Three days earlier, Corey Ruiz was fatally shot in Madison, Wisconsin. Nine days before that, Joan Sebastian Guerrero was brutally murdered by ICE in Maine, in front of his one-year-old daughter. And just the night before, word came through that the “drugs” DHS had used to smear Lorenzo Salgado Araujo had tested negative, too late to undo the damage of the accusation. This is the backdrop against which the riders gathered: a rolling body count that never seems to pause long enough for anyone to catch their breath.

The day's program opened a block from George Floyd Square.

Tiffany Dunlap, defendant number 17 of the Righteous 39, took the mic first, speaking of the repression being brought against activists, followed by Michelle Gross of Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB). Then came Jeanelle Austin, the Square's lead caretaker, who tied together the history of police oppression in South Minneapolis. She said, “We have to keep organizing, we have to keep standing, we have to keep fighting for each other, for our neighbors. We have to keep shouting from the rooftops to make sure we organize more people to stand with us so we can end the state-sanctioned violence.”

From there, the ride carried the crowd to Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue, an intersection that holds real weight in the history of Metro Surge, as the site of the first mass ICE action in Minneapolis under Donald Trump’s second administration. Isavela López described the ties between historical oppression of indigenous Americans and modern police repression of immigrant communities. She faced charges for nothing more than standing up for her neighbors during that raid.

López reminded the crowd, “It's more than me at this point. These are people that want to just help their neighbors; that have honest hearts; that want to learn more; that want to be advocates. I know at the end of the day there will be justice.” López's case is not an outlier. The same repression shows up in the cases of the Righteous 39 and the Minnesota 15, and in the century-long sentences being handed to activists in Texas.

A member of Asamblea de Derechos Civiles spoke after her about the atrocities families are facing every day.

The ride's next stop carried a different kind of weight, the memorial for Alex Pretti. Anusha Ramaswami of the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice (TCC4J) led a moment of silence here, honoring Pretti alongside the latest life lost in Madison.

Then there was a stop at the memorial for Renee Good. Here, Alissa Washington, the director of the Wrongfully Incarcerated and Over-sentenced Families Council, spoke of her childhood friend Terrence Franklin, murdered by police in May 2013. She also spoke of her cousin Stephen Washington, who died in prison because of officer negligence, days before he was set to walk free.

Washington spoke of her own ongoing fight – 20 years spent trying to win freedom for her wrongfully incarcerated fiancé, Cornelius “Corn” Jackson, locked away for a crime he never committed. On July 2, Washington’s 72-year-old uncle was detained by ICE. As the group gathered that Saturday, he was being processed for deportation. Washington is now raising his four children, and she asked the crowd for donations of school supplies for those kids, which people can arrange through the Instagram page for the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice (@tcc4j).

Washington stated, “When I say these struggles are personal, I mean every word. I had mourned my childhood friend because of police violence here in Minneapolis. I have buried my cousin because of police negligence here in Minnesota. I fight every day for the freedom of the man I love. And now, I am helping raise my uncle's children because ICE decided to tear another family apart. This movement isn't something I clock into, this is my life. This is my family!”

The ride closed where it began. Angie Cisneros Rosero of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) took the mic for the day's final word, “Let us remember the strength in our broken hearts. They see us united. They see people who continue to fight even with tears in their eyes. The problem is not that people don't care. We need collective power. Power so strong that the system can no longer govern in the same way. The only way we will see justice, is if we the people organize and make it happen.”

MIRAC currently has a campaign to get Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and all gubernatorial candidates to sign an executive order regarding a number of issues discussed here. If you are interested in signing a petition to pressure these politicians to act, please go to https://c.org/kCzgWPgx48.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #ImmigrantRights #MIRAC #AlexPretti #ReneeGood

Minneapolis, MN – On Friday, July 17, around 200 people gathered in a majority-immigrant neighborhood in scorching 95-degree heat to demand justice for four men who were murdered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in just seven days.

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was shot by ICE on July 7 during a traffic stop in Houston, Texas. He had built houses for over three decades, worked hard while putting his three sons through college, and was simply driving his construction crew to work that morning.

Joan Sebastian Guerrero, 26, was killed on July 13 in Maine. He was working two jobs in order to support his wife and their three-year-old daughter. His daughter was in the car when ICE agents shot through the window.

Both men were killed because ICE agents were looking for someone else.

Also on July 13, Jesus Manuel Arenas-Silva, a 45-year-old Venezuelan man, was killed in ICE custody while being transferred by bus from a detention center to an ICE processing center in Georgia. ICE ignored his family's repeated pleas to allow him to take his medicine while in detention. He was killed by purposeful medical negligence. Killed by ICE.

