MN Activists Rally Against Trump in Response to Anti-Immigrant Executive Orders
Minneapolis, MN – On February 20, 2025, activists gathered outside of Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office to protest the government’s executive orders and policies that negatively affect marginalized communities, including getting rid of “ICE-free spaces” like places of worship, schools and hospitals. Klobuchar’s office has been a site of frequent protests, recently stemming from her support for fracking and her stance on Israel and Gaza. In a press release, the Climate Justice Committee demanded that the attacks from Trump stop and that Klobuchar “not sit by while they continue to happen.”
Last month, Trump said the U.S. would be taking over the Gaza Strip but recently refuted the claims, saying, “Nobody is expelling any Palestinians from Gaza.” A speaker from the Anti-War Committee spoke at the protest about the devastation of Gaza by Israel: “strawberry fields, olive trees, and lemon trees have been wiped out by 80,000 tons of Israeli bombs.” The activist group also said in a statement that “the Israeli military has deliberately despoiled Palestinian farmland across Gaza, rendering it unusable for the foreseeable future.”
In his first days in office, President Donald Trump rescinded several policies from the Biden Era, including one that protected immigrants from enforcement actions in sanctuaries such as schools, hospitals, and churches. These sensitive locations allowed people to access essential services without fear of being raided. Trump’s new executive order allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to conduct raids in these previously protected areas.
Executive Order 14167 sent more Armed Forces to the U.S.-Mexico border to prioritize security. Critics of these executive orders state that it was “designed to terrify and devastate immigrants, their families, and communities across the United States.”
As immigrants are being targeted, know-your-rights trainings have been popping up around the U.S. in response to these orders. The Civil Liberties Defense Center and the MIRA Coalition offer trainings designed to inform individuals, immigrants in particular, about their legal rights in various scenarios and interactions with law enforcement.
In the wake of a know-your-rights webinar put on by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. Mira, republicans are saying the sessions encourage people to evade law enforcement and gamify the system.
During the Feb. 20 protest, an organizer with Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) said: “They don’t want us to know our constitutional rights because they know that’s exactly what they’re violating with their policies.”
A speaker at the protest took some time to honor the life of Sam Nordquist, a trans man from Minnesota who was tortured over the span of a month and killed while visiting their significant other, who was among the suspects.
Activists say they’re concerned over the attacks on the LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities that they fear will continue over the next four years, as well as the climate and reproductive rights movements.
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