Community Values in Action

*"This Is US" coverage, and the March/April magazine issue, made possible by the deep underwriting of *Unidos MN.

Unidos MN.

Katrin Welch lights a candle at the memorial for Renée Good. Photo by Sarah Whiting

When Katrin Welch attended a community gathering at the site where Renée Good was killed by an ICE agent on January 7, she said: “I need to be here to ground with other human beings and know what is real — to get that conviction in myself so that I can be inspired and empowered to continue mutual aid work, to get people groceries, to get kids home. My heart needs it.

“I’ve been living here a few years, and I have never been anywhere where people cared better for one another. So, I feel really grateful to be in this city right now — to be part of networks that are helping, that are resisting, in such peaceful, nonviolent, and effective ways.”

Following are excerpts from some of the 20-plus stories Minnesota Women’s Press has shared about community support since January 2026 (also available collectively at womenspress.com/collective-health).

Minnesota Public Radio Town Hall

MPR hosted a town hall with community members about the impact of ICE in Minnesota (photo by Mikki Morrissette)

A town hall recorded at Minnesota Public Radio in January featured the voices of Minnesotans commenting on what they had been experiencing with the ICE occupation. Jeremy Hobson, host of the national radio show The Middle, and MPR reporter Catharine Richard were part of the discussion with audience members. [Editor’s note: We attended the discussion for this story and know the names of some who spoke, but not all.]

Hobson asked why Minnesotans seem to be bearing the brunt of the ICE surge under the Trump administration.Richard indicated a pretext the federal government utilized was coming to investigate and capture people who have committed fraud. [Minnesota courts have been litigating $250 million in fraud charges since 2022. The Feed Our Future scandal was led by a white woman named Aimee Bock, who has been convicted and is imprisoned; more than 70 others have been charged, many of them Somali restaurateurs. A Cato Institute director testified in February to a U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee, saying that noncitizens account for only five percent of welfare fraud cases.]

Audience member Ron Harris, former chief resilience officer for the City of Minneapolis, shared his perspective that Minnesota is a symbol of good governance, education, business, public media, independent journalism — and diversity. “We are a symbol, and they’re trying to tear that symbol down,” Harris said. “The point is to separate us and think that our power comes from an individual, not community. We push back by reminding them that we find our strength in community. … If they were winning, they would not be lying about [what we see in] videos.”

Kay Pranis works in restorative justice. She noted that Minnesota represents the positive side of populism that goes back for decades. “The Democratic Party in Minnesota is not called the Democratic Party. It is the DFL — Democrat Farmer Labor — representing the coalition that came out of popular voice.

“What is terrifying to Trump is the idea that the people can speak up and organize themselves to resist autocracy.”

Pranis also challenged media on the idea of being neutral. “When there’s an imbalance of power, or an imbalance in following the rule of law, then neutrality reinforces the imbalance. This claim that [the Trump administration] came here to investigate fraud — I have not seen a single thing in the media that challenges [the reality] that you investigate fraud from a desk, with accountants. People pick somebody up that they’ve clearly identified and the lawyers carry it out. It has nothing to do with guns and troops.”

An audience member commented on the hypocrisy from the Trump administration — a U.S. president who has committed many crimes and is married to an immigrant, with a vice president whose wife is the daughter of immigrants.

A man who left the Republican party 15 years ago indicated he has been involved in mutual aid work for more than ten years with faith communities. He said he was disappointed in how media focuses on the confrontations, and political leaders pointing fingers at each other, as opposed to the grassroots organizations that have collaborated for years around building responsive community. He pointed out that “quite frankly, the governor and the mayor haven’t had anything to do with our response.” What he would like people to understand is that “this is all grassroots. This is neighbors taking care of neighbors.”

A first-generation immigrant from Guatemala, who is a naturalized citizen, is the father of two biracial children — one of them on the autism spectrum. “This morning, at 6am, I woke to an ICE truck sitting outside of my house. They just sat there to intimidate. That’s the reality that we’re living in, even when you are not out there protesting.”

Another audience member with biracial children said young children are wondering where their friends are, and talking about ICE in classes and playgrounds. He raised the question about what we eventually do to heal. “It is the lack of humanity that kills me. I posted the picture of [five-year-old Liam of Minnesota, who was sent to a Texas detention center] and asked, ‘Is this the worst of the worst?’ And guess what happened? Some people [indicated they were] laughing about that situation. What do we have to do to get both parties to even sit down and acknowledge — let’s call it what it is — this is racism. It’s not about fraud. Other states have more fraud than us.”