On July 14, Juan Jairo Coronilla Duran, a 28-year-old Mexican man, was struck and killed by a semi truck while being chased by ICE in Saint Augustine, Florida. He and his coworkers stopped for something to eat when they were racially profiled by ICE. None of them were the subject of any sort of immigration investigation.

The Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) organized the rally as part of a broader movement that demands accountability and justice. Since the beginning of the second Trump administration, ICE agents have shot and killed at least 11 people. The pattern is consistent: traffic stops, warrants for the wrong person, ICE with guns.

Rally attendees held out their signs demanding justice and chanting “Aqui estamos y no nos vamos” and “Say it once say it twice, we will not put up with ICE!” A banner read, “Three days since ICE has killed that we know of…” Despite the oppressive heat, the people stayed and ensured their voices were heard.

A MIRAC speaker at the rally told the crowd, “Here’s the thing, neither (Araujo nor Guerrero) was who ICE was looking for. ICE was looking for someone else. But they killed these two men anyway.”

The MIRAC speaker continued, “We’ve been asking for help. We’ve been saying ban 287(g) agreements. Keep ICE out of schools and hospitals. But it keeps happening. So we need a governor who will actually do something. Not just say stuff. Actually do it.”

The Department of Homeland Security has justified the murders of Araujo and Guerrero utilizing the same false claim: that these men were weaponizing their vehicles. It was the same justification utilized when ICE killed Renee Good in Minneapolis in January. Videos that surfaced contradicted the agency’s account. For Araujo’s death, no video has emerged, but there was footage of the aftermath. ICE has used this same justification in dozens of cases that were thrown out by federal courts after their blatant lies were exposed. They are murderers, plain and simple.

The rally was not a plea for compassion. It was not people asking nicely for things to improve. People have been demanding real change for years: Banning ICE agreements, keeping federal agents out of schools and hospitals, charging and jailing agents and all police who kill. Yet nothing has changed. The people will stay in the streets, refusing to accept the normalization of ICE murder.

The protest was part of a national week of action organized by the Legalization for All Network. Minnesota is always ready to fight back. The crowd on Minneapolis’ Lake Street had energy despite the heat. People showed up to shout the names of the victims of ICE terror so they will never be forgotten. Their message was clear: ICE out now and forever.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #ImmigrantRights #ICE #MIRAC

Minneapolis, MN – The Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee held a bannering, July 2, to condemn the U.S. Supreme Court’s racist decision allowing the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for immigrants from Haiti and Syria. Cars honked in support as community members held letters that spelled out “TPS 4 Haitians & Syrians,” during rush hour traffic on a busy bridge and chanted “Hands off TPS!” at passing cars.

For 36 years, TPS has allowed hundreds of thousands of people from countries embroiled in natural disasters, wars and other extreme conditions to live and work legally in the U.S. – including some 330,000 from Haiti and 3800 from Syria. When Trump’s DHS attempted to end TPS for these two groups earlier this year, status holders challenged the decision in court on the grounds of racial discrimination.

But on June 25, once again demonstrating their contempt for the truth, Trump’s cronies on the Supreme Court ruled that the administration can end the protected status of Haitians and Syrians, and of any other group he wishes to attack.

TPS has been a narrow but critical lifeline for people endangered by the climate change, conflict and deprivation that the U.S inflicts on the developing world in pursuit of power and profit. Revoking the program is signing a death sentence for thousands of parents and children, for grandparents, aunts and uncles, for teachers, public servants, delivery drivers, artists, cooks, and entrepreneurs, and for healthcare workers, who make up a third of Haitian TPS holders.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #ImmigrantRights #MIRAC

Minneapolis, MN – On the morning of Saturday, June 13, scores of protesters gathered at the corner of Lake Street. and Bloomington Avenue in South Minneapolis to stand in solidarity with people held in immigrant detention centers and against the persecution of anti-ICE protesters. Organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), the bannering action was held as part of a national weekend of action in coordination with the Legalization for All network.

The rally emphasized local demands aimed at pushing Governor Tim Walz to issue an executive order to restrict all law enforcement agreements that follow state law 287(g).

Although Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a legal opinion restricting individual sheriff's offices from independently entering into agreements with ICE or other federal agencies to perform immigration arrests, seven counties in Minnesota – Cass, Crow Wing, Itasca, Kandiyohi, Freeborn and Jackson – have county commission-approved agreements to hand over detainees suspected of having immigration violations to ICE. But Minneapolis residents showed up to spread awareness of continued abuses under the guise of various federal operations and to demand that Governor Walz use executive powers to end all cooperation with the federal entities who want to kidnap and terrorize Minnesotans.

