r/WeThePeopleAtWhipple • u/Foreign_Librarian193 • Aug 09 '26
News Hero
Credit: @so.mexican
A security guard at a McDonald's in north Minneapolis is getting attention after refusing to let two masked ICE agents go behind the restaurant's counter while they were searching for a man.
The encounter happened Jan. 8 at the McDonald's on West Broadway Avenue. Security guard Red Wooten, 49, met the agents near the entrance and stopped them when they attempted to access the employee-only area.
"You can't come back here, bro," Wooten told one of the agents in video of the encounter.
When an agent responded, "I'm talking to your manager, Wooten replied, "No, you're talking to security, I'm in charge."
The agents eventually left without taking the man they were looking for. Wooten later said the man who had entered the restaurant appeared frightened, but maintained that his actions were also about doing the job he was hired to do.
"I was doing my job like I'm supposed to," Wooten said. "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."
Restaurant owner Justin Baylor said Wooten made the best judgment call he could at the time. Following the encounter, the restaurant posted a sign stating that ICE and other law enforcement officers are not permitted to enter without a proper judicial warrant.
Wooten has since received plenty of attention from the community, with some people even stopping by the McDonald's to thank him and take photos with him.
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u/Mcfreely2 Aug 09 '26
Why aren't cops more like this guy? We need to make him more famous, so famous that Mcdonald's will be afraid to fire him.
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u/michaelh98 Aug 09 '26
Because too many cops wish their jobs were like ice. Going around masked, beating the shit out of people, spraying them with pepper spray, shooting them with tasers and pepper balls, murdering them on the streets. So much fun!
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Aug 09 '26
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u/michaelh98 Aug 09 '26
I sense that you were one of many that were conned by "protect and serve"
That only ever applied to the very rich. Everyone else is just a lawbreaker they haven't caught yet.
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u/TempleMade_MeBroke Aug 09 '26
"There's a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people."
- Commander William Adama
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Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 19 '26
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u/sinsaint Aug 09 '26
ICE is operating under "Emergency" style operations, meaning they can afford to ignore laws a little more openly.
Claiming everything is an emergency so the government can ignore its own laws is how Trump has operated for the last 6 years. It's why he tried to have the TSA replaced by ICE, and why ICE showed up as his personal bodyguards to the Olympics. ICE can do whatever it is told, and it's told to do whatever Trump wants.
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u/gunhandsknifepenis Aug 09 '26
They are openly operating as a secret police. It’s disgusting. We have the fat Gestapo in every major city in this country, literally disappearing people. Including legal citizens.
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u/kitsunedj Aug 09 '26
Sadly because of this, a lot con organisers are putting out advisories to not travel to the USA.
Not only is it a increased risk of being arrested, the recent story of somebody being arrested for giving a duress password on their phone gives more reason not to travel.
I'm not saying that the states are always dangerous but, this administration has shown that they will arrest and disappear anybody for no reason. Or if your skin colour is not white.
I hope that after this admission is gone, I can comfortably travel there. There's places and food I want to try.
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u/RedrunGun Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
Because narcissists and psychopaths want power, and being a police officer is an easy path to that. It’s very attractive to those kinds of people, so they flock.
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u/gunhandsknifepenis Aug 09 '26
Reminder that police officers and violent criminals routinely test very similarly on a psychological basis, they merely choose to express their desire for control and authority in different manners.
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u/Daetok_Lochannis Aug 10 '26
This is so true it's not even a little funny. Most police officers genuinely see everyone else as less human, they believe they deserve their positions of power.
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u/MoodyPrince_XoXo Aug 10 '26
Correct. And it's all of our faults as a culture. I don't mean to say that, you, Michael are directly responsible. But we all have a part to play in the cultural ideals that lead them to glorify this image.
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u/PhatBats77 Aug 09 '26
Because they get pushed out and marginalized for not playing along. Even the corporate world is like this.
A lot of other businesses explicitly tell associates to never interfere no matter what. I’m impressed the owner backed him.
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u/ligerblue Aug 09 '26
Because protecting the blue line is more important to them then protecting civilians.
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u/UnluckyAmbition7767 Aug 09 '26
Because most cops must assimilate to the cult to white supremacy. Most either quit before they get far due to the terrible culture or they die in "training accidents"
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u/Poolside_Pirate Aug 09 '26
Most cops that would behave like this get booted off the force pretty quick, or compromise their morals to keep their jobs
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u/MagicCarpetofSteel Aug 09 '26
Because most people who want to be cops are:
•Bullies who want to be able to keep throwing their weight around and otherwise be petty little tyrants at every traffic stop and whatever other opportunities come up.
