.png)
Despite official pronouncements that the ICE surge is over, our eyes and our neighbors tell us otherwise. The Department of Homeland Security continues to detain people every day, now using more covert tactics. Observers are continuing to document high volumes of activity at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building. All signs point to an ongoing siege.
While the national media focus may have moved on, our communities’ needs have not. In addition to the numerous actions listed below, calls for mutual aid are ongoing. Families who are sheltering will need March rent, groceries, and necessities, as well as ongoing safety measures for schools. Stand up for your neighbors and tap into your networks. We keep us safe.
The Target campaign continues
During the month of February, SURJ members sat in at several Target stores, sang to employees and shoppers, purchased salt to melt the ICE (and then returned it when it didn’t work!), and blocked the doors of stores.
On February 11th, Richfield police briefly detained SURJ members and unionists from UNITE HERE for obstructing the doors at the Richfield Target, where a month ago Customs and Border Patrol assaulted and kidnapped two US citizens while they were working their shifts! The manager of the store (and a second one in Dinkytown where another action took place at the same time) had no difficulty telling us to leave and not return. By way of contrast, they maintain that they are unable to tell Federal agents to vacate their stores and their parking lots, even when agents abduct their employees, because stores are public spaces! What’s up with that?!
SURJ is collaborating in this campaign with Unidos and a growing number of unions. We’re building on the year-old, on-going, successful boycott of Target by Black customers. That started when Target pre-emptively ended its DEI policies after President Trump took office, and contributed $1 million to Trump’s inaugural celebrations.
Our demands for Target:
- Reinstate DEI programs!
- Call publicly for ICE and Border Patrol to leave Minnesota
- Affirm Target as a 4th Amendment Workplace: Post signage denying entrance to immigration agents who do not have signed judicial warrants as required by law, and train staff how to respond when immigration agents arrive at stores.
- Lobby Congress for restrictions on federal immigration agents and investigations into their violations of human and Constitutional rights of citizens and non-citizens alike.
- Demand that any federal officer who kills or harms a civilian be held legally accountable.
More actions at Target are upcoming! Join ourTarget Campaign 101 signal thread to find out where and how to join us!
Week of Action to Melt the Ice
From Wednesday, Feb. 25, to Sunday, March 1, neighbors and anti-ICE organizers in Minnesota will host a Week of Action assembling community members, students, workers, people of faith, and people of conscience from across the country. Participate in ICE-watch rapid response networks and huge public protests! We will teach and demonstrate resistance tactics that can be replicated elsewhere, leaving no community undefended. We hope to force an end to ICE’s unprecedented siege of Minnesota—and further the movement to abolish ICE altogether while we do it.
We believe all people deserve safety and a loving community.Join us. We need your help.
Goals of the week of action
- Share knowledge and skills from the patrol networks that are at the heart of the movement.
- Stage massive protests that politically and economically disrupt ICE (and, importantly, secondary targets that partner with ICE).
- Teach and replicate Minnesota’s effective anti-ICE and neighborhood organizing tactics across the country.
Our larger goals as anti-ICE organizers are the following:
- ICE out of Minnesota now
- Release all of our abducted neighbors, close all detention camps
- Statewide eviction moratorium by March 1st
- Drop all charges against ICE resisters
- Amnesty for all immigrants
- Abolish ICE, DHS, the police, and prisons
To receive further information, register here.
ICE OUT MN Community Briefings
Every Sunday, 8:00pm CT
The next briefing is Sunday, March 1, at 8pm CT. They last one hour, and feature reports from current MN-based resistance actions or campaigns.
These Zoom calls are hosted by ICE Out of MN Community Briefing Team.
Last Sunday (2/22/26), briefing included reports from:
- Mayor Kaohly Her of St. Paul, reporting on ordinances passed by a coordinated anti-ICE front
- Union and farm-worker organizers on their state-wide resistance work
- Reports on impact of actions by Twin Cities groups, established and ad hoc
On these calls, anyone across the state can hear the latest updates, celebrate wins, and learn how to plug in!
Please spread the word and invite folks to register at https://bit.ly/mnbriefing.
Welcome Gathering
Being in community is a powerful support and antidote to disruptions and changes all around us. This Welcome Gathering is an opportunity for you to learn more about SURJ Twin Cities and see if we could be ~ a political home ~ for you. We are offering a Welcome Gathering on Tuesday, March 10th from 7:00pm – 8:30pm over Zoom. We will share stories about anti-racism in our lives and then talk about how you can get more involved with SURJ-TC and how we can support you in deepening your commitment to racial justice work.
Please register hereif you would like to attend. We will send the Zoom link, along with a reminder a few days before.
We offer Welcome Gatherings regularly, so if you are interested and can’t make this one, keep an eye on the newsletter for future dates.