Sophia Han: ‘I’m just a little numb to it.’
Sophia Han is a senior international student at the University of Minnesota studying industrial and systems engineering.
“I went to high school in Oregon and moved here for college. I’ve been in the U.S. for almost eight years now, so four years for college and four years for high school.
“I know my roommate, she has been very anxious about ICE. I’m not as familiar with the situation as other students. A lot of people around me have been very anxious with the [ICE] activity. My roommate, who is a TA or instructor for some classes, they have been trying really hard to push online accessibility for students, but she has to go to class anyway because she is the instructor. But my class, surprisingly, did not offer any option for online, even though they have the ability to.
“I do feel a lot of support from my supervisor. I was working at a dental therapy education department. My boss was telling me, ‘If you feel not safe at all, here’s a place you can stay, because they do worry about ICE. That would be one of the major places they might target, so they’re gonna worry about that.
“I remember there was a point in time that they [ICE] just moved closer to campus. I remember the University suggesting us to bring all our documents with us. A book called ‘Maus,’ it’s a comic about World War II with the Germans and Nazis, it’s a little bit similar in some ways. It’s kind of interesting.
“One of my friends who’s very, very anxious about ICE, and she’s pretty sick, too, usually doesn’t get out of the house much, but she definitely reduced her time being outside a little bit more due to ICE.
“My parents know about the violence over here way more than I do because I’m here hearing all the bad things happening, I’m just a little numb to it. They asked me, ‘Is it real? That’s happening?’ I have to tell them that’s actually what’s happening, and they were like, ‘Whoa, so we are not seeing the misinformation, we are actually seeing the truth.’ So that was kind of interesting.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Interview by Wren Warne-Jacobsen