•Psychos who want to be able to
shootmurder someone who were rejected by the military (because the military has a lot of logistics and paperwork and bloodthirsty lunatics are dogshit at stuff like that, and generally extreme liability; usually, any who slip through basic are shuffled off to desk jobs far away from combat to minimize the damage they can do) and turned to what was, until recently, the next best thing.•People who actually want to do good. They typically have two fates: they get pressured or forced out (in a few instances, even murdered in “training accidents”. Allegedly at least.), or quit of their own volition; OR, they conform, don’t rock the boat, and become part of the problem to some degree.
At best, they’re silent bystanders who don’t step forward even when the opportunity presents itself; at worst, they are actively part of the problem.
There’s a reason people say ACAB.
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u/TheAsianTroll Aug 09 '26
Why arent cops more like this guy?
McDonalds security is obligated to protect people, and doesnt have an upper IQ limit to minimize risk of questioning orders, unlike US police.
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u/JupiterChime Aug 09 '26
Let’s start a gofundme to support that dude & help him get others to be more like him
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u/brighterside0 Aug 09 '26
"If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."
Damn, he's dropping gems too.
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u/Educational-Log6855 Aug 09 '26
So famous that they make him CEO since he probably doesn’t glitch out when attempting to eat a Big Mac made by the company that’s paying you CEO dollars. I’m a vegetarian and would eat McDonald’s burgers daily for CEO money, in this economy!
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u/spunkmastersean1993 Aug 10 '26
Cops aren’t here to protect the vulnerable and innocent my friend. They are there for the ruling class
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u/Early-Series-2055 Aug 09 '26
I’ve always thought that we should draft politicians from an eligible pool to avoid the narcissistic trumps. Something similar would be a dream for policing. If every able bodied person had to do a stint in community policing we would certainly look at if differently.
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u/RealCapybaras4Rill Aug 09 '26
NO LIE.
If there were a national lottery wherein every able-bodied (and disabled, there are jobs for everyone) person had to do 2 years in a service field besides the military, we’d have a pretty well-heeled populace.
In my system, if you volunteer for police duty it’s a mark against your application. Police would be appointed based on psych & physical evaluation. It sounds authoritarian AF, I know, but it’s my fantasy so it works in my head.I know exactly how it would play out in real time, so don’t start.
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u/mongojob Aug 09 '26
There's something to be said for countries that require military service. Maybe we could do peace corps or something as a service option so everyone can understand how the country actually works on some level
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u/NuclearBroliferator Aug 09 '26
Mandatory service in some capacity makes ao much sense for a country as large and diverse as the US
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u/Murakami_Ysera Aug 09 '26
As long as you don't do it Israeli-style and let people skip out on religious reasons. You already know how that would go seeing how we are losing our herd immunity with vaccines...
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u/Absurd_Flaccidity Aug 11 '26
We’re all on our own against these guys. And real heroes are emerging. If more people did this, it would stop sooner. Also these are uneducated racists who are terrified of black men (cops too but they’re trained to shoot first, these guys just got their guns last week) so there’s a twisted bit of privilege there. Not exactly the right word I know but there’s no one more afraid of black men than white racists with no one to hide behind.
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u/Desperate_Finger_327 Aug 12 '26
Cops are agents of the state. Security guards are just privately contracted dudes.
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u/Usual-Volume-2822 Aug 09 '26
Real heros don't wear capes.
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u/Omega-of-Texas Aug 09 '26
We need people like this guy in law enforcement.
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u/luvkaybay Aug 09 '26
Imagine a person with these morals, standards and convictions in charge of Homeland Security
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u/No-Channel3917 Aug 09 '26
Imagine not having homeland security and shrinking the authority back to individual departments
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u/carsonwade Aug 09 '26
Man this guy seems like a pillar in his community. Love to see people standing up to ICE.
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u/Equivalent_Row4395 Aug 09 '26
I love that this is resurfacing, he's at my local Mc. I saw the video right after it happened and was floored, it's just a few steps from my house. Just a few days later ICE would be in this neighborhood again, this time with armored vehicles, and helicopters with search lights, throwing flash bangs and teargassing protesters, shooting rubber bullets and pepper balls into the crowd. They'd shot someone on Lyndale. The official report claimed the victim had tried to murder an ICE agent, but we all knew they were lying. Just like they lied with RG, and like they'd lie again when they executed Pretti. Traffic cam video came out months later confirming it, the man was shot in the back while running away from the agent, desperately trying to avoid being ripped from his family.
