In Minneapolis, journalism students are learning to report under pressure amid an immigration surge
Professors are teaching students how to pack bullet wounds, assess risk and decide when to cover marches and vigils
In the opening week of a new semester — and as roughly 3,000 immigration, Border Patrol and other Department of Homeland Security agents poured into Minneapolis as part of “Operation Metro Surge” — University of Minnesota journalism professor Regina McCombs accompanied four of her students to a “hostile environment and first aid training” course led by journalists who have covered wars.
“We learned how to treat bullet wounds, how to tie a tourniquet, and I was thinking a 21-year-old student should not have to learn to pack bullet wounds,” McCombs said.
McCombs said she worried the training might overwhelm her students, but the experience galvanized them instead. “All four of them were out Friday at the marches and Saturday they were at vigils.” One told her, “‘At least I know something I didn’t know before.’”
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