Chants of “¡No más deportaciones!” and “No one is illegal! All power to the people!” rang through the streets as cars honked in support as they drove by the busy intersection that was witness to the beginnings of increased federal immigration operations since June 3 of 2025, more than six months before the infamous Operation Metro Surge officially began.

MIRAC member Mira Altobell-Resendez spoke to the crowd, “ICE is still here kidnapping our family and neighbors early in the morning and late at night! Governor Walz could end this with a stroke of his pen!”

Alissa Washington from The Wrongfully Incarcerated and Over-sentenced Family Council Minnesota stated, “Too often, the same communities harmed by policing, incarceration, detention, surveillance and criminalization are excluded from the decisions being made about them.”

Arroyo Burns García-Torres of Hands Off Latin America Committee (HOLA) of Women Against Military Madness said, “We know people are dying in detention. We know they are deprived of medical care. We know they’re being punished without fair trials.”

Drake Myers, a rank-and-file member of Minnesota Federation of Educators, remarked, “Every educator has felt the terror of the attacks firsthand in their own families, neighborhoods and classrooms. During Operation Metro Surge students and staff were abducted, even on school grounds, schools were stalked relentlessly and sometimes even teargassed, with classrooms missing more students every day!”

The renewed outrage comes in solidarity with the hunger striking detainees in Delaney Hall ICE Detention Center, New Jersey, where over 70 protesters have also been arrested since May 31.Many media outlets widely praise Governor Mikie Sherill’s use of executive powers to rebuke ICE’s invasion of the Garden State, while grassroots organizers felt betrayed by the use of State Police to control protesters.

Given the threat of the possible reopening of Appleton Prison for ICE use in Minnesota; MIRAC demands that Governor Walz and all state and local representatives work to ban 287(g) agreements, ban immigration enforcement agencies in and around schools, hospitals and houses of worship, ban immigration enforcement agencies using state property, ban face coverings and require visible ID for all law enforcement officers, defend anti-ICE protesters against political repression, provide justice for victims of ICE terror, and implement a statewide eviction moratorium.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #ImmigrantRights #MIRAC #L4A

Minneapolis, MN – On June 3, community members and local activist groups packed a Minneapolis City Council committee meeting to speak about the Law Enforcement Agency Agreement Accountability Ordinance that prohibits new joint powers agreements that allow officers to cover their faces.

The ordinance was introduced by Council Members Chavez, Chowdhury, Chughtai and Osman. Members of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), MN 50501, the Wrongfully Incarcerated and Over-sentenced Families Council MN (WIAOFC-MN) and other members of grass roots, nonprofit organizations and the Minneapolis community were present and gave testimony, speaking in support of the ordinance.

In his testimony, MIRAC member Alvin Sheng said, “We’re still struggling to get justice for Renee Good, Alex Pretti and Victor Manuel Diaz, three Minnesotans who were killed by ICE during Operation Metro Surge. It’s extremely clear that the federal government will do just about anything to escape accountability for their crimes. City council and Mayor Frey, do right by the people that have been terrorized and murdered in your city and pass this ordinance to require mask regulations from any law enforcement agency the city partners with. And that should only be the first step. We need to move forward to banning secret police in our city entirely.”

Sheng went on to mention that in February, Saint Paul passed a similar ordinance banning federal agents from covering their faces and obscuring their identities. He stated that after all of the kidnappings, brutality and murders committed by federal agents in Minneapolis, it is embarrassing that this city has not yet banned masked law enforcement.

The public comments stressed the importance of law enforcement transparency following the Operation Metro Surge and referenced that the date of this hearing fell on the anniversary of the June 3 Lake and Bloomington federal operation, where ICE and other federal agents descended upon an immigrant-owned business and brutalized protesters. The council members unanimously moved the ordinance to be heard among the full council, which is scheduled to take place on June 17 at 1:30 p.m.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #ImmigrantRights #ICE #OppressedNationalities #MIRAC

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

Minneapolis, MN – El viernes, 1 de mayo, una coalición encabezada por el Comité de Derechos de Inmigrantes de Minnesota y el Movimiento de Protectores Indígenas y respaldado por más de 60 sindicatos, grupos de derechos de inmigrantes, y otras organizaciones progresivas salieron a las calles para conmemorar el 20ª marcha annual el Día Internacional de los Obreros.

La coalición exigió que ICE se saque de Minnesota y la legalización para todos, puesto que la marcha siguió meses de lucha intensa contra la ocupación federal de la ciudad por los policías de inmigracion y confrontaciones militantes entre la gente y ICE. 10,000 manifestantes marcharon, cantaron, mostraron pancartas y celebraron durante la marcha del Día Internacional de los Obreros este año.

