Statement on ICE and Federal Enforcement Activity in Minnesota
The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) stands in unwavering solidarity with immigrants, organizers, and community members in Minnesota who are facing intensive ICE raids and enforcement actions under Operation Metro Surge.
In recent weeks, thousands of federal agents have been deployed across Minnesota in expanded interior immigration enforcement operations that have torn apart the fabric of our communities. Asylum-seeking families have been detained. Children have been separated from their parents. Multiple civilians have been killed during protests and public observation of enforcement actions.
We grieve for Luis Gustavo Núñez Cáceres, Geraldo Lunas Campos, Víctor Manuel Díaz, Parady La, Renee Nicole Good, Luis Beltrán Yáñez–Cruz, Heber Sánchez Domínguez, and Alex Pretti whose lives were taken through unnecessary violence this year alone. We hold their families, loved ones, and all who knew them in our hearts.
We hold with tenderness the fear that has gripped immigrant and mixed-status households across this country, beyond just the Twin Cities, from coast to coast. Federal immigration actions should never put lives at risk or strip away the basic dignity and safety of people who contribute to, live in, and love our communities.
Our liberation is bound together. This occupation is affecting migrants and citizens alike. It affects Asian Americans; it affects the Somali community; it affects Indigenous communities and many more. Black and brown people are being harassed and detained on the street without hesitation or due process. The violence unfolding in Minnesota is a threat to all of us—because systemic racism, colonial violence, and state-sanctioned terror do not discriminate in their reach, only in their targets.
NQAPIA's Director of Operations and Finance and St. Paul resident Heidi Benrud Nybroten shares:
"Our state is under federal occupation and there's no accountability for ICE agents—they are attacking, even killing people in our streets and violating court orders left and right. We're witnessing our neighbors be stolen out of their houses or when dropping their kids off at school. Our places of cultural exchange, like Hmong Village, are ghost towns because folks are afraid to leave their homes. Minnesota has also stepped up to the moment and shown that we will fight back. This moment is ripe for cross-cultural solidarity and action. May Minnesota's tools and resilience be a guiding light for folks who are planning and preparing to protect their people. Nobody is free until we all are free."
And yet, in the face of this brutality, we are witnessing something extraordinary.
Across Minnesota, people who never imagined themselves as organizers are stepping into their power. Neighbors are forging deeper relationships. Communities are delivering food to those afraid to leave their homes, connecting families to medical care and rent assistance, and building networks of protection and care.
It has always been true that we keep us safe. That truth has never been more visible than it is right now in Minnesota—and it is a model for what must emerge everywhere.
Collective action is winning.
The sustained and growing resistance, protests, general strikes, and organizing in Minnesota have already forced the Trump administration to retreat. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino—who defended the killings and spread lies—has been removed from Minnesota and stripped of his command. On February 4, the administration announced the withdrawal of 700 federal agents from the state, a direct result of the relentless pressure from community members, labor unions, local officials, and everyday people who refused to accept this violence as normal.
This is what collective power looks like. When we organize, when we show up for each other, when we refuse to be silent—we force those in power to respond. Minnesota has shown us that resistance works.
But we cannot stop here. We are fighting to get ICE out of Minnesota entirely. We must also ask: where will they go next? How do we ensure that no community is left isolated when enforcement escalates? Solidarity is not passive. It requires us to build the infrastructure of care and resistance before the next crisis arrives at someone else’s doorstep and our own.
Across State Lines: What You Can Do in Solidarity
We are inspired by the strikes, protests, mutual aid networks, and legal defense organizing happening in Minnesota. Those of us beyond the Twin Cities must not only condemn this violence—we must take concrete action:
1. Support Legal and Community Defense
Donate to and amplify funds providing legal representation for immigrants and community observers. Uplift organizations offering know-your-rights education and rapid response support for affected families.
NQAPIA will be donating to our partner organizations Minnesota8 and Transforming Generations.
2. Mobilize Political Pressure
Contact your U.S. House and Senate representatives. Demand accountability for federal immigration enforcement abuses, independent investigations into the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, and an end to the systemic disregard for civil liberties. Oppose expansions of ICE and DHS funding.
3. Build Local Networks of Care and Resistance
Invest in immigrant-led organizations, rapid legal response teams, community bail funds, and mutual-aid networks in your own cities and states. Preparedness and solidarity infrastructure can save lives when federal enforcement comes to your community.
This is our call to collective action.
NQAPIA commits to using our organizational power to uplift those most marginalized and to build a future where all of us—queer, immigrant, Black, brown, Indigenous, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander—can thrive in safety, joy, and freedom.
We will not be silent. We will not be complicit. And we will not stop organizing until every one of us belongs, and every one of us is free.
In love and in struggle,
The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA)