I have been trying to figure out what to post here about ICE activity today in the Minneapolis / St. Paul metro. It is just •batshit• out there.
Some admin mucky-muck is in town today (Noem, I think?), and ICE is putting on a full We Are A Big Fascist Deal theater show. The result of this is chaos: ICE caravans all over, vulnerable people terrified, less-vulnerable residents dropping their work to keep watch on the streets.
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@inthehands Thank you for your posts about the situation in Minneapolis.
Supersoakers filled with water that's had raw fish in it for two weeks. It's terrifying shit. Iade somecforchhr purpose but could not work out a delivery mechanism.
One idea not tried was small ziplocks with the stuff, cin say an empty cigarette pack,cropped to the ground and kicked over into the police side of the cordon. And let the cops step on it and smear it around. And chatnts of YOU STINK!
Thank you for posting these updates. It is crazy that you folks are being put thru this.
@inthehands I loved how Portland brought out the costumes, I was thinking MN should bring out Viking, snowmen, winter type costumes. This seems to soften the awful situation some. And I hope it gets really cold again so ICE freezes their asses off. I know Minnesotans can handle it.
I saw some pretty hilarious video of an ICE vehicle with RWD just completely stuck in an otherwise empty parking lot
@inthehands big shitshow over here in St Paul...
@inthehands Thank you for reporting this! I have similar scenes in my part of the country—the Hudson Valley—but it doesn’t make national news. This morning I told two different people I was doing an ICE watch, and they were literally shocked as they had no idea ICE was still carrying out daily raids.
It’s a steady drip but over time the number of kidnapped folks really adds up.
@inthehands Pigs. Troglodyte thug-wannabes.
ICE has been harassing residents and lawful observers unusually aggressively yesterday and today. They walk up to random cars with window-smashing tools in hand and say threatening things. They slow-drive by people’s houses in a “we know where you live” kind of way. They detain people — completely illegally, completely unconstitutionally, of course — but that will mater later and their big photo op matters •now•.
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What is it like to live here now?
A message comes through from a neighbor about a swarm of ICE agents in a home just a few blocks away — gone by the time I was there to check it out. Nobody knows whether ICE abducted anyone there.
A message comes through from another neighbor trying to find support for a pregnant woman whose husband was just abducted. She cannot even figure out what she wants to ask for; she is in shock. I have no way to verify this story.
Group of vehicles at this restaurant, at that library, in this suburb. On and on.
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What do I want you to know, watching from far away?
I want you to know that if you are not hearing about ICE swarming all the hell over my city, you are not hearing the actual news.
I want you to know that if all you see is video of ICE marching off Very Dangerous Criminals in an orderly and authoritative way, you are not hearing the actual news.
I want you to know that these turds act tough, but run away • every • time • they think too many people are watching or there might be video.
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@inthehands
Everything you have been posting about this mirrors what we have been experiencing in Chicago since "operation midway blitz". My heart goes out to you all. The trauma of this will be felt by our cities for years (obviously longer for the people directly impacted).
@wakingrufus
I really appreciate this supportive message, and I also really appreciate Chicago. We were able to ready ourselves in large part because of what people in other cities warned us when the ICE surge was announced: Portland, LA, but most especially Chicago. What you learned and passed along about how to weather this and meet the moment has been invaluable.
@inthehands just now, I watched an X-Twitter video— it's embedded in this article— of a neo-Nazi (Republican) political candidate alluding to a January 17th event in Minnesota as he shuffled away.
I had no idea what he's talking about. Your thread is the only clue I've seen about why these asswipes are talking about the state.
@inthehands just now, I watched an X-Twitter video— it's embedded in this article— of a neo-Nazi (Republican) political candidate alluding to a January 17th event in Minnesota as he shuffled away.
I had no idea what he's talking about. Your thread is the only clue I've seen about why these asswipes are talking about the state.
The vibe is not even the sort of “excessive show of force” vibe you get when militarized law enforcement goes off the rails and starts rioting. (I live in Minneapolis. I’m quite familiar with what •that• looks like.)
This is more like…hundreds of high school gym bullies get all hopped up on Red Bull and decided to take daddy’s SUV on a joy ride to randomly kidnap the first brown person they can corner…but only if nobody’s watching.
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@inthehands We’ve been suffering this in Chicago. They raid schools and court houses, and have injured or killed civilians, and then lie about it in court and to the press. Corporate media doesn’t care, and will sane-wash fascist violence. Don’t expect external help. Organize locally, and document all their crimes. Strong organization, local warning systems, and documentation have been the only things that have slowed them here.
@inthehands you’re, like, describing an episode of South Park 😬😖
@inthehands I feel your pain so intensely. I live 2 doors down from one of the ground zero points in D.C. The I.C.E. tactics are exhausting. Hope this will help in some way: we all had to pick which kind of actions we will respond to so we didn't spend all day every day running from pillar to post trying to verify info. Use the hyper-local technique - responding groups organized by neighborhood, even for mutual aid. We're still under attack but managing better now. Don't forget to breathe.
@fulanigirl
Thanks, I appreciate all of that. What a nightmare to be near the staging ground…! I at least am a couple of miles from the federal building they use as HQ. I can’t imagine having them setting up right next to you every single day….
Local organizing here has been really amazing, a whole mesh of different hyperlocal groups and neighbor-to-neighbor stuff. People’s capacity for action continues to give me hope, not just about outlasting ICE but for the whole world.
@inthehands the KKK, then
Neither •law• nor •order• is anywhere in sight.
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@inthehands at what point is it time for US citizens to use their 2nd (gun) amendment rights? Wasn't it specifically for situations like this?
@inthehands Join ICE and get sent to work outside in Minnesota in January.
JFC, those boneheads threw a smoke bomb at someone on the freeway.
Kristi Noem has a sugar daddy billionaire who got her this Nazi gig.
https://www.jalopnik.com/billionaire-copart-founder-willis-johnson-is-privately-1847198880/
Willis Johnson, Copart Inc. has earned a boycott.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/29/noem-national-guard-border/
@inthehands Jesus H Christ I'm so sorry
@inthehands they’re a bunch of juvenile assholes — they lied to the police about a local activist hitting them when they drove erratically to try and make it look that way (he had dash cam footage of the whole thing). https://lataco.com/oxnard-dash-cam-ice-crash
@inthehands I mean, that's exactly the people that ICE attracts: bullies who get off on abusing people. People who are afraid to get hit back in a fight.
Living in the 2020s is like seeing all the worst people I went to high school with running the country. Noem reminds me of the mean girls who were inexplicably popular and just incredibly horrible whenever they had the chance.
I wonder what we can do from afar to help?
One thing you can do to help right now is just to spread the word about how bonkers and awful all of this is. I feel like a lot of national and international news is soft pedaling it.
@inthehands There was a video floating around with an agent who donned a Schutzstaffel-related tattoo on the neck …
@inthehands Please be safe. Thanks for reporting this, thanks for making us aware of all the peole in the US fighting against this terror and for democracy and their community.
We see you, and we are grateful for your courage.
Thanks for representing humanity in very dark times.
