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Today, Minnesotans walked out of work and shut down businesses to protest what they’re witnessing in their communities — even as temperatures plunged well below zero. From the outside, it can be hard to grasp the human reality of what’s unfolding. So I spoke with Jocelyn Wyatt, CEO of Alight, a Minnesota-based nonprofit that supports refugees who were legally resettled in the U.S. after years — sometimes decades — of vetting, interviews, and waiting in war zones and refugee camps.
What she described goes beyond enforcement. ICE operations are targeting these vetted refugees: agents knocking on doors for hours, arresting people with lawful status, flying them to Texas for what appears to be pointless reprocessing, then abandoning them at bus stations or shelters with no money, no belongings, and no clear way home. “This isn’t about public safety,” Wyatt told me. “It’s about creating fear.”
Alight is now working to help families survive this chaos,providing food, transportation, legal documentation, toys for traumatized children, and emergency financial support. You can watch our conversation here.
You’ve asked us for ways you can support Minnesotans. We put together a list of nonprofits, community-based organizations, and small businesses that could all use your help. That’s here.
Warm Hearts: Thousands of Minneapolis residentsbraved subzero temperaturestotake to the streetsinprotest against ICE’s continued violence. Many more stayed home from work and refused to shop as part of astate- and nationwide economic blackoutcalled the “Day of Truth of Freedom.”Hundreds of businesses closedand otherspledged to donate revenue; dozens ofplaces of worshipannounced their participation, with faith leadersfasting in solidarity; and dozens of state and national unions, collectively representing millions of workers,voted to supportthe day of action.According to the presidentof a Minnesota hospitality workers’ union, this could be the largest worker action in state history. “We cannot simply sit by and allow this to continue,” she said. “We must use every tool that we have to fight back.”Workers in over 200 cities countrywide. “We’re being invaded at all levels of society,” one Minnesota resident, wearing a battery-heated vest to fight the chill,walked out in solidaritysaid while protesting on Thursday. “But it’s not working. If anything, it’s making our community tighter.”Point Blank:TRIGGER WARNING graphic discussion of gunshot.A private autopsyreleased this weekfound that Renee Good was shotat least three times. The third and fatal shot “entered the left side of her head near the temple and exited the right side of her head,” according to the autopsy. In other words,**Ross seems to have killed Good with a shot from the side — consistent with analyses that found she was turning her caraway****from him, rather than ramming him, as Vanceinsisted on Thursday. A former prosecutor in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Divisionon Thursday wrotethat all available evidence indicates “that resorting to deadly force was not reasonable” and is “more than sufficient to justify opening a criminal investigation into the agent’s conduct — a step that would be consistent with decades of DOJ practice and, until recently, would have been considered largely unremarkable.” Instead, the DOJ is investigating Good and her widow. The New York Times reports that anFBI agent who pressed to investigate the agent who shot Goodresigned today. That agent was a supervisor in the Minneapolis field office.Invasion of the Child Snatchers: Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovinodefended his agents Thursdayas “experts in dealing with children.” He was pressed to explain the detention of a five-year-old boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, whose story has drawn national outrage. Vanceclaimed Ramos’ “illegal alien father” fled, forcing agents to take custody of the child. Butwitnessessay ICE removed the child from a running car on his own driveway and, in thewords of asuperintendent, tried to “use him as bait” to try and get anyone else inside the family’s home. An adult who lives in the boy’s homeoffered to take him— and agents refused. The family’s lawyer says the boy’s father has no criminal charges, entered the country legally through the CBP One app, and was applying for asylum. “They were following the process,”the lawyer said. “But ICE didn’t care.” The boy and his father are reportedlybeing held in a Texas detention center.
