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The Minneapolis council member on the front lines of the resistance to ICE

Jason Chavez is one of several local leaders who have taken to the streets to oppose immigration agents

When heavily-armed federal agents and Minneapolis police officers surrounded a Lake Street taco shop in June, Minneapolis City Council Member Jason Chavez was incensed.

“This is completely wrong,” Chavez said through the rain and wildfire smoke that choked the city that day, standing feet from the yellow tape marking off the restaurant.

The scene devolved into chaos as the agents left with boxes of evidence from the restaurant, firing pepper balls into the crowd as they drove away.

Seven months later, an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good about a mile from the taco shop, also in Chavez’s ward. He responded to the scene, calling for the arrest of the agent who shot Good — later identified as Jonathan Ross — and encouraging Minneapolis residents to continue observing ICE actions.

While some elected Democrats chose to combat the swarm of immigration agents in Minnesota through traditional politicking — e.g. Gov. Tim Walz holding press conferences and negotiating behind-the-scenes with Trump administration border czar Tom Homan, or Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey pleading his case on the national media circuit — Chavez flung himself into the middle of an ongoing conflict that has made the city feel, at times, like a war zone.

Other progressive elected officials, like Minneapolis City Council President Elliott Payne, state Rep. Aisha Gomez, park board members and county commissioners, have also been on the streets, fighting against the ICE incursion. Around 650 immigration agents remain in Minnesota, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a Senate Judiciary hearing Tuesday, down from a peak of around 3,000 in late January and early February.

For Chavez, the battle is personal: Two of his uncles were deported during Operation Metro Surge — one in December, another in January.

One, who had a work visa and co-owns a Richfield pizza shop, was detained by ICE while making a delivery, Chavez said.

“You have to have conversations with your loved ones, saying that we just live in a government system that dehumanizes people,” Chavez said. “But if I’m able to ever change that, one way or another, I’m going to — and I’m going to make sure that the voices of our community are not left off the table.”

A lifeline for Latino Minnesotans

Chavez, 30, was first elected in 2021 to represent Ward 9, which includes the south Minneapolis neighborhoods of Central, Powderhorn Park, Longfellow, Corcoran, Midtown Phillips and East Phillips, where he grew up.

The ward is racially diverse, mostly working-class, and home to many immigrant-owned businesses — especially in the Lake Street corridor, where Chavez’s family found a welcoming community when they moved from Mexico three decades ago.

At Mercado Central, a Latino business hub, Chavez is greeted with smiles and hugs from business owners.

Arturo Rosas, who regularly sells Chavez and his team their beloved Kinder Eggs and other snacks from his shop inside the market, said Chavez has kept him informed.

“He was an activist who has been here since the beginning, patrolling — and like we Mexicans say, chingandoles *(fcking with) ICE so they leave,” Rosas said in Spanish.

Since immigration enforcement has increased in Minnesota, Chavez has fielded questions and requests for assistance from Latinos across Minnesota.

He and his policy aide Ivonne Hernandez are now operating as a de facto clearinghouse for people looking for help, directing them towards legal and financial resources — city programs, mutual aid networks and nonprofits.

With Operation Metro Surge winding down, fewer immigration agents are prowling the streets these days, but many immigrants stayed home from work in January and February for fear of ICE, missing out on needed income. As March 1 approached, Chavez and Hernandez were fielding dozens of requests for help paying rent. In a spreadsheet, they logged information of the callers, then matched them with a program or fundraiser that could help.

Embedded in community response

At a coffee shop table, a black whistle around his neck and a “rebel loon” sticker on his city-issued laptop, Chavez called a woman to make sure she had gotten the help she needed. She had; Hernandez checked her off the list.

His next call was to Inspector Jose Gomez, who leads Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct. There was some apparent police activity near Anderson United Middle School, which residents had mistaken for ICE.

“Who can I talk to to make sure you guys get more info?” Chavez said after explaining the situation to Gomez. Apparently satisfied with the answer, he ended the call.

