Good News: There Are MANY Ways to TAKE ACTION

Call for Policy Shifts

The Alliance supports three key areas requiring policy changes:

1. A call for a MN rent moratorium for those struggling with covering their rent due to ICE actions, from immigrants who can’t leave their homes to restaurant workers
2. Federal legislation placing immediate significant restrictions on ICE, and cutting its funding – see our Call to Action below
3. Comprehensive Immigration Reform

CALL TO ACTION! Temporary funding for the Department of Homeland Security expires next Friday, February 13. Democratic Congressional leadership prepared a surprisingly good list of demands that Indivisible and the Alliance support in order to constrain the terrible actions we’ve seen ICE and CBP undertake in our streets.

Please join the Alliance in speaking out by using this form from democracy.io to send an email to your US Senators and US Rep at the same time. Demand that they vote NO on any short-term or long-term funding for DHS unless it includes ALL of the constraints listed below. Demand that they not provide any additional funds for ICE and CBP, and immediately remove all ICE agents from Minnesota.

We’ve all been impacted by this occupation in ways big or small and we need to make our voices heard! Tell them how it’s affected you personally, from witnessing actual ICE actions to your concerns about people being abused and killed by our own government.

Was your neighbor abducted? Are your school-age children afraid to go to school? Are you volunteering or donating to help right the wrongs caused by ICE?

Filling Out the Form

Please note that when you click on the form, it will first ask for your address and then will pull up a blank form that is required to be filled out with subject area (select Civil Rights and Minority Issues). You will then be required to drop in a message and your contact information.

You can add your own personal experience at the beginning if you like and we would suggest you also cut and paste the following language that is part of the Democratic leadership demands:

After months of escalation against everyday Americans and law-abiding immigrant families, two US citizens were killed in the streets of Minneapolis. Federal immigration agents cannot continue to cause chaos in our cities while using taxpayer money that should be used to make life more affordable for working families.

The American people rightfully expect their elected representatives to take action to rein in ICE and ensure no more lives are lost. It is critical that we come together to impose common sense reforms and accountability measures that the American people are demanding.

I believe Congress needs to enact the following guardrails:

1. Targeted Enforcement – DHS officers cannot enter private property without a judicial warrant. End indiscriminate arrests and improve warrant procedures and standards. Require verification that a person is not a U.S. citizen before holding them in immigration detention.
2. No Masks – Prohibit ICE and immigration enforcement agents from wearing face coverings.
3. Require ID – Require DHS officers conducting immigration enforcement to display their agency, unique ID number and last name. Require them to verbalize their ID number and last name if asked.
4. Protect Sensitive Locations – Prohibit funds from being used to conduct enforcement near sensitive locations, including medical facilities, schools, child-care facilities, churches, polling places, courts, etc.
5. Stop Racial Profiling – Prohibit DHS officers from conducting stops, questioning and searches based on an individual’s presence at certain locations, their job, their spoken language and accent or their race and ethnicity.
6. Uphold Use of Force Standards – Place into law a reasonable use of force policy, expand training and require certification of officers. In the case of an incident, the officer must be removed from the field until an investigation is conducted.
7. Ensure State and Local Coordination and Oversight – Preserve the ability of State and local jurisdictions to investigate and prosecute potential crimes and use of excessive force incidents. Require that evidence is preserved and shared with jurisdictions. Require the consent of States and localities to conduct large-scale operations outside of targeted immigration enforcement.
8. Build Safeguards into the System – Make clear that all buildings where people are detained must abide by the same basic detention standards that require immediate access to a person’s attorney to prevent citizen arrests or detention. Allow states to sue DHS for violations of all requirements. Prohibit limitations on Member visits to ICE facilities regardless of how those facilities are funded.
9. Body Cameras for Accountability, Not Tracking – Require use of body-worn cameras when interacting with the public and mandate requirements for the storage and access of footage. Prohibit tracking, creating or maintaining databases of individuals participating in First Amendment activities.
10. No Paramilitary Police – Regulate and standardize the type of uniforms and equipment DHS officers carry during enforcement operations to bring them in line with civil enforcement.

These reforms should apply to all federal activity, whether funded by FY26 appropriations, the OBBBA or any other act.

Furthermore, there are steps that the Trump administration has the power to take right now to show good faith, including fully ramping down the surge in Minnesota and removing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem from her position.

These are common sense solutions that protect constitutional rights and ensure responsible law enforcement.

(end of letter to cut and paste)

Actions in Your Communities

There are so many uplifting and important activities going on in MN that it’s hard to keep up, much less attend them all. Here are two impactful community events we want to highlight taking place tomorrow, Saturday, Feb 6:

• 2-6 pm Community Fundraiser being held at French Meadow Bakery & Cafe featuring a 2:30 pm announcement by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey regarding ICE and business
• 1-3 pm Renee Good Public Memorial being held at Powderhorn Park

The opportunities for each of us to have an impact are enormous. Here is a list of just some of them, but you may have other creative expressions that can move people, from poetry and social media posts to just talking with your neighbors.

• Support local restaurants by dining in, taking out or buying a gift card – and remember to be patient
• Go grocery shopping for people who cannot
• Offer rides and/or run errands
• Volunteer to walk children to/from school or bus stops
• Become a legal observer or just have a whistle to use if there is ICE action
• Join a drum or song circle
• Attend one of the numerous peaceful vigils on street corners and overpasses

Support Verified Organizations Helping Impacted Residents

If you don’t live in MN, you can still help out by donating or joining a protest in your own town.

Organization	Community Assistance Supports
ACER info@acerinc.org 763-657-7711	African immigrant business owners	Donate Volunteer Protest
The Advocates for Human Rights hrights@advrights.org 612-341-3302	Immigrants (free legal help) Legal observers volunteer training	Donate Volunteer Protest
Cempazuchitl Collective info@nacdi.org 612-425-4675	Native Americans (rent assistance)	Donate Volunteer Protest
COPAL MN info@copalmn.org 612-255-3112	Raid recovery, food, shelter assistance Latine family support	Donate Volunteer Protest
Defend the 612	Legal observer volunteer training ICE watch network	Donate Volunteer Protest
Indivisible Twin Cities info@indivisibletwincities.org	Peaceful “ICE Out” and “No Kings” protests	Donate Volunteer Protest
IRRF hello@wfmn.org 612-337-5010	Immigrant rapid response	Donate Volunteer Protest
MIRAC miracmn@gmail.com	Immigrant rights – peaceful protests Assisting families: food & essential supplies	Donate Volunteer Protest

For neighborhood-specific nonprofit support groups and other ways to Take Action, please reference: Stand with Minnesota

For additional ways that non-Minnesotan friends and allies can be in solidarity with Minnesotans visit: MN Council of Nonprofits

Thanks for standing with all of us in MN. Your outpouring of encouragement, admiration and support is inspiring. And remember our success here could help prevent ICE from coming to your community. Let’s bring about the true solution – comprehensive immigration reform.