ORGANIZING NOTES
February 24, 2026
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How Minneapolis Stays Non-Violent
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Emilia Gonzalez Avalos of Unidos, Janaé Bates Imari of ISAIAH and Greg Nammacher of SEIU, Local 26, leaders of three organizations critical to resisting ICE in Minneapolis, talk about mobilizing their constituencies and organizing throughout the city with Daniel Denvir in the Jacobin podcast, “The Dig”, posted January 30, 2026. All emphasize building on their work of the last couple of decades. As the immigrant community is small and can’t vote, Emilia’s organization,Unidos, a working families empowerment group centering immigrants, has had to create “political means of production”, to leverage immigrant voices to achieve power, making use of 501c3s and 501c4s and PACs. In 2022 they won the right to participate in Minnesota’s political caucuses and ultimately in 2023 state laws were passed guaranteeing undocumented immigrants the right to participate in government funded healthcare. Greg’s Local 26 has grown to represent eight thousand property service workers in the seven county Twin City metro area, almost all immigrants and people of color, He speaks of the recent abduction and deportation to Mexico of a seventy-five year old window cleaner who had been part of a strike to win the highest safety standards for window cleaners in the country, which enraged his members. Janae is a leader in ISAIAH, a state-wide, multi-racial organization of a half million Minnesotans who belong to churches, mosques and groups representing childcare centers, barber and beauty shops and climate crisis advocates. These organizations and others became skilled at developing alliances and then broader coalitions which culminated in a progressive Democratic takeover of state government in 2022 and the passage of legislation guaranteeing paid family and medical leave, codifying abortion rights, provision of universal free school meals, allowing undocumented people to get drivers’ licenses and a host of other progressive measures. Additionally, the challenge of advocating for justice while preventing riots after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 built the knowledge, trust and cohesion needed when ICE presence escalated in early December, 2025. ICE terrorized Minneapolis for two months before they killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti.. By the time of the murders, volunteers throughout the city were engaged in resisting ICE, suburban moms sat in at Target, constitutional observers recorded ICE savageries, citizens formed circles around churches to allow immigrants to worship in peace. After the murders ninety-five percent of SEIU Local 26 members voted to strike on a day of Truth and Freedom. The AFL-CIO voted to join the strike. Hundreds of small businesses closed. 100 ministers went to the airport, accompanied by thousands of supporters to pray and sing protesting Delta’s, 3’sM, General Mill’s and Target’s relationships with ICE.. We don’t know if President Trump will deploy an ICE invasion in Boston or elsewhere in Massachusetts. But if so, Minneapolis provides a model for us. It is vital we continue on-boarding community members as witnesses, donors and protectors, training all in the skills of non-violence. We need to work with our labor, community and faith organizations to develop the trust critical to our coordinated resistance.
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Members of Congress have introduced the Block the Bombs Act (H.R. 3565), which prohibits the President from selling, transferring, or exporting certain weapons to Israel. There are more than 60 current co-sponsors, but we know that a majority of Americans support ending military shipments to Israel. DSA is starting a national campaign to pass this legislation and enact an arms embargo on Israel. We are starting with a series of national phonebanks to pressure select members of Congress to sign onto H.R. 3565. Our first phonebank will be Wednesday, March 4th from 6:00 – 7:30 PM EST. SIGN UP!
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Rep. Jim McGovern introduced a bill to the House of Representatives that call for the end of the United States 64-year old embargo against Cuba. The proposed measure comes as the Trump administraton has moved toward placing a total oil blockade on the island nation. This deprivation has sparked concern from international bodies, including the UN, which warned that the holdout would strain and already fragile situation and create a humanitarian crisis in the country. Here are the details of the bill to lift the Embargo on Cuba introduced by Jim McGovern. This bill currently has only one Massachusetts co-sponsor, Rep. Stephen Lynch. Please email Bill Keating, Richard Neal, Katherine Clarke and Ayanna Pressly.
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Last Friday, Governor Healey committed Massachusetts to a three-year, multimillion-dollar contract with OpenAI, a company that has been in the news recently for collaborating with ICE, to deploy its AI tool for the Executive Branch’s 40,000 employees Read More HERE Email Gov. Healey and Your State Legislators
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Last week, Gov. Healey held a press conference focused on a new executive order and new proposed legislation aimed at ICE. But here’s a problem: she reaffirmed her commitment to continued collaboration with ICE. MA is the only state in New England with a collaboration agreement, known as 287(g), between the state’s Department of Correction and ICE and the only New England Democratic governor to have any collaboration agreement at all. Massachusetts should not be making ICE’s job easier. End stop. Email Gov. Healey and tell her it’s time to end the contract with ICE.
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We are calling on every member of Congress to to publicly oppose ay unauthorized military action and pass a binding War Powers resolution prohibitung was with Iran without explicit approval. Add your name now and tell Congress: No war with Iran. Not in our name.
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Congress is currently negotiating funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Join Indivisible on Tuesday, February 24, at 1 PM, to engage with voters in key states to connect them with their members of Congress to demand ICE out for good! Sign up HERE.
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Local Visibilities Schedule
Watch for weather and wind chill cancellations here! But another good way to keep up with day to day and weekly changes is to join a Signal Group
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Folks can sign up for De-ICE Hanscom’s contact list at this link.
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Share your resistance thoughts & art: Projects from Street Art Team Justice Journal Project: Express your frustrations with the news by writing, drawing, painting, collage or all of the above. Share your work in the Justice Journal Project by using the hashtags #JusticeJournal and #ResistanceArt on all social media platforms. Protest Poster: Share dynamic protest posters you’ve created or seen by using the hashtags #ProtestPoster and #ResistanceArt on all social media platforms.
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Minnesota Tow Truck Driver Returns Abandoned Vehicles to Families After ICE Arrest
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It was only a few months ago that Juan Leon became the proud owner of Minnesota’s newest tow truck service.
Not long after, he began to get calls about abandoned vehicles and realized there was a pattern. Whether it was parked on the side of the street or in the lot of a business, their owners were just gone.
In most if not all such cases, he would learn, they had been arrested by ICE during its Operation Metro Storm. Whether one supports the efforts of the agency to deport illegal immigrants, it left behind a big footprint—a four-wheeled one, and Leon realized he had the opportunity to make a difference in his community. Working sometimes alone, and sometimes at the request of family members, Leo’s Towing has been returning suspects’ cars to their families at no cost for 4 months now.
“Seeing there was a need for someone to help out, help clear the streets and get the people back their vehicles. So we stepped up and started doing it,” Leon told CBS which manages an affiliate in Minnesota. Working alongside “observers,” Leon has spent weeks arriving at the scene of an earlier arrest in order to bring the car back to any family or friends the person might have.
“Families reach out to us,” Leon said. “If the family isn’t reaching out, we’ll find a way to get inside the vehicle and we’ll bring it back to their house and put it in a safe spot.”
It costs hundreds of thousands to insure a working, hydraulic vehicle like a tow truck, which is why towing costs so much. But Leon says he can take the hit because of money he receives through private donations coming from all around the country for his compassionate work, which he added has rapidly crowded out his previous schedule.
He estimates he’s brought some 250 cars to their owners, their family members, or to a safe place where it will avoid damage. Leon says the moments when a car is returned can be emotional, “more than sad” even, but it doesn’t dissuade him from carrying on.
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