La marcha llenó la Calle Lako, el corazón de la comunidad inmigrante en Minneapolis del Sur, con grandes banderas, y contingentes de varios sindicatos, grupos de derechos de inmigrantes, grupos contra-guerra, grupos de estudiantes y otros movimientos progresivos. Como tradición para las marchas de MIRAC de 1 de mayo, la bandera principal fue sostenida por jóvenes, este año un grupo de estudiantes del colegio. La enorme marcha tuvo tres camiones de sonido, cada uno con su propio programa de discurso. La gente y las familias bordearon las aceras de la calle Lake para dar elogio a los eslóganes y brindar la marcha, saliendo de los varios negocios de inmigrantes para mostrar su apoyo.

Justo antes del inicio del programa, Consejeros de la Ciudad de Minneapolis progresivos tuvieron una rueda de prensa para leer la resolución del consejo municipal para nombrar al 1 de mayo como Día Internacional de los Obreros, seguido por una interpretación de baile por Danza Unida.

En la congregación inicial, las multitudes escucharon a Diego Guaman de Operación Vuelo Sagrado, un grupo comunitario de las bases que fue creado como respuesta directa a la campana en aumento a los inmigrantes en Minnesota y la necesidad de protegerlos, educar y apoyar a las familias inmigrantes.

“Ser inmigrante no es un crimen, pelear por tus derechos no es un crimen y hacer oír tu voz no es un crimen!” proclamó Diego Guaman.

Manuel Pascual, participante de MIRAC, les contó a las multitudes un poco de la historia de May Day y la importancia de salir a las calles en la 20ª marcha de 1 de mayo de la ciudad, “Cada año estamos aquí el 1 de mayo y cada año queremos decir la misma cosa: este es el dia del obrero. ¡El día de los obreros inmigrantes! El único día de fiesta del mundo que nos pertenece a nosotros!” Concluyó su discurso diciéndoles a las multitudes sobre la campaña actual de MIRAC para convertir Minnesota en Estado Santuario y un fin a toda la colaboración local y en el estado con ICE. “Estamos organizando, estamos presentándonos, y estamos retrocediendo a nuestros vecinos cuando ICE intenta llevarlos. Hoy es la práctica, mañana seguimos adelante!

La marcha se detuvo en la Calle Lake y la Avenida Bloomington, sitio de una gran operación federal en la cual policías de inmigracion estaban presentes el junio de 2025. Las multitudes escucharon a Isavela Lopez, activista que fue brutalizada por policías federales aquel día y ahora enfrenta cargos federales sin validez.

“Yo se que no estoy sola,” dijo Lopez, “En el momento se trata de más que me, y se trata de los niños en Palestina, se trate de la gente de Venezuela, y se trata de la gente que quedan encarcelada en los centros de detención ahora mismo!

Benji Gomez, miembro de las bases de Teamsters Local 638, quien también organizó una despensa comunitaria para las familias inmigrantes ubicado en su garaje durante la Operacion Metro Surge con la ayuda de los otros Teamsters de su sindicato, le dijo a las multitudes, “Soy inmigrante. También soy el primero de mi familia que me inscribí a un sindicato y me ha dado verdadero poder. Los sindicatos existen porque los obreros se presentaron juntos y exigieron dignidad, sueldos justos, condiciones sanas y respeto, y muchas veces esos obreros eran inmigrantes, ¡gente con la menor protección pero con el coraje de organizarse de todos modos! Eso sí es verdad hoy en día.”

En la marcha también aparecieron habladores incluyendo Presidente de AFL-CIO Minnesota Bernie Burnham, Presidenta de Local 59 de MFE MArcia Howard, miembros de Asamblea de Derechos Civiles, MN8, Monique Cullors-Doty con los Honrados 39, el Comité Anti-Guerra de MN, y muchos mas que representaban sus sindicatos y otras organizaciones de las bases.

La Organización Socialista Camino de la Libertad también tuvo un contingente grande y visible en la marcha.

La marcha terminó en una tienda Target al otro lado de la calle de la 3ª Delegación anterior (quemada) con un teatro criticando Target y la avaricia corporativa, y también más discursos inspirando a la gente que siga tomando acción. Al final de la marcha, los organizadores pidieron a los manifestantes que coman en los negocios que tienen como dueños inmigrantes en la calle Lake y que asistan a la posfiesta en el Mercado Central para concluir el día.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #Trabajo #DerechosdeInmigrantes #1ºdemayo #MIRAC #OSCL #ImmigrantRights #Labor #MayDay #FRSO

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