MINNEAPOLIS: In a Minneapolis apartment, the curtains are drawn and a table with four computers and three children make a crude substitute for a classroom.<\/p>\n
Esmeralda, Kevin and Carlos have stopped going to school \u2014 at least physically \u2014 in the weeks since US immigration agents surged into the Midwestern city.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I go out, it\u2019s only outside in the hallway,\u201d Kevin, 12, told AFP.<\/p>\n
Like many immigrant children in Minneapolis, Kevin is taking his classes online \u2014 a practice schools thought they had left behind after the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Online learning has once again become a necessity for some in the community as people remain indoors, seeking to avoid President Donald Trump\u2019s mass deportation campaign.<\/p>\n
After a raid on Esmeralda\u2019s high school about a month ago, her mother Abril decided none of her children would leave the home. She has no idea when they will step outside again.<\/p>\n
Like all members of the family, Abril spoke to AFP under a pseudonym.<\/p>\n
The family came to the United States from Mexico a year and half ago to seek asylum, and they are still waiting on a legal decision.<\/p>\n
People with such cases have been targeted by immigration officials after the Trump administration launched a review of the legal status of the approximately 5,600 refugees in Minnesota who have not yet been given green cards.<\/p>\n
A federal judge temporarily blocked the administration late last month from detaining refugees awaiting permanent resident status in the state.<\/p>\n
On a recent February morning, the children woke up for classes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then, more classes and more classes. Then we have lunch and we stay here on the computer for a while longer, doing more work and homework,\u201d 14-year-old Esmeralda told AFP, headphones on in the middle of a lesson about fossils.<\/p>\n
Turning their table into a classroom and their home into a bunker is \u201cweird,\u201d \u201cstressful\u201d and \u201cboring,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
– \u2018Not even free to laugh\u2019 –<\/p>\n
Kevin said he misses his friends and teachers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can see each other, but we\u2019re not exactly together. It\u2019s not the same thing to be on a video call,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
At school during in-person classes, \u201cwe could go outside to the park,\u201d Carlos, the youngest, reflected.<\/p>\n
Abril and her husband Rigoberto are increasingly worried about how her children are handling the self-imposed lockdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey ask why this is happening or why, if we\u2019re not doing anything wrong, we\u2019re hiding, and how long it\u2019s going to last,\u201d said Rigoberto.<\/p>\n
A mechanic, he has not been to his auto shop in more than a month, even though it\u2019s only a block away.<\/p>\n
Federal immigration agents deployed to Minneapolis in December, and heavily armed officers wearing masks have been a common presence ever since.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we read that they\u2019re nearby, we turn off the TV and it\u2019s like, \u2018Kids, don\u2019t make noise, kids, be quiet,\u2019\u201d Abril said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not even free to laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n
– No sleep –<\/p>\n
It has all taken a toll on Abril, who barely sleeps.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes I stay up until dawn,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The last time she stepped outside, she said, was December 3 \u2014 more than two months ago.<\/p>\n
The curtains, meanwhile, have covered the windows for five weeks straight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t even go out to take out the trash,\u201d Abril told AFP.<\/p>\n
With both Abril, a housekeeper, and her husband out of work because they are afraid to venture outdoors, a neighbor has helped them with groceries.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the head of the family, it\u2019s something very, very difficult for me not to be able to do anything for them,\u201d said Rigoberto.<\/p>\n
Eventually, they know they will be able to step outside, \u201cbut things won\u2019t be the same,\u201d Rigoberto said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fear will always remain.\u201d<\/p>\n
What does Abril miss the most?<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing to church,\u201d she said. \u201cTaking the children for ice cream, maybe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MINNEAPOLIS: In a Minneapolis apartment, the curtains are drawn and a table with four computers and three children make a crude substitute for a classroom. Esmeralda, Kevin and Carlos have stopped going to school \u2014 at least physically \u2014 in the weeks since US immigration agents surged into the Midwestern city. \u201cIf I go out, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":93385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93370"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93386,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93370\/revisions\/93386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}