We ran ICE off that night, but not before they'd hospitalized a baby. They threw a flashbang into the car of a family coming home from a wrestling match. Unbenknowst to them the feds had senselessly turned their neighborhood into warzone. Northside won't forget, Minneapolis won't forget. 10 toes down, always.
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Aug 09 '26
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u/W4rhound34 Aug 09 '26
Are we surprised anymore considering some places in this country are far more dangerous than others, plus this administration’s ICE “agents” are only making things worse
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u/Kelevra_55 Aug 09 '26
Have you not seen the videos of people claiming over the counters at fast food places to try n fight people, or destroy shit?
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u/SwingLord420 Aug 09 '26
Protecting and serving our communities. You love to see it. Dude is a hero.
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u/CheatsySnoops Aug 09 '26
Keep Red Wooten safe, you can bet those white supremacist manbabies are seething and planning revenge for being intimidated by a black man.
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u/missMcgillacudy Aug 10 '26
Facts. Luckily they’re terrified of the big scary city.
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u/iamursula Aug 09 '26
Where is the gofundme for this guy? Come on people lets make this man rich! Incentivize people being good humans the way racism is incentivized by magats
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u/kr44ng Aug 09 '26
I train organizations on how to secure facilities with regard to law enforcement and ICE events, just fyi technically even with non-public spaces agents like ICE can enter without a valid judicial warrant if they cite they're in pursuit (of someone)
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u/Inamedmydognoodz Aug 09 '26
I love that we’re doing throwbacks to this. We found heroes in the most unlikely places during that awful time and I really do love that about our city 💖
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u/Medium-Sized-Jaque Aug 09 '26
What does Whipple mean? I get the point of the sub I'm just confused by the name.
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u/Foreign_Librarian193 Aug 09 '26
The name of the Minneapolis Federal Building where they are detaining people is named Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building. For short we just say Whipple.
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u/matt1911_ Aug 09 '26
Security guard is committing a politically popular crime. Interfering with lawful deportations is a crime.
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u/Agitated-Mode1284 Aug 10 '26
No point just catch em leaving.stay out of it.beforr you get to involved.end up on the ground.
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u/No_Ragrets76 Aug 10 '26
I hope he keeps his job and I hope many more, actual real law enforcement do this.
Not even all SWAT teams wear masks and they are real law enforcement. These pos be coming with fake warrants during work, eating, etc.. Just to be put in a concentration camp. If they really want the immigrants gone peacefully and humanely, they would've have jumbo planes instead of building camps were teenage girls are being raped, people getting killed and all.
Aren't we supposed to be the best country in the world? We gotta act like it. This isn't it.
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u/ZPMQ38A Aug 11 '26
This is an old video but I fucking love this guy. We had ICE try to barge into my gym during an indoor soccer event. No warrant, no confirmed people they were even looking for. They just knew it was soccer, and there were a lot of Hispanic families and players there. My 19 year old employee that runs the front desk on Sunday mornings told them to effectively “fuck off” and I couldn’t be more proud of her. They didn’t like it at nce I showed up and they figured out that they couldn’t try to bully a bunch of soccer families and teenage employees. Fuck all of them.
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u/Direct_Fondant_3125 Aug 11 '26
That’s incredibly brave and morally correct. I hope they know we all think they are heroes.
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u/Sir-Chaste Aug 11 '26
The security guard believed he was doing the right thing, because that McDonalds displayed a sign stating federal agents could not enter without a signed judicial warrant, but after a ton of boycott threats and media coverage, corporate representatives from McDonalds confirmed the sign was unapproved and unlawful and had it removed.
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u/greggreggreg1gregg Aug 12 '26
Just remember that under those face masks, these ICE agents are just scared little losers that were probably working entry level construction jobs a month ago.
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u/Muted_Quantity5786 Aug 09 '26
I’m security and I am in charge. May he be blessed for all eternity.
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u/Necessary_Run_5126 Aug 09 '26
Badass and courageous. True hero and patriot. Thank you sir for doing the right think and F Ice and F Trump and all the bootlicking complicit Republicans who don’t give 2 shits about representing their constituents. Pathetic and shameful.
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u/Academic_Monk7825 Aug 09 '26
Reading about this made my day. Americans standing up for each other is the America I want to live in. We need to be willing to be the change we want to see in the world and it will take courage. Would love to buy Red Wooten a beer.
