Top takeaway: For our non-Minnesotan friends, thank you for your outreach and outpouring of support, and here are some tangible ways you can be in solidarity with the people of Minnesota.
Download these Actions of Solidarity as a 1-pager >>
Minnesota is being asked to do the impossible once again: to hold unbearable grief at the same time we are holding our communities together.
On Saturday, January 24, 2026, federal immigration officials shot and killed Alex Pretti in south Minneapolis. On January 14, in a case of mistaken identity, federal immigration officials shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg and Victor Manuel Díaz died while in ICE custody. U.S. citizens, including ChongLy Thao, a Hmong elder and Minnesotan, have been detained. Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who was detained by ICE, and his blue bunny hat became a symbol of the cruelty inflicted upon our Black and Brown communities by federal agents. These are only a handful of the most egregious actions by federal immigration officials in Minnesota in the last three weeks alone.
The data and lived experiences are clear: federal immigration officials through Operation Metro Surge are terrorizing our communities, violating constitutional rights, and so far have seen very little accountability.
In a campaign DHS claims targets only “the worst of the worst,” only an estimated eight percent of the 3,000 ICE arrests through Operation Metro Surge fall in that category; an estimated 73.6 percent of current ICE detainees are Minnesotans who have no prior or current criminal record.
Multiple local law enforcement agencies, school districts, and physicians have released public statements condemning ICE agents’ tactics: racially profiling individuals, physically harassing and unlawfully searching and arresting individuals, creating unsafe environments in vulnerable settings (such as schools and clinics), obstructing care, threatening and retaliating against citizens peacefully exercising first amendment rights.
We grieve, we are afraid, and we are angry. Yet we persist, because Minnesotans refuse to back down.
As an estimated 50,000 peaceful protesters demonstrated on January 23, 2026 (the first general strike in the United States in 80 years, and the state’s second largest march in history, also held on the coldest day of the year), Minnesotans will help our neighbors in need no matter what.
Neighbors are putting their bodies in the line of harm to protect strangers, children, and our most vulnerable people. Everyday people are overwhelmingly responding to calls for food, supplies, security, and shelter. Nonprofits are stepping up and leading in this moment despite funding cuts. We see community flexing their muscle memory, because Minnesota is strong and we do not forget.
For our non-Minnesotan friends, thank you for your outreach and outpouring of support, and here are some tangible ways you can be in solidarity with the people of Minnesota.
- Support local organizations and mutual aid. Many groups are scrambling to support innocent detainees released with their phones and IDs confiscated, are trying to get food to families who are too afraid to leave their homes, and are providing rent assistance as the first of the month approaches and people are unable to work. MCN has curated a list of organizations seeking donations to meet immediate needs.
- Defend our democracy. The U.S. Senate is voting this week on a funding bill that would authorize an additional $10 billion dollars for ICE. We know that H.R. 1, which cut core basic needs programs, also significantly increased funding for immigration enforcement. We have an opportunity to tell Congress not to spend a dollar more on Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Call your Congressional Representatives and demand that the actions occurring here in Minnesota and across the country stop at (202) 224-3121.
- Share our stories. Please amplify what you are hearing and seeing about Minnesota across social media, but also to your networks, friends, and family offline. Here is a list of testimonials from Minnesotans you can share.
- Be grounded in truth. While lack of transparency makes accountability difficult, get your information from trusted news sources and independent journalists. Local Minnesota journalists, community leaders, and elected leaders are the best source of real-time information. Here is a curated list of local news (many that are nonprofits) as well as independent journalists. The Minnesota Department of Corrections has set up a DHS Misinformation webpage to combat false narratives about lack of cooperation.
- Know that this could be you; prepare. Funders must fund rapid response, operational needs, and long-term movement work of nonprofits. Nonprofits must be ready to shift operations, support their workers, learn how to legally lobby to advocate and share community stories. MCN has compile a list of nonprofit resources to navigate uncertainty that are applicable to organizations in any state.
- Join our movement. This is not just a Minnesota issue. This is an American issue. These escalatory, brutal, violent tactics have no place, not just in Minnesota, but anywhere. We must all be organizing and raising our collective voices.
Download these Actions of Solidarity as a 1-pager >>
Enough is enough. This pattern of brutality and violence will leave deep scars in our community, but we will heal and we will come out stronger. We will document this harm and prepare for whatever comes next.
Our neighbors, our children, and our collective future demand hope and resistance, which lie in our community, mutual aid groups, and nonprofit organizations.
MCN has also compiled a list of nonprofit-specific resources and guidance, including free legal services, to help organizations navigate.