Victim Blaming: Vice President JD Vance, speaking in Minnesota on Thursday, rolled out a stream of lies, blaming locals for the “chaos” around ICE’s actions. Heinsisted the administrationwas “doing everything that we can to lower the temperature”but blamed“a failure of cooperation” from local officials and law enforcement. He denied that he ever said agents have absolute immunity andinsisted only the federal government can discipline them. So far, the DOJ hasrefused to investigateagents for the myriad abuses taking place in Minnesota. Heconceded thatagents “are not doing everything right” — but argued it’s due to stress from getting harassed by “far-left agitators.” He praised them for “doing an incredible job.” 😳 I break down his lies more here:Death Camp:*TRIGGER WARNING graphic discussion of violence.*At least four immigrants have died in the last two months while detained in Texas,three of them in a newly built tent campin El Paso, Texas. The El Paso Medical Examiner’s Office on Wednesday; the victim, a 55-year-old man, died from “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression” — i.e., he was choked to death. DHS claimed heruled one of these deaths a homicidetried to commit suicideand “violently resisted” help. A witnesstold the APthat at least five guards pinned the man to the floor. “In this place,” he said, “guards abuse people a lot.”Putting the “AI” in Faithless: Trump’s DOJ arrestedthree people it says participated in a protestagainst a pastor believed to be working for ICE. The White House on Thursday posted a picture of Nekima Levy Armstrong, one of the protestors, under arrest — butdigitally altered the image, changing her facial expression from stoic to dramatically crying (and seemingly darkened her skin, too). Armstrong, who is herself a Christian reverend,said the administrationis “trying to turn a peaceful, nonviolent demonstration into a crime.” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey𝕏condemned the arrestas a “gross abuse of power,” accusing the administration of “going after protestors and not the person who shot and killed one of our neighbors.”Reminder: Find our list of organizations doing immigrant-rights work in Minnesota here:
Green Light: Seven House Democratsjoined all Republicans(bar one) topass a funding billon Thursday thatgrants tens of billions of dollarsto DHS. It now heads to the Senate, where it will becombined with other spending packagesto make opposition more difficult.The bill funds ICE’s full budget at $10 billion. That’s on top of $75 billion approved in Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill. The agency’s annual budget iseffectively $29 billion— about three times recent years’ funding. Here’s what both sides are saying.**Democrats Won New Limits:**Democrats won several minor concessions. The bill provides $20 million for body cameras andrequires agents wear uniforms, except when working undercover;cuts some fundingfor CBP and for immigrant removal operations;reduces detention bed capacityby 5,500;strengthens reporting requirements; and increases funding for oversight offices. Democratic supportersargued these (meager) wins were betterthan a stopgap bill which could have funded ICE with no guardrails. They were also concerned that blocking the bill would lead to a partial shutdown that would have affected other key agencies like FEMA, while ICEcontinued to operate with the $75 billionit’s already been granted.**Republicans Blocked Others:**Republicansblocked other efforts to reign in ICE excesses. Under this bill, ICE can still choose not to wear body cameras and shoot at moving vehicles. Republicans also blocked efforts to prevent ICE from deporting US citizens andguarantee congressional oversightof detention centers. Rep. Rosa DeLaura (D-CT) — theranking member of the Appropriations Committee, who led funding negotiations — votedagainstthe bill. “ICE agents believe they can act with impunity and are behaving accordingly,”she warned. “This agency must be reined in.”
**Who Needs WHO?**The US on Thursday officiallyleft the World Health Organization. The Trump administration’scomplaints includeits supposed “mishandling” of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact it hasnever been led by an American. The president of the Infectious Diseases Society of Americawarned the“shortsighted and misguided” move will undermine US efforts to monitor “emerging threats such as Ebola” and annual flu outbreaks. “Global cooperation is not a luxury,” he said. “It is a biological necessity.”**On the March:**Thousands of anti-abortion protestorsgathered at the National Mall todayfor the annual March for Life. They prayed, chanted, andheldsignslike “make more babies” — but the mood wasnoticeably less jubilant than last year, with many attendees unhappy with a perceived lack of progress from the Trump administration. (Tough crowd.) VP Vance,speaking to the crowd, acknowledged “a fear that some of you have that not enough progress has been made” and promised “to continue to make strides over the next three years.” Hearguedthe March for Life…
