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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Immigrants fear losing crucial health care if Minnesota legislators revoke access
May 29—By Allison Kite, The Minnesota Star Tribune (TNS) MINNEAPOLIS — Micaela has spent three decades tirelessly cleaning houses, working as a clerk and now owns a shop in the Twin Cities that she tends to seven days a week, only closing Christmas and New Year's Day. But those efforts have left telltale signs on her body. She struggles to walk because of debilitating knee pain brought on by years of grueling cleaning work she performed when she first arrived from Mexico. Micaela's daughter, Isis, helps her to and from the car, stocks the shelves and escorts her to the bathroom. Micaela, who only gave her first name because she is undocumented, was hopeful she could finally get treatment when Minnesota opened its state health insurance for low-income residents to undocumented immigrants. She has an appointment scheduled for her knee next month. Now, she's not sure she'll be able to get surgery as the state weighs revoking coverage for Micaela and thousands of fellow immigrants under a budget deal struck between lawmakers in St. Paul. She said she's leaning on her faith for support. "God knows what we can do at this point," Micaela said via translator. "We just — we're at His mercy." The Minnesota Democratic trifecta voted in 2023 to open MinnesotaCare to undocumented immigrants, but since the program began in January, enrollment has far exceeded expectations. The state had projected about 5,800 people to sign-up by the end of March, but more than 17,000 people entered the program. By the end of April, enrollments hit more than 20,000. Only about 4,300 enrollees have had appointments for which the state has paid out, but Republicans warn the costs of the program may balloon as additional claims roll in. Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders struck a budget agreement this month that would remove undocumented adults from MinnesotaCare but allow children to remain on the program. Approximately one-quarter of enrollees are minors, according to the state. The deal, which has not yet been approved by the Minnesota Legislature, has been met with backlash from progressive lawmakers and organizations that advocate for immigrants. In the two weeks since the deal was announced, protesters at the Capitol have shamed Walz and legislative leaders and accused them of abandoning immigrants. Rep. Esther Agbaje, DFL-Minneapolis, criticized Republicans, who have made rolling back MinnesotaCare for undocumented immigrants a priority this legislative session. "It is especially sad that they have injected into the conversation that some people must simply be left to die because their costs are too expensive," Agbaje said at a news conference at the Capitol. Sen. Jordan Rasmusson, R-Fergus Falls, said the costs to provide coverage are too great and Minnesota shouldn't "incentivize illegal immigration" by providing benefits like MinnesotaCare. He said his constituents and neighbors are glad to see the Legislature "put Minnesotans first." He noted that Illinois and California are scaling back coverage or pausing enrollment in health plans for undocumented immigrants because of the costs. "It's actually quite unusual to have a broad-based, taxpayer-funded healthcare benefit for illegal immigrants," Rasmusson said, "and in the states that have tried it, it hasn't worked." When Micaela first came to the U.S, she was often required by employers to scrub floors on her hands and knees. After a while, the physical demands of the work took their toll on her joints. "There's not a single day or minute that she doesn't pass with pain," her daughter Isis said via a translator. When Micaela's not at work, she's resting to prepare herself for another day. Micaela said she tried to buy health insurance in the private market, but she couldn't without a Social Security number. She inquired about paying out of pocket for surgery to help with her knee pain, but she can't afford it. Sitting behind the counter of her store, which sells probiotics and other items, Micaela said she doesn't like to ask for handouts. "It gives us shame to even think about being supported by government," Micaela said, "but the thing is, I haven't asked for anything at this point, and I pay for taxes when I run my business." "Everything I've done, I still can't afford to even cover my surgeries," she added. Minneapolis City Council Member Jason Chavez's father also faces the possibility of losing his access to health insurance as he undergoes treatment for cancer. Chavez spoke about his father's diagnosis in a news conference at the Capitol earlier this month. He had been keeping his father's illness relatively private, he said in an interview, but decided to go public in the hope that " would think about not stripping health care away from our most vulnerable community members." "For my father," Chavez said, "I had to." Chavez said his father did not want to be interviewed. Chavez joined Agbaje and other lawmakers in the People of Color and Indigenous, or POCI, Caucus at the Capitol to urge their colleagues to protect MinnesotaCare. He criticized Democratic legislative leaders for using health care "as a bargaining chip to balance a budget" and said Democrats' top priority had been protecting health care access "for all Minnesotans." "I'm disappointed that that isn't a priority anymore," he said. On