I wanted to record a few thoughts and memories from my recent trip to Minneapolis.
Why did I go? After Renee Good and Alex Pretti were murdered, my heart and my soul said, “Get up! Get up and do something!” My heart and my soul said it over and over and over again, and they usually said it at about 3 a.m.
For me, this is not a question of politics – this is a question of morality.
So, I called my best friend who lives in Monte Vista, Colorado, and said, “I’ve got to go. Are you in?” and she graciously said, “Yes.”
I went online and contacted the local churches and aid agencies. The Minnesota state offices of the Episcopal church answered immediately, with contacts, phone numbers, rides, a variety of work opportunities, and meals – and thanks. These were wonderful people doing wonderful work. We felt so blessed.
Day one, we were set up with local neighborhood organizers and workers. A priest at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral introduced us to a group of neighbors who had banded together to confront Operation Metro Surge, an ongoing operation by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Their stated purpose is to apprehend undocumented immigrants and deport them. The operation began in December 2025, initially targeting Minneapolis and Saint Paul, and then expanded to all of Minnesota.
The people in the Twin Cities have faced bands of armed ICE agents day and night and experienced racial profiling, kidnapping, intimidation, no due process, and the menace of deadly incompetence. While the national news media is no longer focused on Minnesota, large numbers of ICE agents are still there, and many immigrants as well as U.S. citizens are afraid they will be apprehended, detained, or worse.
What does this work look like? What forms does it take?
- Driving your neighbor’s children to school so they’re not exposed walking on the sidewalks.
- Neighbors walking their neighbors’ dogs so the owners aren’t exposed.
- Monitoring and observing ICE presence in your neighborhood: parents and other concerned adults taking watch shifts at the local schools with whistles and walkie talkies; neighborhood watch reporting programs with central numbers to call to report ice activity – phone trees are immediately activated, and neighbors who choose to participate then pour into the streets to observe and challenge ICE activities — the Resistance often wears fuzzy house slippers, and the Resistance kicks ass!
- Driving a friend to work who, although born in the USA and a citizen, feels nervous because her skin is brown.
- Lasagna appears on the doorstep.
- Mental health centers are set up with phone numbers instead of in-person appointments.
- Veterinarians making house calls.
- Towing companies retrieving cars abandoned by ICE “snatch and grab” operations and returning them to families, free of charge.
- The establishment of mutual aid groups and rent relief funds – one is headed by the local PTA.
- Arranging rides to chemo and dialysis appointments.
- Gathering, packaging, and delivering food to families who are afraid to leave their homes.
One of the neighborhood group leaders who had been working 18-hour days, days on end, was very stressed. We went in with Sanders and cleaned her house from top to bottom. Now, my Martha Stewart gene is quite recessive, but you go where you are needed.
Although they were out during the cleaning, we felt we got to know the family through things that were in the house – lots of little socks, pictures and photos lovingly arranged in framed collages, kids’ artwork strewn around, Legos and beads galore, Spiderman posters, colorful Day of the Dead frames.
It was a vibrant, loving family home – and one that was sparkling by the time we left. I spent a few years as a single, working mom, and I know how happy our new friend felt when she opened the door that night.
Day 2 – “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40
On Day 2, we were assigned a wonderful local “taxi” driver who took us south to suburban Richfield, where we met with a deacon at St. Nicholas Episcopal Church who introduced us to the young leader of the Casa Maria food bank.
We were taken downstairs to a huge basement, piled floor to ceiling with donations of every kind: bags, boxes, plastic bins, random piles. Donations had been arriving in such volume that their small staff was overwhelmed and couldn’t keep up.
We worked for hours organizing, sorting, and stacking items from peanut butter to rice to diapers to juice to prenatal vitamins. Over lunch in the small upstairs office, one of the priests at the church shared the other end of the table with us. In front of him were envelopes after envelopes of donations for the food bank from all over the country.
We felt this miracle deep in our hearts as the beloved community showed its support. All of this effort is directed to neighbors who are afraid to leave their homes to go to the grocery store. Let that sink in for a moment – afraid to leave their homes. We are told to love our neighbors, yes? Well, our neighbors are under attack.
We also spent some time at the memorials to Renee Good and Alex Pretti. So very powerful, so very heartbreaking.
Community, community, community
I was most impressed by the city’s heart. I’m from a small village in the Rocky Mountains, and Minneapolis seemed huge and overwhelming to me. Until I met the people and experienced the power of grassroots connections, it is this togetherness that will help them emerge victorious.
Lessons? As a small mountain community, we can be proactive. We need a plan and a communications network should ICE show up in the Estes Valley. We can try to offset long-term harm with short-term planning. What can you do? How can you help? The Handbook for Constitutional Observers is an informational resource.
So many of the residents of Estes Park who work in our restaurants, lodging establishments, and for our construction companies are immigrants. Some came without authorization. Some overstayed a visa. Many fled persecution from the danger of gangs and cartels. Many were brought here as minor children by their parents. They have graduated from our schools, married, and are raising families of their own. Some own businesses. They pay property taxes and income taxes. They are members of our mountain community.
As a community, we have so much to offer. We have light and love, the most powerful forces in the universe. Love is a verb – use it often and use it well. Many local churches in the Twin Cities accept donations for food pantries and other aid. One resource is the Casa Maria at St. Nicholas Episcopal Church in suburban Richfield.
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