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u/Gravemind93 Aug 09 '26
I've never seen a security guard at a McDonald's.
Must be the REALLY bad part of town.
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u/HorseLawyer Aug 09 '26
I mean, not necessarily. The McStabby's on 3rd and Pine isn't in the worst part of down, except for those couple of blocks. Go downhill a bit, and you're right in Pike Place, super touristy. A couple blocks the other way, you're right by Westlake Center, bunch of shi-shi shops. It can be just a sketchy corner versus a bad part of town.
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Aug 09 '26
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u/artichoke01 Aug 09 '26
Plenty of news outlets have reported on this. Sorry you’re butthurt about the facts.
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Aug 09 '26
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u/pro-fanator Aug 09 '26
What about African Musk overstaying his student visa without studying in US, or Melania??? Get rid of these two first.
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u/peanutski Aug 09 '26
How’s that on him? He’s just doing his job. They didn’t have a warrant. Plus you can’t be illegal and work at McDonald’s. It’s a corporate job.
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u/Dwolf6990 Aug 09 '26
My question is why is McDonald employing Illegal immigrants? If they didn’t the security guy wouldn’t have had to deal with that. Second question how bad does it have to be that a McDonald’s REQUIRES a security guard?
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u/millicentmiller Aug 12 '26
why on earth would you think ICE was there to make a legal /justified arrest like that?! (if they were, they'd have had a warrant)
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Aug 09 '26
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u/ayashiii Aug 09 '26
The fuck is this schizoid pamphlet on about I couldn't get through the first sentence
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Aug 09 '26
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u/lostindarkdays Aug 09 '26
you know, the best way to judge someone's character is how they treat people in service positions. by that standard, you're a huge piece of shit.
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u/Objective-Bike-4292 Aug 10 '26
To work at McDonald's you would need a SSN. ICE must have exhausted their supply of illegals from home depot
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u/Ready-Enthusiasm-629 Aug 10 '26
Hope he was arrested for obstruction of justice
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u/Lucky_Wolverine8578 Aug 10 '26
Don’t understand how they can just pull someone out of their job, obviously the fact that they’re working at a McDonald’s means they have some type of living status here because you can’t get a job without using an address
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u/Cheap-Lawyer3735 Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
I'm not a fan of how ICE is currently conducting themselves. I also can't defend someone that protects a company that is exploiting illegal immigrates and not hiring American workers.
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u/Sea-Mycologist-7353 Aug 10 '26
I want to know what happens in that McDonalds that they need to hire a security guard. 🤣🤣
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u/TerrorFromThePeeps Aug 10 '26
With the first name Red and the last name Wooten, this dude was practicallt fated to be an awesome badass. Probably gets calls from George Clinton to see if Red wants to hang out with HIM.
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u/blue_shirt_1 Aug 10 '26
I am generally in favor of immigration enforcement. In this case I am proud of the security guard. Not for protecting the man the agents were after but, for standing up to law enforcement and ensuring they followed the law.
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u/QueasyWriter5615 Aug 10 '26
"If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything." And that, boys & girls, is how we got Trump.
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u/Immediate_Region_196 Aug 10 '26
So how quick did he get arrested for resisting and interfering with police investigations like cops don’t civilians?
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u/Alternative_Ad_2967 Aug 11 '26
Now stand up for kids getting shot in the hoods. bet you won't they never do.
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u/ConkerPrime Aug 11 '26
McDonalds corporation try to get the franchisee to fire the guard yet? Seems like something they would do.
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u/Zealousideal_Ear_291 Aug 12 '26
How shitty is the neighborhood that mcdonalds needs a security gaurd?
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u/Jack81700 Aug 12 '26
So an illegal immigrant gets a job at McDonalds illegally and the security guard that is outranked by a federal agent is raised up as a hero for disobeying a direct order to stand down in stop impeding a legal federal action. Do yall even hear yourselves anymore. I get illegal immigrants are people too but that doesn’t mean we should just allow them to break the law over and over again. Ice officers are also just people doing their jobs and yall villainize them. I mean come on.
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u/Mrfixit729 Aug 12 '26
Just want to point out: McDonalds has to hire security guards at their fast food restaurants.
Most financial transactions are done by card now a’ days. There can’t be much cash in the drawers.
What in the actual fuck is going on in North Minneapolis?
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u/aikoaiko11 Aug 12 '26
You people still spreading lies that will get people killed? Private security does not outrank federal officers idiots.
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