the communities. They\u2019re only bringing good. They\u2019re showing up to school just like the rest of us, having fun and doing things all kids want to do, and they\u2019re facing this.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s sad. We never wanted to see this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Monday that ICE officers were removing the \u201cworst of the worst\u201d with these raids. U.S. Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino said Thursday that protestors have \u201cviolently assaulted\u201d ICE officers, and President Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act<\/a> to send troops into Minnesota.<\/p>\n