social media, he said he was "extremely disappointed" that Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, signed off on the deal given Democrats control the Senate by a one-vote majority. "We won't forget that your re-election is next year," he wrote. POCI Caucus members pounded on the door of the governor's reception room as Walz, Murphy and House leaders announced their proposed budget deal, accusing them of "killing our communities." Faith groups have held news conferences at the Capitol and read stories of immigrants like Micaela hoping to sway lawmakers. A factory worker in southern Minnesota lost a foot to diabetes she couldn't consistently manage, said Melissa Gonzalez, a pastor at Tapestry Richfield. Now on MinnesotaCare, she has access to insulin and regular doctor's appointments. Murphy and House Democratic Leader Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, have said the decision was a difficult one. "I'm not at all surprised that this is the response," Murphy said as DFL lawmakers and others pounded on the door two weeks ago. "They are Minnesotans," she said. "They work in our communities. They work with and alongside us. They go to church with us. They are our neighbors." With a tied House and a razor-thin Democratic majority in the Senate, legislative leaders are struggling to put together a budget. Lawmakers adjourned May 19 without a budget, and with each week that passes, Minnesota draws closer to a partial government shutdown. Whether to end MinnesotaCare for people like Micaela has proven among the most contentious issues and could make it difficult for leaders to get DFL votes for a budget deal without health care for immigrants. Rep. Jeff Backer, R-Browns Valley, who volunteers as an emergency medical technician, said he feels compassion for those who need access to health care, but lawmakers have to ensure the system is solvent to serve "law-abiding Minnesotans." Backer, co-chair of the House Health Finance and Policy Committee, said he has to "look at the whole ecosystem of our healthcare system." Micaela's appointment for her knee is just around the corner, and as she awaits treatment, she's heartbroken that MinnesotaCare might be revoked. To keep her spirits up, though it's exhausting, she says she'll keep coming to work.
Miami Herald
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
5 years later, Minneapolis remembers George Floyd
MINNEAPOLIS - Sunday marks five years since George Floyd was pinned by his neck and killed by police in the streets of Minneapolis, sparking a historic wave of calls to action to end police brutality and racial injustice. Since Floyd was murdered on May 25, 2020, by Minneapolis police, observers have trekked to the city every year on the anniversary of his death to pay their respects and celebrate his legacy. "It's sad that an event like this had to happen for the community to come together," Eric Coleman, who served as part of a security team Sunday, said as he sat near a huge raised fist that's become synonymous with George Floyd Square. "But in the end, that's what you really want." Coleman said the day has waned in intensity since Floyd's death. But the anniversary's ability to bring residents together remains. Around 11:30 a.m., about 150 people wandered what is known as George Floyd Square, pausing at makeshift memorials. Visitors take in the sight of yellow roses lying on the mural painted on the spot that George Floyd was murdered five years ago at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune) On a weekend that is usually reserved for remembering fallen veterans, Floyd's presence can be felt throughout the Twin Cities - from author readings to prayer circles, concerts and more. On Sunday, there are several planned events to honor Floyd's life, with most of the major activities happening near the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue where he was killed. Around 11 a.m., a few dozen people sat in folding chairs in a parking lot for a church service for Floyd held by Worldwide Outreach for Christ. The group was diverse - white and Black, with a Minneapolis Police Department officer sitting among those in the crowd. "I appreciate this day because the sacrifice [Floyd] made was one that enabled us to realize the needs in all our communities," Pastor Curtis Farrar said to the crowd. Other scheduled events include an evening gospel concert - featuring popular local choir the Sounds of Blackness - and a candlelight vigil. This year's theme for the annual Rise and Remember Festival that celebrates Floyd's life in George Floyd Square is "the people have spoken." "Now is the time for the people to rise up and continue the good work we started," Angela Harrelson, an aunt of Floyd and board co-chair of the Rise and Remember nonprofit, said in a statement. At nearby Phelps Field Park, a "Justice for George" exhibit showcased plywood murals from 2020. A few blocks from George Floyd Square, a few people walked by rows of cardboard headstones, each one emblazoned with the name of a Black person killed by police. The "Say Their Names" cemetery has stood since 2020, with the markers commemorating Laquan McDonald and Terence Crutcher and dozens more. Among those striding through the sprawling field was Roxanne Rawson, who moved to Iowa from the Twin Cities two years ago but returned to town for the anniversary. "I couldn't imagine being any place other than Minneapolis this weekend," said Rawson, who noted Floyd's death deepened her awareness of