Some Americans are carrying their passports in Minnesota: “The reality of Minneapolis right now”

Some American citizens have begun carrying their passports in Minneapolis, fearful that they’ll be mistaken for undocumented immigrants and detained amid a surge of federal agents to the city.

CBS News spoke with several people of color, some from immigrant backgrounds, who said they weren’t leaving their homes without passports in the event they had to prove their citizenship. 

“Wrong place, wrong time”

Dana, who did not want to use her last name, said she’s making her children carry their passports around because people don’t immediately know her background when they look at her.

“I’ve been hiding in the house for the last two weeks, working from home,” Dana, who is in the process of getting her own passport, told us. She said her oldest child was home from college and she wouldn’t let her go into the city. 

“Wrong place, wrong time, something could happen, and I worry about myself, and I worry about my children,” she said.

Dana said she’s getting a passport not for travel but because she worries something could happen to her. 

“I’m hearing people that are being detained for hours and hours that are U.S. citizens and that could be me,” she said.

“It feels really dark and scary”

Alejandra, who did not want to share her last name, is a U.S. citizen who came from Mexico as a baby.

“I bring this with me everywhere,” she said, holding out her passport.

While Alejandra said it’s “not unusual” for people to carry a passport amid the surge, this isn’t typically the norm for her. 

“I feel like I’m living in a different world, in a different country, like a dictatorship,” she said. “It feels really dark and scary, honestly.”

“This is the reality of Minneapolis right now”

Aisha Chughtai is the majority leader of the Minneapolis City Council. 

“I don’t leave the house without my phone, my whistle and my passport,” she said.

“I was born in this country, I am a U.S citizen, I am an elected official, and it is dangerous for anyone in our community to be outside, be legally observing the actions of federal agents who are indiscriminately arresting and harming community members,” she said. “And this is the reality of Minneapolis right now.”