201. Supporting Minnesota's Immigrants Right Now

Welcome to Progressive Pockets! I go by GG, that’s short for Genet Gimja. This is a show about ways that we can live out our values just a little bit more. So you can tune in here every week for gentle, practical suggestions. We’re not looking for perfection here. I’m not perfect, I’m just trying to incrementally do better. And maybe when I look back on my life, I’ll see that I did my part.

Today’s episode is about how we might support Minnesota’s immigrant communities right now. I’ve tried to compile some ideas for today that are specific to Minnesota but are also very relevant and replicable to other cities that are experiencing similar pressures on immigrant communities. For the past several months, I have been hearing the helicopters in my neighborhood. Ice detained someone a few feet away from my front door. I’m noticing that some members of my local community have stopped going out. They are hiding in their homes. I have started to carry my passport when I go out.

These are strange times.

And yet, we are not powerless. We are never powerless.

Thanks to the listener that wrote in asking for this episode. I am going to include lots of links in the show notes so that you can learn more about where I found these resources and how you can get involved.

Let’s talk about supporting Minnesota’s immigrant communities and it just might give you some ideas on how to help your own community.

First things first, I want to encourage you to Know Your Rights.

Knowing your rights is not about fear; it is about dignity. It is about you, your family, your neighbors feeling just a little less alone in a moment when ICE activity in Minnesota is creating a steady hum of anxiety in so many homes. And it is about grounding that fear in something concrete—phone numbers, links, and real people who have your back.

I want to applaud my neighbors who pulled out their cameras when someone was detained on our block. And I want to ask you… what it would be like to be prepared with our cameras AND with the knowledge of exactly what ice and police can and can’t do. 

Across Minnesota, something powerful is happening quietly: thousands of people have stepped forward to train as legal observers through the Monarca network. So many, in fact, that every training through January is already full, and two new trainings have been added for February. Minnesotans are standing up and saying no one should have to face this alone.

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Monarca has a rapid response line, phone number: 612-441-2881. That number, written on a slip of paper in a wallet or saved under a simple contact name in a phone, can be the difference between feeling trapped and remembering there is a network ready to show up and bear witness.

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Minnesota has put together a thorough immigration resource page that brings a lot into one place: know‑your‑rights information, legal aid, even health care resources. For families and for those who love them, that means not having to start from scratch or rely on rumors; there is a central place to begin.

Unidos MN has gone a step further with a detailed “know your rights” guide that speaks directly to the situations people are most afraid of: ICE at your door or workplace, being stopped or detained by police, the question of which documents to carry and which to keep safely at home. This is the kind of resource you sit with at the kitchen table, maybe late at night, practicing what you would say if someone knocks at 5 a.m., making a plan with your kids, writing down the name of a trusted contact, saying out loud, “I have the right to remain silent. I have the right to an attorney.”

The Star Tribune has pulled together a clear guide to what ICE agents can and cannot legally do, and what rights legal observers have when they are present.

If the worst happens, if someone is taken, families are not left with only questions. The Online Detainee Locator System allows people to search for loved ones in ICE custody, offering at least a starting point in the confusion. And in the background, places like Neighborhood House on St. Paul’s West Side are holding up another part of the safety net: food shelves, family services, and housing stability support that help families weather the financial and emotional shock while they fight for their loved ones.

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In just a few minutes, a congregation, a classroom, a living room gathering can share a phone number, open a website, and role‑play a conversation that someone in that circle may one day need. That is how “know your rights” becomes more than a slogan in Minnesota right now; it becomes a shared practice of care, a way of saying to one another, “You are seen. You are not alone. And together, we know what to do.”

I want to talk now about mutual aid.

Mutual aid is how communities in Minnesota are choosing to answer fear, with groceries on the doorstep, rent paid on time, and the simple reassurance that someone sees what you are going through. In this moment of intense ICE pressure, giving and receiving material support is not charity; it is a way of redistributing power so families can stay housed, fed, and together while they fight for their futures.

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The Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee has kept a food card fundraiser going so families who are in hiding, parents kept from work, and kids pulled from school can still get groceries and basic necessities.