racial injustice. Rawson, who's white, snapped a picture with her phone of the placard commemorating Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man killed in 2022 by Minneapolis police. "Just seeing this, doesn't it overwhelm you?" Rawson said, gazing out at the rows of headstones. Floyd's death ignited a worldwide movement not only to make changes in policing but also to address systemic racial inequities in other areas of society. However, the commitment to that global movement's long-term legacy has been challenged. This year's milestone anniversary is marked by a stark contrast in the political atmosphere and societal acceptance of policing reforms, equity and racial justice work that had been widely called for in the aftermath of Floyd's death in 2020. On Wednesday, the Department of Justice filed to dismiss a consent decree agreement with Minneapolis that was supposed to entail sweeping reforms. There have also been rumors that President Donald Trump, who was the president when Floyd was killed, might pardon former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted in Floyd's murder. Publicly, Trump has given no credence to the rumors. The Trump administration has also tried to ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs throughout the country in the public and private sector. On Sunday morning outside what is now known as Unity Foods, Tom Johnson made his way through the flower-strewn memorial that marked where Floyd begged for air. Johnson, who lives in Golden Valley, said the current political "backlash," especially the Trump administration's campaign to dismantle diversity and equity initiatives, has cast a pall over the already somber day. Still, the 74-year-old said he hasn't lost hope that "a better society" will prevail. Visiting the square was a small way to push back against the presidential administration, Johnson said. "I don't know what to do. ... It's something," he said. For people who live nearby, Floyd's death has left a more complicated legacy. "People come here to pay respects, take pictures and leave," said 49-year-old Marquise Bowie, who lives two blocks away from the square. The people who live and work in the area "need more than just a celebration of a person," he said. "We need resources." Since 2020, Bowie said not much has changed. The community still badly needs more investment and the rate of Black homeownership remains low, he said. Meanwhile, many of the businesses that line the corridor haven't benefited from the droves of outsiders who visit the square. "I see our neighborhood just become a tourist spot without the financial benefits of tourism," he said. __________ Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Boston Globe
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
How the Right has reshaped the narrative around George Floyd
Five years later, that consensus has disintegrated. The right-wing reshaping of the narrative of that day is in full swing, to the point where Shapiro is calling on President Donald Trump to pardon Chauvin. Advertisement In the right's retelling, Floyd did not die from being deprived of air, and Chauvin was railroaded by a country that flew into a panic over race and did not consider the facts soberly. To build this case, conservatives have packaged misleading details from court documents, images of burning and looting during the protests, Floyd's criminal record and drug use, and legal theories that lawyers say are distorted. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Related : Disputing facts that most people once agreed on has become part of a new political playbook, often employed by right-leaning pundits and politicians. But the killing of Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, was not just any news story. For conservatives, it was the catalyst for a kind of liberal mania that, some of them assert, led directly to racial hiring quotas, 'woke' curricula in school and white guilt. Advertisement 'President Trump's war on wokeness cannot be considered complete unless he addresses the fundamental injustice that started it all,' Shapiro said in March, in one of five episodes of his show on the 'Daily Wire' devoted to 'The Case for Derek Chauvin.' A protester and a police officer clasped hands during a rally calling for justice over the death of George Floyd, in New York, on June 2, 2020. Wong Maye-E/Associated Press Many prominent Trump supporters have joined the defense of Chauvin, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Charlie Kirk and Christopher Rufo. 'America will not be made whole until we receive justice for Derek Chauvin,' Jack Posobiec, a Trump loyalist and conspiracy theorist, told a cheering audience in December. 'The truth must come out about what happened with George Floyd. It was a lie and it was always a lie.' Shapiro started an online petition that his spokesperson said has nearly 80,000 signatures. On social platform X, Elon Musk said a pardon was 'something to think about.' Related : Brian O'Hara, the police chief of Minneapolis, has decried what he called an attempt to rewrite history, saying the goal was to undermine police reform. 