A Letter From Minneapolis
What it feels like to have masked agents terrorizing your community.
By Joe Leary
Dear Friends Outside of Minnesota,
To those of you who think this isn’t happening where you live: It probably is. Or it will be soon. I want you to be readier than you are right now. I am asking—plainly and urgently—that you catch up and stand up for what you already know is right.
To those of you in Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, New York—and now Boston and Maine—you know exactly what this looks like. I want you to know that Minnesotans are with you. And we need to learn from one another.
I know you don’t have time to read this. I know you don’t have the heart for it. I don’t either. But here in Minnesota, we no longer have the luxury of saying, “I’m too busy to pay attention.” We are living under a violent authoritarian occupation—every hour, every day, on our streets.
On Saturday, January 24—one day after my birthday—a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident, a VA nurse, was filming ICE agents outside a donut shop. He was also trying to protect other witnesses. They shoved him. He shoved back. Five or six agents surrounded him, forced him to the ground, disarmed him and then while he was prone, they shot him 10 or 11 times. He is dead.
The city is in shock and rage. The mayor and police chief are pleading for calm. Peaceful protesters are chanting and trying to observe the scene—because we don’t trust them after evidence was removed in Renee Good’s murder and Minnesota investigators were blocked. ICE has responded by flooding the area with hundreds of agents, firing tear gas, chemical irritants, pepper spray, and flash-bang grenades, forcing people back so no one can see what’s happening.
Our governor has demanded that the White House withdraw the more than 3,000 ICE agents deployed here—five times the size of our local police force. No one believes the White House will listen. Witnesses who were filming have already been detained. No one believes this killing will be investigated honestly. Many believe the goal is escalation: provoke violence so the 1,500 active-duty troops now on standby can be unleashed in a spectacle meant to terrify the rest of the country into compliance.
They are now targeting schools—high schools, elementary schools, daycares—detaining children. You may have seen the photo of the five-year-old taken so ICE could lure his father to the door. Both are now detained in Texas. Or the two-year-old flown out of state despite a court order requiring her release.
They are breaking down doors without warrants. Dragging people out with inaccurate or no information. An elderly Hmong man—an American citizen since 1991—was pulled from his home in his underwear in the snow because they claimed he was a sex offender. The actual offender was already in prison.
Courts briefly ruled that ICE could not violently attack peaceful observers. That ruling was overturned. The violence intensified. People are being beaten, pinned, sprayed at point-blank range, left in the cold without adequate clothing, and abused in detention. Military-grade chemical agents—banned by the US military for toxicity—are being deployed. Tear gas fired into a home with six children caused an infant to stop breathing.
Citizens, legal residents, and vetted refugees are being detained and deported before accessing counsel. Some are transferred out of state or country against court orders. When released, they are often dumped on the street with nothing—not even their phones. We are now seeing reports of people dying in detention and witnesses being deported so they can’t speak.
Immigrant-owned businesses are closing because workers are afraid to leave home. Schools are shuttered. Minneapolis schools are closed entirely; St. Paul has moved to optional online learning.
A friend shared this account about her sibling, detained simply for witnessing: “Yesterday I heard my mother scream ‘SHAME ON YOU’ at ICE agents while she and my dad searched a detention center for my sibling, who had been illegally detained for nonviolent protest…”
Her sibling was rammed with a vehicle, maced, beaten, verbally abused, detained, then released without charges—one of hundreds. He is physically okay. This city is not. This country is not.
Why I still have hope—and why I’m proud of my state.
Last Friday was my birthday and my fellow Minnesotans did not disappoint. Tens of thousands of people marched peacefully through Minneapolis in negative 15 degree weather. More than 600 clergy from across the state and country gathered for a multifaith service, then went to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. One hundred knelt outside in the cold and were arrested protesting the occupation.
Neighbors have organized patrols and alert systems to observe ICE and document reality. Teachers are becoming hubs for food and social services as families hide. Constitutional observer trainings are being held. Mutual aid is everywhere—food, diapers, rent support, legal defense, escorts to school.
Minnesotans don’t brag much, but we are stubborn, resilient, and not easily bullied. Many are saying this administration picked the wrong state—and that it’s unwise to attack winter people in winter. We are heartbroken. We are furious. We are learning how to resist. We will not stop. And many of us will never forget or forgive.
Here’s how you can help: If you feel paralyzed, imagine how it feels here. No one can do everything—but everyone can do something. Action, any action, feels better than turning away.
Share this. Widely. Credit me or don’t—I don’t care. Just tell people.
Support local nonprofits in Minneapolis and other affected cities that are helping families with rent, food, and safe school access. Stay informed through on-the-ground reporting, and don’t buy into government lies and propaganda. Donate through vetted directories supporting legal defense and mutual aid. Demand that ICE withdraw from Minneapolis. Use your own words. Or mine.
Activism isn’t one thing. It ranges from confrontation to witnessing to quiet care. Find what you can sustain. Build relationships. Talk to neighbors. Start a block text thread. Don’t wait until SUVs with tinted windows arrive on your street. Learn who is supporting immigrants locally and how to help. It matters more than you think. This isn’t just about fighting. It’s about building networks of care that make us harder to terrorize.
If you made it this far—thank you for staying with me. Best of luck to you and please speak up.
—Joe
Joe Leary is a resident of Minneapolis, MN. He would like to thank his friend Leah Cooper, whose voice helped him find his, and who inspired him to take action.
Joe, You all are not alone in Minnesota. We see you all out there protesting peacefully on the streets being abused by ICE for your freedom of speech and the right to protest peacefully. We see ICE murdering your citizens. We see it all in real time. All on TV. Right before our eyes and our hearts mourn for all that you have lost. This weekend after the last senseless murder by ICE agents I wrote my 4th letter to President Trump (and I use that term lightly), telling him exactly how I feel about him and his Administration. About what he calls immigration control, and I call murder. My brother says he never sees them. I keep writing in the hopes that maybe at least he'll see one. God Bless us all.
I will share this widely!