ICE Comes to Rural America for American Prospect
As a kid, Tim would make trips to Willmar, Minnesota with his grandmother, wandering the stores and streets of this rural prairie town. Over the years, we’ve returned many times on assignment, often documenting the stories of Willmar’s growing immigrant community, including a New York Times story several years ago on the Somali community.
This visit felt different. We returned to explore how increased immigration enforcement has reshaped daily life, not only for immigrants but for the community as a whole. In the middle of a Minnesota winter, the town already carried the quiet stillness that comes with the season. Yet there was another layer beneath it. A sense of uncertainty and absence felt in businesses, neighborhoods, and public spaces.
These photographs are from a single day spent walking the streets of Willmar, observing a community navigating change, fear, and resilience.