'We all knew what we saw, and we all knew it was wrong,' he wrote in an opinion essay in The Minnesota Star Tribune in February. Misinformation began to circulate immediately following Floyd's death in 2020. A YouTube video amplified by conspiracy group QAnon claimed that the entire incident had been faked by the deep state and that Floyd, who is buried in Texas, was still alive. There were viral social media posts alleging that George Soros, the billionaire who has become a punching bag for the right, was secretly funding the protests, which was not true. As body camera videos and autopsy reports became available, right-wing news sites began to construct a counternarrative of the day of Floyd's arrest. Advertisement In these accounts, Chauvin was a decorated officer who was only following his police training. In fact, he was both honored for some actions and the subject of numerous complaints, and Minneapolis police officials testified that his treatment of Floyd did not conform to the department's training. Ben Shapiro spoke during a Conservative Political Action Conference on Dec 4, 2024, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Tomas Cuesta/Getty Tucker Carlson, a former Fox News commentator, said Chauvin was railroaded by mob justice that he likened to a Southern lynching. Other accounts suggest Floyd died not because he was pinned down for so long, but from other causes -- a drug overdose, heart disease or maybe even a rare type of tumor. Related : At Chauvin's trial, medical experts gave conflicting opinions on all three claims. The jury concluded that Floyd would not have died but for Chauvin's actions. In December, in response to an attempt by Chauvin to overturn his conviction, a federal judge granted permission to run tests on medical samples from Floyd to determine if the tumor contributed to his death. Shapiro and other right-wing commentators also argue that the jury was under intense pressure to convict, or was predisposed to do so. These accounts purport to reveal the 'real truth' about what happened. They rely heavily on autopsy reports, body camera video and other evidence that have been available for years and were presented to the jury in great detail. Many note the fact that the autopsy found no injury to Floyd's neck, though medical examiners say that a person's air supply can be cut off with no signs of injury. In an interview, Shapiro said that he had changed his mind about Chauvin's guilt while watching the trial and that he had waited to make a case for a pardon until after Trump took office. Advertisement Such a pardon would largely be symbolic. Chauvin was convicted of both state and federal crimes, and Trump has the power to pardon him only for the federal ones. If he did so, Chauvin would be transferred from federal prison to Minnesota to serve out the rest of his 22 1/2-year state sentence. In March, Trump said he was not considering a pardon, but Shapiro was undaunted. 'Concerned citizens speak out consistently,' Shapiro told his viewers. 'Eventually, those voices permeate the administration's awareness and influence what makes it onto the president's agenda.' The narrative of the invasion of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, went through a similar shift. At first, the event was met with bipartisan condemnation. But upon taking office in January, Trump pardoned the participants in what he called a 'day of love.' Media analysts say that a strategy like Shapiro's can be effective. 'Repetition and amplification equals truth for our brains, so this is how bad actors can hack the media,' said Esosa Osa, the founder of Onyx Impact, a nonprofit that fights disinformation targeting Black communities. Over the years the machinery of reinvention has cranked on. In 2022, Ye, a vocal Trump supporter, attended the premiere of a documentary by a right-wing firebrand, Candace Owens, 'The Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd and the Rise of BLM.' The rapper formerly known as Kanye West said afterward that Floyd had died of a drug overdose. Law enforcement officers stood along Lake Street as fires burned after a night of protests in Minneapolis on Friday, May 29, 2020, following the death of George Floyd. David Joles/Associated Press Another Chauvin defender was Liz Collin, a former Minneapolis news anchor who is married to Robert Kroll, the former head of the Minneapolis police union. Chauvin's first public comments appeared in Collin's documentary, 'The Fall of Minneapolis,' released in 2023. He called the trial 'a sham.' Advertisement In an interview, Collin said the idea that Floyd was a victim of racist brutality had caused unnecessary strife. She blamed officials who she said were slow to disclose information, and what she called the media's failure to emphasize elements of the narrative, such as the fact that one of the officers who arrested Floyd was Black. These gaps, she said, created a 'dangerous and divisive narrative that we're still living with the consequences of to this day.' With the fifth anniversary of Floyd's murder Sunday, Minnesota officials have braced for unrest over a potential pardon. And the right and the left have accused each other of using the issue -- and massaging the facts -- for political advantage. On his podcast, Tim Pool, a conservative influencer, said Democrats were exaggerating the possibility of a pardon to attack Trump. On the other hand, Larry Krasner, the liberal prosecutor in Philadelphia, warned his Instagram followers that they should not fall into the trap of rioting if Chauvin is pardoned. 'What they're trying to do is, they're trying to get people in the cities to engage in unrest so they can bring in the military,' he said. This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
The Heartbreaking, Infuriating Reason George Floyd's Death Haunts His 11-Year-Old Daughter in School
Five years ago, the world vowed to combat the hatred and violence which led to the murder of George Floyd. Now, it seems not much has changed as Floyd's young daughter— now 11 — is still reminded of what she lost by bullies in school. Myron Medcalf of The Minnesota Star Tribune spoke to Gianna Floyd about what life's like without her father. 'It's hard,' she said. To make matters worst, kids in school have turned Floyd's killing into ammunition to bully his only child with. 'Adolescence should come with freedom, joy and wonder,' Medcalf wrote. 'But Gianna Floyd's youth was hijacked by incomparable loss.' The 6th grader is still navigating the loss of her dad and dealing with the tragedy in her own way. 'I'm OK,' Gianna told Medcalf. Still, bullies at her Texas middle school know Floyd's story and have started to pick on her because of it. 'They've teased her at school,' Medcalf reported. 'They know about her father and the nasty things bad people say about him, so they repeat those words.' Gianna was only 6 years old when Floyd was killed by ex-officer Derek Chauvin. After his death was caught on viral video, an estimated 20 million people around the globe flooded the streets in protest to Floyd's murder and other Black killings by police. One month after his 2020 death, Gianna stood on the shoulders of NBA legend Stephen Jackson and famously said 'Daddy changed the world!' Sunday (May 25) marks the fifth anniversary of Floyd's death. Despite legislation to ensure Floyd's killing wasn't repeated, Gianna's bullies are reminders that there's still a lot of work to be done. She plans on helping with the effort. 'Let's just say a police hurts a guy, I want to be able to help them and help them to be stronger and stand up to police, that's rude,' Gianna told ABC 13.'It's okay to lose a loved one, and you're always going to see them one day again.' For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
CBS News
01-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Vietnam 50 Years Later: Minnesota welcomes war refugees with open arms
The Vietnam War started in 1955, nearly 8,000 miles away from the U.S. in the dense and remote jungles of South Vietnam. While the U.S. slowly deployed into Vietnam in the 1950s, the full deployment of combat units began in 1965. Fighting would soon spread to Laos and Cambodia, with the CIA recruiting and training thousands of Hmong people to fight on behalf of Americans during a clandestine operation in Laos known as the "Secret War." But the effort to stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia failed on April 30, 1975 with the fall of Saigon, when U.S. troops evacuated the country. According to the National Archive, more than 58,220 Americans were killed in the war. As many as 3.5 million Vietnamese people were killed, including soldiers on both sides of the conflict and civilians. More than 80,000 Hmong soldiers and refugees also died, as did 20,000 Laotians. Gov. Anderson's resettlement plans Minnesota has a rich history of welcoming refugees to the state, and were among the top 10 states across the country to do so following the war's end. In October 1975, Minnesota had received the highest number of Southeast Asian refugees in the Midwest, according to then-Gov. Wendell Anderson. But the governor was thinking, long-term, how would these refugees get the services they needed in the state? What kind of help would they need in the future? And how would they adapt and succeed in a place with a completely different culture and language? The Teng Lo family arrives at MSP Airport to the emotional welcome of their relative on May 1, 1981. The Hmong family had been in the Ban Vinai refugee camp in Thailand before flying to Minnesota. Stormi Greener/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images In December 1975, Anderson established the Indochinese Resettlement Office, which later became the Refugee Programs Office in 1981. The office worked with groups like Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services and the American Red Cross, along with local families, church groups and community organizations to sponsor refugee families and helped them settle into their new homes. Anderson also created the Indochinese Refugee Task Force to advise his office, which included representatives from social service organizations, the Vietnamese-American Association, the Cambodian refugee community, the departments of welfare, employment services and education, and the private sector. The task force had two main jobs: Collect data about Southeast Asian households in the state and provide information about classes, programs and recent laws to the refugee community. The task force would also later make efforts to address racial discrimination, hiring bias and language barriers that refugees faced when arriving in Minnesota. Best estimates show that today in Minnesota, there are more than 16,000 Laotian immigrants; more than 33,000 Vietnamese immigrants; and nearly 12,000 Cambodian immigrants. And with nearly 95,000 Hmong immigrants, Minnesota is home to the largest concentration of Hmong in America. Join WCCO on Wednesday, May 7 at 5 p.m. for a special screening of "Vietnam 50 Years Later: Reflections on a War that Changed Minnesota" at Concordia College in St. Paul — hosted by the Center for Hmong Studies: Buenger Education Center (BEC) 1282 Concordia Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55104. Attendees are encouraged to park in Lot A, Carroll Street or Syndicate Street