We have seen an outpouring of support for the family of Renee Good, who was killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, and that solidarity matters deeply. But at the very same time, thousands of people detained by ICE across the metro are scrambling for rent, food, phone bills, and legal costs. ​

Pow Wow Grounds is open and taking donations, sharing a list of specific items that families need and accepting direct financial support via Venmo. State Senators Zaynab Mohamed and Doron Clark are hosting a food drive in Northeast Minneapolis, inviting neighbors to turn a couple of hours on a January morning into pantry staples for families who cannot safely leave home.

Joyce Uptown Foodshelf, after holding two emergency food drives in just two weeks, is encouraging neighbors to think long-term: give cash if you can, plan for sustained support, and stagger donations so shelves stay stocked beyond the first wave of urgency. In St. Paul, Zion Community Commons, Open Market MN, and the Twin Cities Vegan Chef Collective are assembling “Shelter in Place” packs—boxes of food and essentials for families are in hiding.

Neighborhood groups are stepping in too. Neighbors in southwest Minneapolis and in the Longfellow neighborhood are raising funds for rent, food delivery, healthcare access, transportation, and legal services, recognizing that an ICE arrest reverberates through every part of a family’s life. The Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association, the Wedge, is running an ongoing food share, a reminder that neighborhood associations can be more than meeting notices and newsletters, they can be lifelines.

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Small businesses are helping too.

All across the Twin Cities, small businesses are turning into collection points for survival. Northern Coffeeworks is backing a mutual aid request from a neighbor who is supporting ten immigrant families with weekly food deliveries and essentials. On Cedar Avenue, Dios Habla Hoy church is running both a food drive and a rent support fundraiser, using its Facebook presence to connect donors with families who could use a hand.

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Karol Coffee, Lynette, Picnic Linden Hills, Little Bird Delicatessen, Hold the Wheat, the downtown Minneapolis location of Càphin, Silver Fern, Duck Duck Clay Duck and Rolling Chapters at Evergreen West Park, Surly Brewing, and both Edina and Minneapolis locations of the Grind spin studio are all facilitating donations and, in the Grind’s case, channeling them into support for families connected to a local elementary school.

Taken together, these efforts say something profound: mutual aid is not confined to one nonprofit or one neighborhood; it is a web. When you give to a fundraiser, drop off a bag of groceries, host a drive at your business, or simply share a link, you are tying another thread in that web so that when ICE tears into a community, there is something there to catch people before they fall all the way down.

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If you want to hear from locals about where they are giving, you can look up a local food critic Beyond Beurre Blac as well as Smitten Kitten who are both sharing mutual aid fundraisers including a fundraiser for Isuroon which is supporting Somali families with essential goods.

Immediate aid is critical, but the systems causing this harm are ongoing.

So I want to encourage you to consider supporting local immigrant‑led organizations that fight to end raids and deportations, challenge abusive policies, and organize impacted communities through leadership development, advocacy, and public campaigns.

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Attend educational events, rallies, and training to understand how immigration enforcement works in Minnesota and how schools, unions, and neighborhoods can adopt protective policies.

Talk with employers, schools, unions, and congregations about creating or strengthening protocols to support workers, students, and members during ICE activity, including clear non‑discrimination and non‑collaboration practices where possible under the law.

So to recap, here’s what we covered today, here are some ways to help:

• Know your rights. Get educated on what’s allowed and what isn’t. Not only will you be more protected but you’ll be able to help others in their moment of need. You might also consider being trained as a legal observer.
• Support basic needs. Participate in the food drives, rent drives, mutual aid networks that are local to your community. 
• Show up for long term change. Start by asking the question at your place of worship, at your job, at your child’s school. How can we prepare to protect our community members? Also, find out what the immigrant led organizations priorities are. They know what needs to be done, let them lead the way as you provide your support.

Helping Minnesota immigrants affected by ICE raids means combining immediate material support, accurate information, and organized advocacy. Every donation, shared resource, and conversation moves the community closer to safety, stability, and justice.

I am working on an issue of the newsletter with specific links of places where you can donate and get involved. Sign up for the newsletter at progressive pockets dot com.

Share this episode with family and friends who are also living in cities that are currently experiencing these ice raids.

Let’s end with a quote…

This one comes to us from Audre Lorde.

“Sometimes we are blessed with being able to choose the time, and the arena, and the manner of our revolution, but more usually we must do battle where we are standing.”

Let’s talk again soon!