We’re grieving. We’re angry. We’re scared. We’re exhausted. We’re starting to win. And we must keep resisting until ICE is out. Until there is justice and liberation for all. Sending love to our community.
In this issue:
- ICE out of Target! Sit-in this Saturday and more ways to get involved
- SURJ-TC Welcome Gathering, February 10
- FREE MN: A Plan to Kick ICE Out for Good Non-Cooperation Training and Strategy, 1/31
- SURJ Action Hours every other Wednesday
SURJ-TC NEWS:
ICE OUT of TARGET!
Join us for a nation-wide sit-in at Target this Saturday, 1/31 at 12pm! We are calling on Target to stand FIRMLY with Minnesotans against ICE’s attacks. We will peacefully sit in their stores to bring attention to our demands. If they kick out community members for sitting inside their “public” stores, they should be ready to kick out the immigration agents terrorizing our communities.
Why?
What is happening in Minnesota wouldn’t be possible without the complicity or enablement of Trump’s corporate backers. Despite countless immigrant families ripped apart, American citizens killed in our streets, many corporations continue to support him. Refusing to take a stand with our communities and frequently directly supporting ICE. We need companies like Target to use their influence to force the administration to end the occupation of our cities.
Target is Minnesota’s leading corporate citizen. It is the 4th largest employer in the state. Minnesota’s sports teams play in stadiums and jerseys with Target’s logo on them. Where Target leads, others follow. Target donated $1,000,000 to Trump’s inauguration, rolled back DEI initiatives, and has reportedly allowed ICE to stage operations in its parking lots. On January 8th Customs and Border Patrol assaulted and kidnapped two US citizens while they were working a shift at the Richfield, MN Target store. For weeks, Target remained silent while its community was terrorized, abducted, and killed. Last weekend, Target finally broke their silence in a statement from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce alongside 60 major Minnesota corporations. That statement called for “cooperation” between state and federal government– an incredibly alarming call given that Attorney General Pam Bondi has clarified what “cooperation” would entail: granting the DOJ access to Minnesota voter rolls and other tools of federal overreach in the name of “ending the chaos” this administration, violently created.
Our demands:
- Target to publicly call for an immediate end to the ICE “surge” into MN and for ICE & Border Patrol to leave the state.
- Affirm Target as a 4th Amendment Workplace. (Exercise their 4th Amendment rights and publicly post signage denying entrance to immigration agents who do not have signed judicial warrants as required by law, as well train staff on how to respond when immigration agents arrive at stores.)
- Lobby congress for no additional federal funding for ICE in the upcoming Congressional budget and ICE should be investigated for human and Constitutional violations of Americans and our neighbors.
- Demand any federal officer who kills or harms a civilian be held legally
Please note: A core principle behind all our events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values. Weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted, should not be brought to events.Can’t make this action but want to get involved in the Target non-cooperation campaign? Join our Target Campaign 101 signal thread and we will connect with you.
SURJ-TC Welcome Gathering, February 10
Being in community is a powerful support and antidote to disruptions and changes all around us. This Welcome Gatheringis 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, February 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 here if 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.
OTHER OPPORTUNITIES:
FREE MN: A Plan to Kick ICE Out for Good
Non-Cooperation Training and Strategy
- Saturday, January 31st, 1-4pm
Location: TBD (address will be sent with registration)
Beautiful and powerful work is happening to defend our neighbors through rapid response chats and mutual aid. What’s next? How do we proactively get the businesses that are allowing ICE to kidnap people to stop? ICE can’t operate without having hotels that will host them, restaurants that will serve them, and rental car agencies that will lease them cars. We’re coming together with a plan for ordinary people to shake the support of three key industries upholding ICE. This movement needs everyone – be there and bring your people.
Here’s some things that FreeMN has already done in the 9 days since launch:
- special shoutout to the self-named “Purple Sirens”– one pod of folks organizing Enterprise non-cooperation that filled a living room with 30 people to plan actions
- here’s a clip of a powerful “wide awake” (a peaceful noise demonstration done at a hotel targeting ICE) organized by a FreeMN and Sunriser last week
- 700 small businesses, many of them restaurants, closed for the general strike. FreeMN’s restaurant crew is responsible for a big chunk of that 👏🏻👏🏻
SURJ National Action Hours
At SURJ National’s biweekly Action Hour and Orientation Call, you’ll get our take on what is happening in the world right now and how and why we organize. Then, we’ll invite you to organize with us.
We’ll go through everything step by step, and you’ll be trained before each action — we support each other to be bold and resilient to make big change together!Join us on Wednesdays to take action together to show up against Trump’s illegal, immoral agenda.
Thank you for being here and for showing up for justice in Minnesota!