An audience member said she wrestled with the notion of coming together to meet in the middle to move together and heal. She asked people to think about what they think the middle is. “If that is coming together, closer to the side of repressed communities, that’s a beautiful thing. But if we’re talking about moving to the middle so that things are quiet again, that’s not the same thing.”

Robin Hickman Winfield is a fourth-generation social activist from Saint Paul and a teacher. “My Latino, Somali, and Hmong students are virtually learning because they can’t leave the house.” One of her students moved to Wisconsin with relatives. Another, who was taking care of his mother, was taken by ICE agents.

One student was still coming to school, until he saw the image of an elderly Hmong man taken from his home in subzero weather in his boxer shorts. “We have to pay attention to how the young people are being traumatized.”

One woman noted that she lives two blocks from where George Floyd was killed by police, four blocks from where Renée Good was killed by ICE agents, and five minutes from the memorial for Alex Pretti. “A two-year-old child was kidnapped in the house behind our office buildings.”

Hobson indicated he could hear fear in her voice. She responded: “It’s grief, not fear. We’re not afraid. We’re standing up to ICE as neighbors. We are feeding our neighbors. We are helping them pay rent. We are helping the businesses. We are not afraid, but boy, are we exhausted.”

Rep. Samantha Sencer-Mura at podium (photo by Lydia Boerboom, Kids Count on Us)

Protecting Caregivers

Childcare providers and parents impacted by the violence of ICE agents gathered at a childcare center to share their concerns soon after 3,000 armed and masked federal agents arrived in Minnesota in January. Hillary, a parent, said her daughter attends a Spanish immersion childcare center. “Caregivers at the center are dealing with the stress of not knowing whether they will make it safely to or from work. When I see them outside of the classroom, it’s clear the level of stress and trauma — they keep this pushed deep down, so the kids don’t see it. It is an amazing kindness I couldn’t possibly ask them to give us, but they do. The only kindness I can give in return is to use my voice to speak up for them. So let me be clear that I am angry. ICE’s presence here is unnecessary and dangerous, and I’m calling on them to leave. A [Minnesota] mother has already been killed.”

Rep. Samantha Sencer-Mura (D-63A), a member of the House Children and Families Finance and Policy Committee, represents south Minneapolis, where Renée Good was killed. She said: “Childcare is the workforce behind the workforce. If we don’t have our childcare vendors, none of us can work. None of us can participate in the economy.”

Lex Martin speaks at a news conference about the values of protecting patients (photo by Sarah Whiting)

Protecting Patients

In December, ICE officers gained access to a patient at the Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) Emergency Department without presenting a valid judicial warrant. Reports indicate the patient was treated as though they were in criminal custody, including being denied family visitation and, at times, being shackled to the bed. ICE officers were given access to staff-only spaces, such as break rooms.

After the patient was watched by ICE agents for 28 hours, community leaders and hospital personnel were finally able to convince management to get the agents to leave.

A news conference was called, as a media release explained, “not simply to recount what went wrong [at HCMC]. It is to make clear what must happen next. Hospitals, clinics, and healthcare systems must adopt and train staff on protocols that uphold patient rights, protect privacy, and ensure compliance with the Fourth Amendment. When institutions have a plan, patients are safer, healthcare workers are protected, and communities retain confidence in seeking care.”

More than 300 frontline health care professionals had been trained on what to do if ICE enters a hospital or clinic, led by the Unidos Health Care Committee. A medical student who took part in the worker trainings, Jamey Sharp, was among several people speaking at the news conference to convey the importance of health care facilities and other businesses to establish clear processes about what to do.

Sharp said that over the course of eight months in 2025, healers had gathered to “brainstorm responses, research our legal obligation, and create a network — a web of healers that work together when a community member needs help. This is an invitation to health care workers across Minnesota: get trained, get organized, and protect your patients.”

Speakers pointed out that immigration is a civil issue, not a criminal one, so it is an overstep to treat a patient as if he or she is a criminal.

A directive of suggested protocols was created and is available here.

Eviction Moratorium

Nelsie Yang of the Saint Paul City Council is one person who spoke out about protecting Twin Cities residents from evictions during a news conference. (photo by Olivia Worcester)

Jess Zarik, co–executive director of HOME Line, has seen a large increase in calls from renters in need of financial aid, sometimes because the caller relies on the income of someone who has been abducted by ICE. She was one of several who spoke at a news conference outside the Minnesota Public Housing Authority, which had in January already served at least 35 notices for eviction. [Through mid-February 2026, there had been 3,092 evictions filed across the state.]

