ICE operations divide Swiss Abroad in United States 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers check a protester in Minneapolis on February 3, 2026. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

The anti-immigration policies of the Trump administration, enforced mainly by the immigration police ICE, are dividing the Swiss expatriate community in the United States. Some see the crackdown as the rise of an authoritarian regime, while others defend it as a necessary fight against illegal immigration.  

Minneapolis, a major city in the upper Midwest of the United States, has been in the spotlight for several weeks. The population and the state authorities are opposing the actions of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and Border Patrol agents, who are tasked with arresting undocumented immigrants. The killing of two American citizens by federal agents sent shockwaves across the country and beyond.  

Although the Trump administration announced last week that it was pulling 700 ICE agents out of Minneapolis, the situation remains tense in the state of Minnesota’s most populous city. Some 2,000 police officers are to remain in place.  

Dominique met her American husband in Geneva. courtoisie

Different realities just miles apart  

“We live in the neighbourhood where Alex Pretti was killed [on January 24],” says Dominique*. “The day before that, I came face to face with ICE agents in a convenience store. They were very aggressive, pulling people by their clothes and spraying them with gas. I was horrified and really scared.” The 74-year-old Swiss woman from Vevey is married to an American and has been living in the US since 1981. 

Like Dominique, Karin Stricker, 68, lives with her American husband in downtown Minneapolis. She, too, is distressed by what she witnesses every day. “When I see ICE cars or agents, I avoid them. I don’t feel safe.” 

Their reality is very different from that of David W. Mörker, 59. A delegate to the Council of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad for the United States, Mörker, who hails from Bern, says he has never come across any ICE or Border Patrol cars or agents in the city. Living in the outskirts of Minneapolis, he is aware that he has so far been “spared”. 

Urban-rural divide 

Karin Stricker and her husband Alex Lee. courtoisie

Stricker, who is originally from canton Schaffhausen, devotes part of her retirement to giving ski lessons to people with disabilities. “In the resorts where I work, you get no idea of what’s going on in the city,” she says. “But now ICE agents are starting to move into the countryside, and that’s when people may start to think differently.” 

“You have to understand that two political camps coexist in Minnesota,” Mörker explains. “The Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area is Democratic, while the rest of the state is Republican.”  

Although 51.1% of Minnesota voters cast their ballots for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, the map of results by county clearly shows Republican dominance in the vast majority of them. 

Kai Reusser / SWI swissinfo.ch

The “Twin Cities” metropolitan area of Minneapolis and Saint Paul is not, however, the first major city where the White House has deployed its federal agents. Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina, have already been the target of similar operations. But it is in Minneapolis that federal forces have encountered the strongest resistance.  

“The resistance by the authorities and people in Minnesota is driving Donald Trump crazy. That’s why he’s continuing his vendetta here,” says Dominique. 

North-south clash 

Chris Stern lives in Florida. Like Mörker, he is a delegate to the Council of the Swiss Abroad. According to him, Swiss citizens living in the northern and southern states of the United States do not share the same view of the situation. 

Christ Stern has lived in the United States since 1996. ASO

“Nationwide, the majority of counties are conservative; even more so in the South,” says Stern. Together with another delegate, he covers the southern states, and as such represents around 17,000 Swiss citizens. 

“The Swiss living in the southern states are mostly politically conservative [centre and right]. They do not approve of illegal immigration,” says the dual citizen, who is Swiss on his mother’s side (from Zurich) and American on his father’s.  

As Stern sees it, there is broad support for the enforcement of existing immigration laws among Swiss citizens abroad in his region. “After many years of inconsistent or selective enforcement, current actions by authorities are widely perceived as a return to institutional normalcy rather than an extraordinary development.” 

According to Mörker and Stern, who represent some 47,000 of the more than 84,700 Swiss citizens living in the United States, the Swiss community is saddened by the situation, but many of its members agree that action was needed.  

David W. Mörker went to the United States to study and remained there after meeting his wife. zVg

“The Swiss community in Minnesota is following the situation closely. […] Within the community, a calm, nuanced exchange of views is taking place about the law, human dignity and the rule of law. […] What many here feel is concern and compassion, not panic,” writes Mörker, for whom “respect for human dignity and the principles of the rule of law remain a cornerstone, even in difficult times”. 

‘A real authoritarian regime’ 

Dominique from Vevey, meanwhile, is forthright in her criticism: “I am very disappointed in this government. I never thought things would go this far. It’s a real authoritarian regime.” ICE, she says, will arrest anyone who is “unlucky enough to have been fined for drunk driving, or simply has an accent,” regardless of whether they are a foreign national or US citizen. 

Stricker echoes this. “They drag people out of their cars, from their homes, arrest people who are peacefully protesting and take them who knows where,” she says, referring to five-year-old Liam and his father, who were arrested in Minneapolis, detained and then released in Texas.  

She compares ICE to the Gestapo, the secret police of Nazi Germany. “Already a year ago, I said we were entering a fascist era.” She sees similarities between the methods used in the United States today and the scenes described by Anne Frank in her diaryExternal link, for instance when “children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared”. 

Switzerland and the United States 

According to 2024 figures from the Federal Statistical Office, 84,739 Swiss nationals are registered as living in the United States, making it the third-largest Swiss community in the world after France and Germany. 

The country is Switzerland’s second-largest trading partner worldwide, after the EU. It is the main destination for Swiss exports and direct investments abroad, according to the Swiss foreign ministryExternal link. 

In spring 2025, trade relations between Switzerland and the United States suffered a heavy blow when the latter announced plans to slap a 39% tariff on Swiss imports, as part of the trade war waged by US President Donald Trump. Since then, customs duties have been lowered to 15%External link, but the situation remains uncertain. 

* Name known to Swissinfo 

Edited by Samuel Jaberg. Adapted from French by Julia Bassam/ts