This is a compilation of a successive posts made on Bluesky social media by author Margaret Killjoy, on the ground in Minneapolis and St. Paul observing the local resistance to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security as it pursues a campaign of state-sponsored terror in the Twin Cities. Her details of what she describes as a “hyperlocal” resistance gives an idea of the scale of opposition to the federal invasion of Stephen Miller’s shock troops, and serves as a template for how other American communities will eventually have to resist ICE and DHS as it grows larger than the FBI and even the U.S. Marines.
The Minnesota patriots pushing back against this tyrannical overreach of our federal government — the first of its kind on this scale in our nation’s 250 years — may eventually go into the annals of American history alongside the ordinary but courageous Americans who stood against British Redcoats at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. Reading Margaret’s posts, they’re certainly cut from the same cloth. But make no mistake: We’re in the midst of a national emergency unlike any that free Americans have faced before, and which will only grow more severe as it affects every corner of our republic.
Nevertheless, as one Minnesotan told Margaret this week, “ICE has made the classic Nazi mistake. They’ve invaded a winter people in the winter.” — Tommy
By Margaret Killjoy
I came to Minneapolis to report on what’s going on, and one of the main questions I showed up with is what is the scale of the resistance? After all, we’re used to the news calling Portland a “war zone,” or whatever, when it’s just some protests in one part of town.
I got in late last night, Jan. 20th. First thing this morning, I saw cars following an ICE vehicle down the street, honking at it. Later, we didn’t drive more than three blocks before we found people defending a childcare facility. Let that sink in — the idea that people have to defend a childcare facility.
Half the street corners around here have people from every walk of life, including Republicans, standing guard to watch for suspicious vehicles, which are reported to a robust and entirely decentralized network that tracks ICE vehicles and mobilizes responders.
I have been actively involved in protest movements for 24 years. I’ve never seen anything approaching this scale. Minneapolis is not accepting what’s happening here. ICE fucking murdered a woman for participating in this, and all that did is bring out more people, from more walks of life.
It’s genuinely a leaderless (or leaderful) movement, decentralized in a way the state is absolutely unequipped to handle. There are a few basic skills involved, so people teach each other those skills and are collectively refining them.
Before I came, I asked a local friend if the cold would stop people from coming out. “No, we’ll be there,” said my friend. “It’s ICE who can’t handle it.”
Today I talked with a 76-year old woman who’d been standing in the cold for hours guarding her neighbors. I was getting kind of chilly, even in the new winter gear I bought for this trip. She didn’t even have a hat on.
Another person put it, “We’re Minnesotans. We’re excited to get our real winter gear out of the box for the year.” He’s an audio engineer whose kid goes to school in the area. No way in hell was he going to let anyone come for the kids on his watch.
Another friend put it to me like this: “ICE has made the classic Nazi mistake. They’ve invaded a winter people in the winter.”
I don’t want to paint a rosy picture because it’s a city under siege. People are being abducted all the time. One person told me about watching one to two abductions a day, just in her own work following ICE.
But when I asked an organizer what they wanted to see out of press coverage, they told me they wanted people to see the beautiful things they’re building here, not just the worst stories of the worst of ICE’s crimes. What people are doing here is beautiful. It’s a tragic beauty, but a real one.
I’ve been here 24 hours, but already with what I’ve seen I genuinely believe we’re going to win. People here are well aware that what happens here impacts the entire country, that it sets the tone for resistance. ICE is angry, and ICE is terrified of how deeply unpopular it is.
I’ve never seen a population more united. If people can hold onto that unity, if people can accept that different people will have different ways of confronting fascism, if we can remind NGOs and .orgs that they can join but not control the resistance, then people here will write history.
Another question I came here with was how effective are the whistles and honking? Does it stop abductions? The answer is yes — and often. I have talked to so many people who have successfully interrupted kidnappings.
Essentially, what stops abductions is when crowds outnumber the masked kidnappers. When people aggressively follow ICE with whistles and horns, crowds are ready to show up. If they show up fast enough, ICE leaves and a family is not broken. People here understand the stakes.
So once ICE vehicles have been discovered and are being followed, they often become incapable of doing their sinister work. This is why people risk their lives to tail federal agents all over the Twin Cities and the suburbs.
It doesn’t always work. People are being abducted every day here, including while being observed. But if people can gather fast enough, it usually seems to work.
That’s why the response teams are hyperlocal. One single block might have a signal loop with every person on the street on it.
These posts were made on Bluesky by author Margaret Killjoy, host of the Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff podcast and co-owner of Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness media publishing collective whose latest book is The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice.
Photo of Renee Nicole Good posters along a Minneapolis wall courtesy of CrimethInc Media.