Community, Labor, Faith Groups Call for Solidarity as Federal Government Targets Minnesotans Who Organized Against ICE Violence

Community, Labor, Faith Groups Call for Solidarity as Federal Government Targets Minnesotans Who Organized Against ICE Violence

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – A broad coalition of civil society groups responded with a call to unity in the face of reports that the Trump administration’s Department of Justice may have investigated without reason and engaged in surveillance of community and labor groups who helped organize tens of thousands of Minnesotans to peacefully defend their neighbors and constitutional rights during the lawless, chaotic ICE and CBP operation that terrorized countless Minnesotans. 

These organizations were engaged in the broad, peaceful civic response that brought hundreds of thousands of us together to protect our neighbors and our constitutional rights. Amid the continued weaponization of the Justice Department, we still have zero accountability for the ICE and CBP agents who terrorized countless Minnesotans and murdered Renee Good and Alex Pretti in broad daylight. Even then, they tried to lie about what happened despite video evidence.

Today, groups representing Minnesotans across parties and places, races and backgrounds issue the following statement:

“We know the truth, and we will not be intimidated. When self-serving politicians are losing, they lie and attempt political repression, trying to silence the voices of those who bravely stand up to them. Minnesotans will not be intimidated or divided by sham accusations or investigations of some of the countless groups and community members who organized, acted, and stood up together to protect their neighbors during Operation Metro Surge.

“This winter, Minnesotans stood together in rejecting the Trump regime's occupation of Minnesota. Trump’s ICE and Border Patrol agents broke countless laws while kidnapping Minnesotans based on racial profiling, violating our constitutional rights, and murdering our neighbors. In response, Minnesotans organized at an extraordinary scale. Across the state, Minnesotans joined with community, faith, labor, and neighborhood organizations to build networks that protected our neighbors and defended our constitutional rights.

“Hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans took action together, including constitutional observation, sharing food, filing legal briefs, protecting kids on their way to school, and marching in subzero weather to protect our neighbors and restore the rule of law. Minnesotans’ organized, peaceful response protected our neighbors, defended constitutional rights, and constrained abuses of federal power, showing what Minnesotans can accomplish when we act together.

“Around the country, the Trump regime’s weaponized DOJ is lashing out desperately in hopes of intimidating people and organizations that have shown the power of communities acting together to challenge abuses of government power and defend democracy. They are doubling down on their lies. In cases ranging from the Reflecting Pool in DC to the false accusations against a Minnesota man shot by ICE through a doorway, their charges have often crumbled or been withdrawn when evidence proved them false. 

“Minnesotans have already proven we won’t cave to bullies. We know the power we have when we organize and act together, and we’ll continue using that power to defend our neighbors and our freedoms. That’s what we do.”