Organizers told him that more patrollers in the area would help ease immigrant neighbors’ fears, so he posted a call-out on social media.

“Community members are asking for more support in the Phillips neighborhoods…There are fewer observers out today than the usual support,” he posted in English and Spanish.

Chavez regularly patrols his ward, he said. In south Minneapolis and across the Twin Cities, residents have created encrypted group chats used to track the movements of immigration agents and disrupt their activities.

“I think it’s a responsibility of people in power to show up for their constituents,” Chavez said. “To leave your constituents to face off with a racist fascist regime on their own, without having someone that has some power…I could not let my constituents be out there alone.”

He’s also using his social media accounts to share fundraisers for families affected by deportation and updates on ICE operations in English and Spanish, reaching an audience far beyond his Minneapolis ward.

Chavez said he has no aspirations for higher office. Not mayor, nor council president, or even council vice president.

Doing so would be a disservice to his constituents, he said.

“There’s just so many disparities in our community here in Ward 9, and Ward 9 deserves someone that is active…that is going to focus on addressing poverty disparities and improve the livelihood of our constituents.”

In the council chambers

Chavez and his progressive allies on the Minneapolis City Council have in recent weeks passed measures calling for a statewide eviction moratorium and allocating $1 million in funding for rent assistance — despite resistance from Frey, who signed the rent assistance measure despite his concerns about its implications for the city budget.

Chavez has long been a vocal critic of the mayor, and Operation Metro Surge has only fueled his discontent with Frey — and other elected Democrats he declined to name. He believes the City Council has shown stronger leadership during the crisis than the mayor.

“We can’t just cuss at ICE and then wipe our hands and do nothing,” Chavez said.

The conflict between Chavez and the mayor was on display in the aftermath of the June raid on the Lake Street taco shop — Chavez had posted photos of ICE agents and Minneapolis police on the site, saying that Minneapolis police had helped close off the area. A “separation ordinance” in the city bars local police from assisting with immigration enforcement.

About an hour later, the Minneapolis Police Department released a statement saying federal agents were executing criminal search warrants, and that police were called in for crowd control. Federal authorities later said the operation was tied to the discovery of 900 pounds of methamphetamine in a Burnsville storage locker, and arrested the restaurant owner on charges of illegal re-entry to the United States before deporting him. The restaurant’s involvement in the feds’ investigation of a “transnational criminal organization” is unclear.

Frey told the Star Tribune he took issue with elected officials who portrayed the events as an “immigration raid.”

The city’s independent auditor found in August that the police did not violate the separation ordinance during the federal raid. In December, the City Council unanimously approved a measure to bolster the separation ordinance.

Chavez doesn’t care if his outspoken criticisms of the mayor impacts their working relationship — Chavez said it doesn’t change how, or what, he’s fighting for.

“I feel like elected officials from all levels of government have not met the moment that we are in,” Chavez said. “Many folks expect working people, Minneapolis residents, people in the city and state, to GoFundMe, but don’t expect government to be a part of the solution.”

In a statement to the *Reformer, *Frey said he is committed to leading with unity.

“Council Member Chavez has been a strong advocate for our city and those impacted by Operation Metro Surge,” Frey said. “Despite being personally affected by the past couple of weeks, he hasn’t stopped using his voice — out in community and at the table.”

Chavez led the City Council’s efforts to distribute city dollars to small business who lost revenue during the surge. The council unanimously passed his resolution to add $7 million to a pot of money for small business recovery, which will be used for forgivable loans and events meant to attract customers.

On the streets, Chavez is aware of his appearance: he’s a queer Latino man, and ICE is accused of racial profiling and arresting citizens. He doesn’t believe his status as a member of City Council affords him much protection — if anything, it puts a target on his back, he said.

His friends get nervous, he said, and tell him to avoid putting himself in harm’s way.

“I don’t care. They’re coming after our people,” Chavez said. “Like, over my dead body are they gonna kidnap more people.”

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