{"id":240,"date":"2026-02-04T15:59:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T15:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/the-minneapolis-strategy-for-fighting-ice-is-worth-studying\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T15:59:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T15:59:00","slug":"the-minneapolis-strategy-for-fighting-ice-is-worth-studying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wokeantifa.org\/topics\/the-minneapolis-strategy-for-fighting-ice-is-worth-studying\/","title":{"rendered":"The Minneapolis Strategy for Fighting ICE Is Worth Studying"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

In Minneapolis, years of robust labor and community organizing set the stage for the fierce pushback against federal immigration agents\u2019 aggressive invasion. Their experience may soon be relevant to cities elsewhere in the US facing incursions from ICE.<\/h3>
The mass protests against ICE brutality that we\u2019ve seen in Minneapolis didn\u2019t come out of nowhere. They were the product of years of strategic labor movement and community organizing in the city and state. (Lokman Vural Elibol \/ Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>

On January 23, tens of thousands of Minnesotans braved subzero temperatures and took to the streets as part of a call for \u200b\u201cNo Work, No School, No Shopping\u201d in protest of the brutal and deadly occupation of thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents across the state. Polling suggests hundreds of thousands in the state stayed home from work in response to that call.<\/p>\n

Dan Denvir, host of the Jacobin Radio<\/a> podcast The Dig<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0sat down with three organizing leaders behind the January 23 action\u2009\u2014\u2009Emilia Gonz\u00e1lez Avalos, Greg Nammacher, and JaNa\u00e9 Bates Imari\u2009\u2014\u2009to discuss how that day came to be, and how their fight continues. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n

Daniel Denvir<\/span>

The organized people of Minneapolis have, with truly heartbreaking sacrifice, waged a struggle that\u2019s now shaken the MAGA regime unlike anything we\u2019ve seen yet. To ask this in a bigger-picture way before we get into a lot of specifics, how have organized masses of everyday people in Minnesota forced this extraordinary crisis upon Trump\u2019s authoritarian project? How has resistance in one particular place effectuated a crisis of such giant national proportions?<\/p>\n

You all are winning, though of course at great cost, with two people murdered, many more abused, and so many snatched from their homes or off the streets into the deportation machine. What should the rest of us across the country, in the world, know about why this fight back has been so organized, so tenacious, so brave and, really, so\u00a0successful?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

Emilia Gonz\u00e1lez Avalos<\/span>

I think that there\u2019s some historical context people have to understand about Minnesota. We have a very long generational tradition of labor organizing. There is also a very important history of social welfare and community organizations using structural, institutional nonprofit vehicles. And so the ecosystem has been populated and pollinated for years on . . . hyperlocal battles, from maintaining the right to collectively bargain to having people access driver\u2019s licenses. Like very meaningful, hyperlocal, material campaigns.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a couple other elements of the civil society of Minnesota. One is that we have the highest turnout of voters in the country. People in Minnesota have a civic public life. And we also have the highest census participation in the country. The social fabric has a robust appreciation for public and civil life.<\/p>\n

I am an immigrant.\u00a0We are not a big population. This mass enforcement is a big injury to our state, because we [do not have] a big density of immigrants, undocumented people in Minnesota. California, Texas, Colorado, Nevada, Illinois, even Oregon or Washington, have larger populations; Wisconsin has a way larger population of undocumented folks than Minnesota.<\/p>\n

And this is part of\u2009\u2014\u2009I think that it\u2019s our way of life. I think it is because of our civil life and our organizing that we are being targeted at this moment. The way to respond to that is by getting deeper and more ample in organizing. That\u2019s what we know how to do, and we just are doing more of it.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

JaNa\u00e9 Bates Imari<\/span>

Everything that Emilia just named is absolutely right. Minnesota has a long history of deep organizing institutionally, but also what we have seen recently, even with neighbors and parents organizing together block by block.<\/p>\n

The beauty of Minnesota is that we do build these really deep relationships that, unfortunately, as a state that has had to go through some very hard things in these recent years, we\u2019ve really had to lean on. I think there was an immense amount of learning that we collectively had during the uprising after the murder of George Floyd, about what is required of us to actually build the real resilience to fend off the level of vitriol and violence that we\u2019re finding from the federal government right now.<\/p>\n

I will also say one of the heartbreakingly beautiful things that has happened in Minnesota is that we\u2019ve gotten very sophisticated with our response, knowing that part of what is happening in Minnesota is a\u00a0needling by the federal government to try to get us to respond in a\u00a0particular way. And Minnesotans across the spectrum have said we will not take the\u00a0bait.<\/p>\n