Saint Paul, MN – On Wednesday, May 27, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) brought its demands for a sanctuary state executive order to the office of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, along with dozens of blue bunny hats that they left on the floor outside of his office.

MIRAC has been calling on Governor Walz to issue an executive order making Minnesota a sanctuary state and on all gubernatorial candidates to commit to implementing statewide sanctuary policies. With no response from Walz, the group took their demands to his office in person.

MIRAC member Yann Chen laid out the group’s demands for the governor to sign an executive order that would: ban collaboration with local agencies and ICE; protect sensitive locations like schools, hospitals and churches from immigration enforcement; keep ICE off of state property; ban officers from wearing any face covering or concealing their identity; defend protesters against political repression; provide justice for all victims of ICE terror, and implement a state wide eviction moratorium.

“At least five of my neighbors from my apartment complex have been stolen, while on the way to work, or getting ready in the early morning,” said Chen, “We demand Walz signs this executive order and we demand a sanctuary state now!”

Alissa Washington, representing the Wrongfully Incarcerated and Over Sentenced Families Council (WIAOSFC-MN) as well as Twin Cities Coalition for Justice (TCC4J) said, “We witnessed the devastating impact Operation Metro Surge had on Black and brown communities throughout Minnesota. But our people fought back. Because when systems fail, the people protect each other. And we are still fighting ICE today! Governor Walz, if Minnesota truly believes immigrants belong here, then prove it!”

After hearing from a few speakers, the group brought a box of blue bunny hats into the office foyer and took them out one by one, placing them on the floor. In the next room, children while on tour of the Capitol building watched as the hats were placed and organizers explained the significance of the hats and why they were protesting.

The hats are a tribute to five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos who was kidnapped along with his father outside their home in Columbia Heights, Minnesota and sent to detention in Texas before being released and returning home. Although released by a judge due to the outrage sparked by pictures of Liam being detained in his blue bunny hat, the Trump administration has continued its campaign to deport him and his father. The fight continues, so MIRAC brought the hats directly to the governor’s office, giving him no choice to look away.

A member of the governor’s staff repeatedly told the group they should leave and not interrupt the school groups or leave the hats on the floor, asserting that this was “a hazard.” Protesters left the hats there anyway and told the staff, “if children are not too young to be separated from their families, they are not too young to hear about this.”

After the hats were all placed, the group held a banner in the hallway that read “Sanctuary now!” and chanted “We want justice, you say how? Sanctuary state now!” as school group after school group went in and out of the office foyer, most of them stepping on the pile of bunny hats as they walked through. Before they left, protesters were told that the bunny hats would be thrown away. As MIRAC member Erika Zurkawski pointed out “this shows what they think of immigrants – that they are disposable!” The group left the pile of bunny hats on the floor for the governor and his staff when they left the capitol premises.

#StPaulMN #MN #MIRAC #ImmigrantRights #LiamConejoRamos #TimWalz #Featured

St. Paul, MN – On May 9, the day before Mother’s Day, 100 Minnesotans, from all generations, gathered at the Minnesota State Capitol with blue bunny hats in remembrance of Liam Conejo Ramos and the 4030 immigrants who were kidnapped during Operation Metro Surge.

Two months on from the drawdown of Operation Metro Surge, people came out to the Capitol to demonstrate their determination to fight back against the continuing attacks on immigrant communities. Protesters brought their own blue bunny hats or grabbed one made by the Conejo Rally organizers. The crowd of blue bunny hats made for an emotional visual as various immigrant rights advocates spoke to the crowd.

The event, dubbed the “Conejo Rally,” was co-organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) and Families Against Military Madness (FAMM). The rally honored five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who in January was kidnapped by ICE agents along with his father outside their home in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. The two were then sent to the notoriously cruel Dilley detention center in Texas, where Liam became depressed and ill.

As images of the scared preschooler in his blue bunny hat stoked global outrage, a judge ordered ICE to release the pair, and they returned home on February 1; but the nightmare is not over, for them and many other immigrant families.

The federal government is still trying to deport Liam and his family and seems determined to retaliate against them for the attention their case has received. The Department of Justice successfully moved to end the family’s asylum claims, and now it has appealed the release of Liam and his father. Nonetheless, Liam and his family themselves attended the Conejo Rally, bravely keeping their story in the public eye.

Kevin Centeno, an administrator at Liam’s school stated, “We’ve seen children used as baits. I’ve seen parents taken just for taking out trash, going to work, dropping off their kids, or picking them up from school, or from everywhere they need. These parents are not a threat. These are working-class families. This is our community. We will stand together for those who cannot stand. We will not be afraid for those who are afraid, and we will fight back.”

Liz McLister, the co-emcee of the rally from FAMM told the crowd, “We know that the fallout from Operation Metro Surge is still impacting our neighbors in the form of PTSD, continuing detentions and deportations; and the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, income and program cuts. We know ICE is still better funded than some countries’ militaries, and that it’s concentrating power behind the scenes as I speak! We know that someone has died in ICE detention every six days so far this year. The terror persists, albeit in less obvious ways.”

Manuel Pascual, the co-emcee of the rally from MIRAC, notified the crowd of the renewed threats made by “border czar” Tom Homan and the new DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. Last week at the Border Security Expo, Tom Homan boasted about the rate of kidnappings made by immigration officers, who are now making about 1200 arrests a day. He also explicitly threatened to send more agents to states and cities that restrict cooperation with federal law enforcement, which would lead to an increase in collateral arrests and violence courtesy of the federal government. Markwayne Mullin, for his part, clarified the Trump administration’s strategy of conducting mass deportations, but in a quieter fashion, with the DHS out of the headlines.

The people are also fighting back at the state level to uphold immigrant rights through a large coalition of immigrant rights groups called the North Star Alliance. Karen Wills, a member of the North Star Alliance Policy Team addressed the crowd and told them about the importance of getting Senate File 3699 passed in Minnesota, something the coalition has been working on. This bill is expected to be discussed this coming week, and would restrict immigration enforcement agents’ access to courts, hospitals, schools, and childcare centers.

In addition to passing bills like this, MIRAC members have been pushing for immediate action via an executive order issued by the governor to ensure immigrant communities get immediate protections.

Myrka Zambrano, who spoke at the rally on behalf of MIRAC, asserted, “We have already seen what the federal government is capable of. The time to act was yesterday. We need change now. Governor Walz has the power to make it happen. We are asking Walz to issue an executive order to make us a sanctuary state now. We are demanding no cooperation with ICE and local law enforcement. We are demanding all charges dropped against protestors. We are demanding justice for all of the victims of ICE terror.”

Zambrano continued, “And we want a statewide eviction moratorium. What we want is simple. We want Governor Walz to protect immigrants and all Minnesotans from federal violence and repression.” MIRAC’s upcoming actions will be aimed at pressuring Governor Walz and the gubernatorial candidates to uphold these sanctuary state demands.

The rally concluded with a speech from Liam’s father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias. “As you know, we have gone through very difficult times, but thanks to your support, your messages, and your good wishes, we have pulled through. Thank you for being here. This is the symbol that represents all immigrants, ” Arias declared, holding up a blue bunny hat.

At the end of the rally, participants gathered on the steps in front of the capitol building with their blue bunny hats, chanting “Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here!”

#StPaulMN #MN #MIRAC #ImmigrantRights #SanctuaryState #LiamConejoRamos #OperationMetroSurge