Minnesota is on the front lines of a figurative and literal battle against fascism. State and local officials and residents are under siege in the wake of the cold-blooded killing of an unarmed mother, Renee Nicole Macklin Good (whom federal officials smeared and made the target of their “investigation”). Despite the deluge of violent ICE shock troops, Minnesota has shown remarkable resilience. The Washington Post reported:
Federal agents have used pepper spray outside a church, near a high school and on concertgoers; struck cars and pulled people from them on city streets; and stopped U.S. citizens to ask for paperwork, according to residents. In response, some residents have started carrying their passports with them, picking up groceries for immigrant families who are scared to leave their homes and patrolling their own streets with whistles to alert neighbors when officers are present.
On Wednesday, ICE escalated its brutality and violence. “A federal agent shot and injured a man in Minneapolis on Wednesday evening, federal officials said, an incident that touched off hours of clashes between protesters and law enforcement officers and that came just one week after an immigration agent killed a woman in the city,” the New York Times reported. After a crowd quickly gathered, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and police chief Brian O’Hara acknowledged some in the crowd had broken the law and told them to go home.
Even before the incident, the Trump regime had been threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act. On Thursday, Trump doubled down on that threat — which would deploy the military and suspend posse comitatus — on social media. The challenge for all local and state officials will be to restrain legitimately enraged crowds to avoid giving Trump’s grounds for deploying military to the streets.
Other Minnesota officials have risen to the occasion, refusing to allow Trump and his corrupted Justice Department to shut down the state and local investigations. Even after Feds said they would not share any evidence, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced they would move forward, on their own if need be.
Minnesotans responded, assisting local and state investigators. Moriarty reported that her office had received a substantial number of submissions of information. Minnesota’s Common Cause chapter is drawing on its members on the ground and encouraging other Minneapolis residents to preserve evidence and send it to local law enforcement.
Later in the week, Minnesota filed suit to stop the ICE surge and impose reasonable, common sense, and constitutionally warranted restrictions on rogue agents (e.g., don’t use force to disperse protestors peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights).
“We allege that the obvious targeting of Minnesota for our diversity, for our democracy and our differences of opinion with the federal government is a violation of the Constitution and of federal law,” Ellison said at a news conference. “We allege that DHS’s use of excessive and lethal force, their warrantless, racist arrests, their targeting of our courts, our churches, houses of worship and schools are a violation of the Administrative Procedures Act on arbitrary and capricious federal actions,” he explained.
Meanwhile, a batch of federal prosecutors in Minnesota refused to enable a cover-up. Six prosecutors, including Joe Thompson, who has prosecuted “social service fraud” (which Trump is crazed about), quit, Minnesota Public Radio reported. “The move comes after top Justice Department officials pushed the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office to investigate the widow of Renee Macklin Good.” In addition, MPR News told listeners, “The prosecutors were also concerned that immigration enforcement is diverting resources away from prosecuting major fraud cases in the state.”
Minnesota is demonstrating how democracy is supposed to work: people protest over egregious government operations; a free press reports vital information to the public; and state and local prosecutors call for calm and work cooperatively with the community to protect public safety and defend deeply held democratic values.
In sum, Minnesotans — elected officials, state and local prosecutors, principled federal prosecutors, social justice organizations, responsible news organizations, and, most of all, ordinary people (who remain overwhelmingly peaceful) — are displaying patriotic fervor rooted in love of democracy and love of their neighbors. The contrast between violent thugs wearing masks and badges, and innocent Americans protesting in support of the Constitution brings to mind Bull Connor releasing dogs on children and Alabama troopers beating and trampling on civil rights marchers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Americans have been inspired and activated. At over 1,200 events, Americans turned out last weekend to protest ICE’s onslaught and to support Minnesotans. Public opinion has turned sharply against ICE and Trump’s assault on migrants more generally. (Indeed, abolishing ICE is now a mainstream position.)
Local officials across the nation are standing up as well. At an inspiring press conference, Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal and District Attorney Larry Krasner denounced ICE’s unprofessionalism (e.g., wearing masks, stepping in front of and shooting at a moving vehicle) and illegality. They explicitly warned ICE agents that they would be prosecuted under state law if they attempted to commit illegal acts.
And in Washington, D.C., progressive Democrats in Congress have vowed to fund ICE only if appropriate oversight and adequate restrictions are placed on an agency rolling in money but lacking in training, discipline, and respect for the rule of law. In addition, a group of Democrats introduced three credible articles of impeachment against Kristi Noem. (After the midterms, these could serve as a ready mechanism for establishing her responsibility for nationwide constitutional violations.)
Minnesotans are not intimidated by Trump, Noem, or their goons. They have proved themselves to be unbowed, unwavering, and undaunted — and for that we honor them. If Minnesotans can risk arrest, violence, and even death, then the rest of America can surely stand behind them. That means defending other cities and states, pressuring Congress to rein in ICE, and building a mass movement with the goal of a blue tsunami in November.
Perhaps “Minnesota Nice” should be replaced by “Minnesota Defiant.”
Abolish ICE and dismantle the DHS. The creation of this mammoth agency was a bad idea from the start.
Release the Epstein files! Be sure to include that on your signs when you go to a gathering of protest.