“Evictions are not just paperwork. They are the state deciding who gets to stay housed and who gets removed, separating families, destabilizing neighborhoods, and pushing people deeper into crisis,” Zarik said. “Housing is treated as a commodity instead of the basic human right it is. The result is cruelty, especially when landlords, including public ones, choose punishment over care. … We’re seeing a nearly 80 percent increase in renters seeking financial assistance compared to last year — levels that exceed even the early months of the COVID pandemic.”

Becca Dryden, a parent organizer for the Minneapolis Families for Public School, reiterated the fear families are experiencing. She said, “I’ve been in meetings with other parents and educators, scrambling to figure out how to keep our community members, our kids, in safe homes.”

She said more than 950 people have been trained in a sanctuary school model of protection and mutual aid. “We’ve recorded almost $1 million in funds raised by our community. … But let us be clear, this burden cannot be placed solely on our already depleted community.

“We need elected officials at every level of government to step up and follow our lead by doing everything in their power to care for Minnesota families who are living in fear and facing eviction.”

Updates as of February 24

- Representative Lish Kozlowski (D-Duluth) opened the legislative session with a bill ( for an act relating to taxation; local government aids; establishing a onetime emergency rental assistance aid for counties; appropriating money.HF3403) - Senator Lindsey Port (D-Burnsville), chair of the Senate Housing Committee, and Representative Michael Howard (D-Richfield), co-chair of the Housing Committee in the House, released an action plan with recommendations that all levels of government can take to prevent an eviction crisis. They propose $50 million in emergency rental assistance and state policy changes to make it easier for renters to make rent and avoid eviction. They also propose extending Minnesota’s pre-eviction notice to 30 days to allow renters more time to access rental assistance (current law requires a 14-day pre-eviction notice) and allowing for community-based organizations operating rental assistance programs to provide a guaranteed letter of assistance. For safety reasons, they also urge all district courts to provide an option for tenants to hold their eviction proceedings in a virtual setting. One response rejecting the proposed policy came from Rep. Jim Nash (R-Waconia) who did not agree with lawmakers and community members who indicated that residents were staying at home over fears of encountering ICE agents: “I don’t think that they have had an inability to go to work.”

From Greater Minnesota

Kristal Gray (courtesy photo)

Kristal Gray shared her experience — as a veteran, graduate student, and someone who “grew up on the intersection of a river bend and a gravel road in southern rural Minnesota.”

Instead of isolating in her grief about the current regime, she says, she reached out to find community. “There’s something vulnerable and invigorating about being the only person standing out on the icy sidewalk. Thankfully, I only stood alone one day — because soon other organizers and community members joined. There is a growing movement of grassroots organizing happening all over rural southern Minnesota … such as postcard-writing ladies with widespread connections — all working together across county lines and between small towns in ways I’m not sure has ever happened out here before. …

“There are hard conversations that need to be had: white people talking to other white people. So, we stand, we connect, and we act in the name of Love. We call out bigots and make racism shameful and ignorant again.”

Nekima Levy Armstrong at a news conference about her arrest for protesting (photo by Sarah Whiting)

Protesting an ICE-Affiliated Minister

Nekima Levy Armstrong and others were arrested for a nonviolent protest at a Sunday service at Cities Church in Saint Paul. “We thought congregants would want to know they have a pastor in their church doubling as the director for the ICE field office in Minnesota,” Armstrong told Minnesota Women’s Press. “The core of the gospel message is to love thy neighbor as you love yourself. And ICE has been doing the opposite of that.”

After being released from jail for that protest, she and others involved talked about the experience, including an assault on a friend who had been tackled by federal agents because they thought she was Armstrong. “Not saying freeze, not saying you’re under arrest, but acting like they were on a football field with regard to the brutality that they exhibited toward a Black woman. … Think about the lengths that the White House went to in order to capture nonviolent protesters at a church. Meanwhile, they have yet to conduct an investigation into the killing of Renée Good and Alex Pretti.”

Armstrong described the aftermath of her arrest, when she and a fellow protestor, Chauntyll Allen, were taken to the Sherburne County Jail using three sets of restraints “as if we were hardened criminals and murderers. We had ankle shackles on, belly chains around our waist, and handcuffs with bars in the middle. Being shackled as if I was a slave. It is unacceptable and unconscionable.”

She talked about the culpability of mainstream media in spotlighting White House spin.

“Minnesotans have been loving our neighbors and putting our bodies on the line while ICE has been attempting to destroy our neighbors. … It’s unacceptable especially to see our hometown media publications — that know exactly what is going on here — make headlines about [Vice President] JD Vance coming to town. Who gives a damn if he comes to town? We need to amplify the voices of the people who are out there in the freezing cold, day in and day out, making sure that Minnesota does not yield to fascism, authoritarianism, or tyranny.”