You Are Now Entering Free Minneapolis - REBEL News Ireland

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Minnesota. Mni Sóta Makoce. The North Star State. L’Étoile du Nord. The Conscience of the United States.

Minnesota has a long and progressive history of resistance. From the 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters truckers strike, to the American Indian Movement (AIM) being birthed out of Little Earth in south Minneapolis, to the George Floyd Uprising which ignited a racial reckoning around the country, the people of Minnesota have shown that they are ready to stand up and fight for justice.

For three months Minnesota has been under siege and under occupation by our federal government, primarily by Immigration & Customs Enforcement. ICE has been around since 2003, implemented by the administration of former President George W. Bush. Since its inception, ICE has been utilized to target and harass immigrants, the most recent attacks being a prime example.

ICE agents are reminiscent of Custer’s army, slave patrols, the Klu Klux Klan, the Gestapo, and the Israeli Occupation Forces. ICE is Trump’s secret police and his personal army. They consist of white supremacists of all stripes, from those pardoned for their treasonous acts on January 6th, 2021 to the Proud Boys. Minneapolitians believe Donald Trump is retaliating against the city for the George Floyd Uprising that resulted in a racial reckoning across the country. There is also a belief that Minnesota is facing backlash for being a Democratic stronghold. Minnesota has consistently stayed blue for half a century when the rest of the country has gone red.

Minnesota has long been a state of protection for Somali, among, queer, political, and climate refugees. Conservatives cynically call Minnesota a welfare state because of its willingness to support refugees, single parents, and many other groups of people who have been historically marginalized and cast aside in our society. Right wing agitator Nick Shirley conjured up a false story about so-called “Somali-fraud” through daycare centers. The rhetoric on the right has long been used to put communities on the defense. Once lies based on racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia are created; they are difficult to counter.

ICE has conducted raids at businesses, homes, and near schools. They’ve been taking people out of cars— even crashing into them— and ripping people off their bikes. When neighbors and allies stand up against ICE, they are met with tear gas, despite it being banned in international warfare, as it is known to be carcinogenic. Long Range Acoustical Devices (LRAD) have been utilized at noise demonstrations where ICE agents are sleeping at hotels 1Noise demonstrations are demonstrations designed to prevent ICE agents getting sleep. See ‘

Sonic warfare:How musicians are using ‘noise protests’ against ICE’,

Dazed, February 2026.. LRAD not only damages hearing, but also causes psychological harm. These masked agents are abducting immigrants (whether they are citizens or not), but also Black folks who are descendants of slavery, Native American & Indigenous peoples, and white allies. ICE also targets visibly queer and trans people as well.

Local Histories

After ICE abducts members of our community, they detain them at the Whipple Federal Building. If we are lucky, we are able to get them released. Some have been recaptured minutes, hours, and days after their release. In the worst cases, our neighbors have been flown out to Texas and held at the Dilley detention center, where the likelihood of survival decreases. In these cases, our first priority is to provide legal aid and to get them released as soon as possible.

The Whipple Federal Building that holds our abducted neighbors is named after Bishop Henry Whipple who urged the federal government not to execute 303 Dakota people. He was known as “Straight Tongue” for his honesty by the Dakota and disparagingly referred to as “The Sympathizer” by settlers. He was able to save many, but still dozens of Dakota peoples were hanged in an execution ordered by President Abraham Lincoln as revenge for the US-Dakota war of 1862.

The Whipple Federal Building is also near Fort Snelling, which was a concentration camp for First Nations people. It is also where Dred Scott and his wife Harriet were held, even though slavery was illegal in Minnesota. Dred Scott would be a part of a foundational, landmark supreme court case known as Dred Scott v. Sanford. Fort Snelling sits at the confluence of the Mississippi River and Minnesota River, a sacred site for the Dakota peoples known as Bdote. Across Highway 55 from Fort Snelling, the Dakota and Lakota peoples are reclaiming their sacred land at Mni Owe Sni, erecting tipis in occupation. Allies from the Autonomous Yurt Union have put up yurts in solidarity with the tipis within the last week.

Whistles, ICE and Politicians

The violence of the United States government is not new to Minnesota. For this struggle, we’ve been resisting ICE with our phones and whistles. We use our phones to document their abuses and use the Signal Private Messenger application to coordinate with our neighbors. Whistles are blown to let at-risk neighbors know that ICE is here. Commuters and car patrols are reminiscent of the AIM patrols and the flying pickets from the 1934 Teamsters truckers strike. We are using our labor unions to ensure employers and workplaces adhere to the 4th amendment, which prohibits ‘unreasonable’ searches and seizures.

Musicians with international appeal like Billy Bragg, Bruce Springsteen and U2 have written protest songs for Minneapolis. Local choral ensembles use their voices to peacefully and beautifully get their message across. Visual artists like Sean Lim (from Spill Paint, Not Oil) and Leon Wang have screenprinted lawn signs and posters. Homeowners and renters alike have created their own makeshift displays in windows and lawns that say “ICE OUT” and “Fuck ICE”. Lutheran pastors are risking arrest and standing firm to protect their congregants. Socialist and progressive elected officials are on the streets with constituents. They’ve passed ordinances to try to prevent police collaboration with ICE— unfortunately, that has been unsuccessful due to the inherent racist nature of the police. The Minnesota Fraternal Order of Police (the police union) even published a statement stating that they stand with ICE.

