HARWOOD, N.D. — A reported visit by U.S. Vice President JD Vance to a new data center under construction near Harwood led to an impromptu protest near the site Monday.
Lyn Dockter-Pinnick with Indivisible Fargo-Moorhead got word that Vance was touring Applied Digital on Monday, Jan. 12, and quickly mobilized other members over the noon hour.
About 20 people stood at a gravel road intersection south of the
$3 billion artificial intelligence data center
site, chanting “JD Vance has got to go” and holding signs denouncing fascism.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
It turns out the visitor was not Vance but U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer, according to Harwood Mayor Blake Hankey.
The Secretary is visiting all 50 states as part of the America At Work Tour, she posted to her X account on Sunday, Jan. 11.
Chavez-DeRemer and an entourage reportedly arrived at the Fargo Jet Center Monday morning. A string of black limousines was seen leaving the Jet Center for the Applied Digital site in Harwood, according to a member of Indivisible F-M.
Regardless of who the federal government visitor was, Dockter-Pinnick said protesters wanted to take a stand against
detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents,
U.S. strikes against Venezuela
and other actions ordered by the Trump administration.
“No good comes from that kind of occupation. No good comes from using a military force against civilians in a peaceful time,” she told The Forum.
Monday’s protest comes just days after
Renee Good was fatally shot in her vehicle
in a Minneapolis neighborhood by an ICE officer after she’d first been ordered to leave the area, then ordered to exit her vehicle.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Michael Southam, co-founder of FM Volunteers for Ukraine, was at the Monday protest in a show of solidarity.
He said he’s learned of ICE detainments of Ukrainians in the Twin Cities who have pending asylum cases or pending temporary protected status (TPS), which should protect them from deportation.
The fatal shooting of Good and reports of possible ICE incidents in the region early this week have people on edge.
“Some people are scared to leave their homes. Others are really afraid that ICE will break into their homes or into their apartments,” Southam said.
Dockter-Pinnick said many of those who’ve been detained across the country are legal immigrants, not “rabid criminals that Donald Trump is saying that he’s purifying the country of.”
Chris Flynn / The Forum
She said labeling immigrants as the enemy is a fascist tactic that her father, a WWII veteran, fought against.
“We’re really, really concerned for our neighbors and we’re really, really concerned about what is happening in our country,” she said.
Huebner is a 35+ year veteran of broadcast and print journalism in Fargo-Moorhead.