From delivering groceries to families who can’t leave their homes to patrolling the streets as part of ICE watches, Minneapolis neighbors and community members are coming to each other’s aid – and inspiring the rest of us.
Since December, Iglesia Dios Habla Hoy, which serves the area’s Latino community members, has been hard at working helping feed families who can’t leave their homes amid the federal government’s violent overreach. When Pastor Sergio Amezcua “first asked his assistant to put out a call on social media, he thought they would receive a few requests,” KARE 11 reported. “Right now, they’re distributing anywhere between 50,000 and 70,000 pounds of food per week with the help of hundreds of volunteers.”
It’s not just assistance with meals, either. When Rev. Amezcua found out that one community member was resorting to reusing disposable diapers, he leapt into action. “I sent a text, if you can donate diapers,” he told KARE 11. “Our volunteer force showed up with what you see here.”
This fire is everywhere. Somali neighbors who have time and time again been the target of racist slander by the administration are responding not with fear but with courage, “from homemade sambusas for protesters to foot patrols on the lookout for ICE,” The Intercept reported. Like Iglesia Dios Habla Hoy, community member Abdi Rahman said this includes buying and delivering groceries for families unable to safely step outside their front doors.
“When ICE started showing up in our neighborhoods, we realized we can’t fight the federal government. But we can come together and patrol the neighborhood, keep ICE out, deescalate,” he told The Intercept. Many of these community members have been here before. Resiliency is a part of their DNA.
“Mahmoud Hasan, a community activist whom everyone refers to as BBC, was in a refugee camp after fleeing civil strife in Somalia in the 1990s,” the report continued. “He earned his moniker because, living in the camp, he learned English strictly by watching the BBC and would practice by speaking like a news anchor. ‘We fled a civil war,’ Hasan said. ‘We are more resilient than they think.’”
Farm workers with Minnesota. Solidarity with the general strike!Campesinos con Minnesota. ¡Viva la huelga!
— United Farm Workers (@ufw.bsky.social) 2026-01-23T19:10:57.040Z
This energy is also manifesting across the state on Friday, January 23, in the form a “Day of Truth and Freedom,” which is encouraging all Minnesotans – and all of Americans outraged over daily abuses of power at the hands of the federal government – to come “together in moral reflection” and skip work, school, and shopping.
“The ICE ‘surge’ that cost the life of Renee Nicole Good is violating the Constitutional and human rights of Americans and our neighbors,” states the action’s website. “It is time to suspend the normal order of business to demand immediate cessation of ICE actions in MN, accountability for federal agents who have caused loss of life and abuse to Minnesota residents and call for Congress to immediately intervene.”
The day of action is truly unprecedented. Labor outlet Payday Report said that “tens of thousands of workers in Minneapolis are expected to take to the streets in a mass general strike. The ‘Day of Truth and Freedom’ has been endorsed by all the major labor organizations in Minnesota. Every major school and cultural institution, as well as hundreds of restaurants and small businesses, are expected to close.”
CWA Local 7520 President Kieran Knutson said “that the idea of a general strike emerged when SEIU Local 26 proposed a mass day of action to a group of progressive unions,” the report said. “SEIU Local 26, whose members are largely immigrant janitorial workers, sought help from other unions in fighting back as their members took a beating from ICE raids.” Knutson said that after Good’s killing, “I think a lot of us said, we have to move. We have to do stuff now.”
Faith leaders are participating in the strike, with religion reporter Jack Jenkins highlighting that many are staging a protest outside the Minneapolis airport. “Side note: It is — and I cannot stress this enough — literally extremely cold,” he noted. But the weather has met its match, with Jenkins noting that the crowd continued to grow to the point of pouring out into the street.
Singing and praying in -22 degrees.
— Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox.bsky.social) 2026-01-23T17:23:20.971Z
Hundreds of clergy members have also descended across the city this week to help observe federal immigration actions. “The clergy, who hail from a range of traditions and worship communities across the country, sang on the buses as they ventured out into the street. They belted out hymns and songs popular during the Civil Rights Movement, such as ‘Woke Up This Morning,’” Religion News Service reported.
The Rev. James Galasinski, who came in from New York, said he and several other faith leaders had been out monitoring for just a few minutes when they witnessed a dozen mass deportation agents harass an individual who appeared to be an American citizen.
“The ministers — all wearing clerical stoles — began blowing whistles, attempting to alert the nearby community. ICE agents surrounded one of the women from the minivan and instructed the pastors to get back,” the report said. Rev. Dan Brockway, “standing behind the other faith leaders, began livestreaming the encounter to his church’s Facebook page.” When the woman was able to produce paperwork, she was let go. “I saw it,” said Rev. Galasinski. “I mean, demanding papers? I never thought I would live in a country like this.”
Religion News Service also reported that at least 100 rabbis and Jewish leaders are among the faith leaders defending Minneapolis neighbors. Rabbi Diane Tracht, who arrived from Indiana, called it a commandment of her faith and Jewish experience. “What did we learn from the Holocaust? We have to act and we have to resist,” she said. “If I’m not going to act and resist now, then I shouldn’t call myself a rabbi and I can’t be a proud Jew.”