In the face of our community’s resistance and resolve, ICE has many times drawn their weapons. On Wednesday, January 7th, ICE murdered poet Renee Nicole Good. Hours later they teargassed students and detained an educator at Roosevelt High School in south Minneapolis. Minneapolis Public Schools had to close for two days after these subsequent tragedies. The parents and caregivers of Minneapolis Families for Public Schools-Take Action Minnesota and the members of the educators union, Minneapolis Federation of Educators local 59, pushed for a hybrid option for students who felt unsafe to come to school to take online classes.

Our most impacted immigrant community members have been sheltering in place for 11 weeks. They are unable to work, let alone leave their homes. They’ve had to rely on charity and mutual aid networks from religious institutions, non-profits, labor unions, and the general kindness of strangers. Our city councils in the Twin Cities—alongside labor unions and community organizations—called on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to implement an eviction moratorium, but nothing has been done. It is astonishing to me that a governor who claims he has no further political ambitions, refuses to do what needs to be done to protect our community. It is also important to note that Mayor Jacob Frey refused to sign the eviction moratorium resolution. He clearly has political ambitions beyond his third term as mayor, as evidenced by his disingenuous press tour. It has been disheartening to see people across the nation fall for Frey’s fake charm.”

Strikes, Occupations and More ICE Violence

The Twin Cities Tenants Union recently held a mass meeting of 200 people in attendance. We decided on a rent strike for March 1st to demand an eviction moratorium and rent relief. Based on strategic research, 10,000 renters in the Twin Cities must participate for this to be an effective rent strike. February 28th is when it will be decided if the strike is authorized. So far Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia, South Minneapolis Tenant Union, SEIU Local 26, SEIU Healthcare MN/IA, Unite HERE Local 17, ATU Local 1005, Take Action MN, and Unidos MN have endorsed the rent strike.

On January 23, we held a one-day general strike where 1 out of 4 Minnesotans participated and 100,000 people marched in downtown Minneapolis (in -20 degree weather). 700+ businesses closed across the Twin Cities. And so the people of Minneapolis tapped into their progressive history of resistance. They built on the legacy of Teamsters truckers during their 1934 strike that cemented Minneapolis as a union town. Alongside major strikes by the ILA longshoreman in San Francisco, California and the strikers at the Auto-Lite Factory in Toledo, Ohio; the efforts of the Teamsters Truckers set the stage for the creation of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935.

ICE responded to Minnesota’s display of resistance with more lethal violence. On Saturday, January 24th, we woke up to another murder. Alex Pretti, a union nurse, was murdered by ICE. In a cruel twist of fate, his murderers were members of his union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). Many of us in the labor movement wanted to continue the strike on Monday and had a renewed sense of urgency in the aftermath of Pretti being murdered. On January 25, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce issued a weak statement that we believed was in response to the murder of Alex Pretti and the general strike that occurred on the 23rd. Many organizations decided that we needed to put pressure on one particular Minnesota homegrown corporation, Target. This is the second year of the boycott of Target due to roll backs on their DEI (diversity, equity & inclusion) initiatives. We’ve escalated to sit-ins and sing-ins which resulted in trespassing notices and arrests. Target allows ICE to stage in the parking lots, use their restrooms, and abduct their own workers.

On February 4, thanks to pressure from below, the Saint Paul City Council voted not to renew a contract with Forward Edge ASIC, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin— the most powerful weapons manufacturer in the world. They were creating microchips that were used in F35 jets that exacerbated the genocide of Palestinian peoples. Lockheed Martin is also supplying ICE here in the United States. This is proof that the Imperial Boomerang has come back around to us.

Danger of Capitulation

On February 12 border czar Tom Homan announced that they planned to conclude ICE’s surge in Minnesota after meeting with Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey. Homan replaced Greg Bovino, who loved cosplaying as a Nazi for the cameras, and has been around since Barack Obama’s term. Indeed, Homan was effective in his role during the Obama Presidency – many people don’t realize that his administration deported more people than any other before him.

Many Minnesotans have expressed worry about the competency of Homan and doubt in the sincerity of this declaration of a draw down. There is a sense that our elected leaders have failed us, capitulated to a fascist regime. After the announcement, Frey quickly moved to meet with the metro’s CEOs to plan events celebrating Minneapolis. This is very reminiscent of the Aquatennial, an annual outdoor event that businesses in Minneapolis implemented after the 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters truckers strike to make the masses forget about the power they built through the general strike. It is worth noting that the same politicians that wouldn’t defund the police and continue to defend the Israeli Occupation Forces, are the very same politicians that will collaborate and capitulate to ICE.

From the Local to the International

As of February 16, Homan announced that a small security force would remain from the drawdown. It has not been shared with the public how many agents would remain. What remains certain is the trauma our federal government has inflicted on us: murder, abduction, detainment, family separation, failing business, and so much more. What they can’t take away from us is our sense of justice, comradely love, and commitment to each other. The fight isn’t over, our community is still reeling and experiencing an occupation. As the federal government tries to bring the horrors into the shadows, we must keep our eyes open.

The key to resistance during a fascist takeover and the lessons we’ve learned here:

• The left must have a united front to fight fascism
• There must be a diversity of tactics
• You must never take your neighbors and your fellow workers for granted.

In times of turmoil, I remember my north star that guides me: organizing to see socialism in my lifetime. To get there, we must abolish ICE, imagine a world without borders, and make amends for the sins of our country’s enslavement, genocidal settler-colonial past and present. We can achieve this by giving land back to First Nations people and reparations to descendants of Black Americans who experienced chattel slavery. In this moment, Minnesotans are standing up to say that no one is illegal on stolen land. We urge our comrades around the country and around the world to view this fight against ICE in the greater context of globalization, capitalism and repression. By building international solidarity with working class peoples, we will be victorious. From Turtle Island, to Ireland, to Palestine: we say no to occupation and genocide!