Izzy Writes

Minnesotans show up for their immigrant neighbors

12-20-25

Minneapolis streets were blocked off Saturday morning after hundreds marched down Lake Street, towards Karmel Mall in protest of the increased ICE presence in the Twin Cities, despite freezing winds.

“Since the increase of ICE agents and their presence in the Twin Cities, there are a lot of communities that are feeling helpless and are afraid to leave their houses,” said MIRAC organizer Latifah Moss. “We want to show that we stand with them. That we’re here with them.”

The march started at 11:30 on Lake Street and Bloomington, despite temperatures being in the low 10s. Organizers from MIRAC, COPAL, FRSO, and more helped make this march possible, and hundreds of community members showed up. 

In the weeks that ICE has been in the Twin Cities, many businesses have had to close early or lost clientele due to fear of being targeted by ICE agents.

“The presence of ICE has our workers very scared,” Luis Reyes Rojas, owner of Pineda Tacos, said. “My employees in my restaurant are too scared to come into work because of the threat that any moment someone could come and take them or one of us away and separate us from our families. It feels very helpless right now, not knowing if one day they’re going to take someone from our family.”

The march blocked incoming traffic for at least three blocks, ending at Karmel Mall, which has seen an increase in ICE presence and surveillance in the past month.

“It feels really great to see so many people in the community show up and show us we are not alone,” Rojas said. “We might be a minority, but we’re a working force in the community; we’re not delinquents, we just want to work.”

The neighborhoods that go along Lake Street have the highest concentration of both Black and Latino communities in Minneapolis. 13% of Whittier residents are Hispanic, while 26% are black; both are higher than the city’s average.

“I have family who are immigrants themselves, I’m a second-generation immigrant and also an educator who serves families that are also Latino,” said community member Mirabel. “I am here to represent the people who could not show out; who are too scared. I’m here for my people, my family, and my students.”

Saint Paul 4th-grade teacher Maya Solis also showed up and spoke during the march, sharing the same sentiment of being present for her students. 

“My students come every morning, and they tell me stories about how they’re scared. They’re scared because maybe their uncle was taken last weekend. 
Or their family was bothered by ICE,” Solis said. “They’re scared, but I’m there for them, and we’re here for them. We are here to fight for them. 
We are here to fight for our neighbor, our friends, and our families.”

The threat of being stopped and arrested by ICE agents is not only felt by immigrants in our community, but by its U.S. citizens, too. 

The march comes after weeks of increased ICE presence. On Monday, four people were arrested by ICE on Pillsbury Avenue after an attempted arrest turned into a protest. After the arrest, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that the officers had “conducted themselves with the utmost professionalism and successfully apprehended the two illegal aliens,” despite being seen on video spraying chemical irritants into a crowd of people with no warning, and dragging a woman through the street while trying to arrest her. 

Minneapolis resident Mubashir was arrested earlier this month by ICE after they presumed he was Somali. Despite showing officers his passport and ID, he was roughly detained. He was later released from custody and made to walk back home in the snow. 

Rekeya Frazier, whose sister filmed George Floyd’s murder five years ago, was also recently arrested alongside her boyfriend, after an ICE agent broke into her car, causing her to drive to the police station, which the agent later claimed was “kidnapping.” After public outcry, a judge recently ruled on letting both of them out of jail. 

“What ICE needs to know is that they picked the wrong cities. We are the cities that stood up for Jamal Clark, we are the cities that stood up for Philando Castile, and we turned this nation out in 2020. We know how to show up for our neighbors, do we not?” said Marcia Howard, a community activist whose work helped shape George Floyd Square. “We have shown this entire nation that we are not the ones to mess with. We ain’t scared; We will stand up for each other because there is no other way.”

Despite the threat of intimidation and arrests, residents have continued showing up in large crowds all over the Twin Cities to defend their neighbors from ICE’s presence.