January 2026
Hello CRAGgys,
Great turnout on a snowy Saturday to show that the Copper Country stands against presidential paramilitary operations in Midwestern cities. Thank You!
About 125 people spread through downtown Houghton with candles and signs, followed by a rally opposing adventurism in Venezuela at Veterans Park. Passers-by were supportive.
ICE in Minneapolis
Attacks by the presidential paramilitary police continue in my old neighborhood in Minneapolis. About 3,000 officers from ICE and the US Border Patrol are in the city; Attorney General Keith Ellison calls this an invasion. Today a judge refused to grant a restraining order to block operations until a hearing later this month.
Meanwhile, six principled federal prosecutors and four others have quit the U.S. attorney's office in Minnesota over its lies about the murder of Renee Good. A CNN survey shows that 51% of Americans think ICE is making cities less safe.
The Atlantic has powerful photos (gift link) of agents breaking car windows, pepper-spraying protesters, battering down doors, and dragging people from their cars. Propublica has documented numerous cases on immigration agents using illegal chokeholds, including on teenage US citizens.
Governor Waltz issued a strong statement yesterday, "This long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement. Instead, it is a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government." He asked people to continue to protest peacefully, help their neighbors, and record ICE agents to document and to collect evidence for future prosecutions. (video, text)
Getting reliable information is hard in the age of billionaire-controlled social media domination. Here a a few reliable sources covering ICE actions in the Twin Cities:
News (other than social media!)
- Sahan Journal. High quality reporting for immigrant and communities of color in Minnesota.
- MinnPost. Nonprofit independent news source.
- MPR. Minnesota Public Radio.
- City of Minneapolis federal response page.
- List of BIPOC news sources in Minnesota.
Assisting the anti-ICE effort- quick response
Numerous go-fund-me's and appeals on Facebook and other platforms have sprung up. Be careful, many are short-term campaigns, because they don't have capacity to handle the overwhelming response they've received; check if donations are still being accepted. And, watch out, scams proliferate in these situations (I have not heard of any yet).
Restaurants and other businesses have had a huge outpouring of support. Wrecktangle Pizza delivered thousands of free pizzas and raised $83,000 after repelling ICE agents from their door. Other businesses, including the SmittenKitten, have conducted drives.
Justine Jones compiled an excellent list of places accepting donations in Mpls-St.Paul Magazine. And if you need to purchase anti-ICE stickers, t-shirts, or flags, shop at the progressive Northern Sun (where I get my Earth flags š).
The scale of this assault will also require long-term support; these groups
Established organizations assisting immigrants in Minnesota
- Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee. MIRAC is an all-volunteer, grassroots, multiracial, and multinational immigrant rights mass-movement organization. MIRAC resource list.
- Immigrant Law Center. The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (ILCM) is a nonprofit organization that provides free immigration legal representation to low-income immigrants and refugees in Minnesota and North Dakota. ILCM also works to educate the community about immigration matters and advocates for public policies which respect the universal human rights of immigrants.
- Minnesota Interfaith Coalition on Immigration. ICOM engages in courageous spiritual, multicultural action in solidarity with immigrants and refugees to achieve justice and stand up to systems of oppression.
- Immigrant Defense Network. IDN is a network of over 90 immigrant, labor, legal, faith, and community organizations dedicated to protecting and advancing the constitutional rights of immigrant communities across Minnesota.
- Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la AcciĆ³n Latina, is a member-based organization established in 2018 to improve the quality of life of Latine families. Over the past seven years, COPAL has evolved to become a well-known, grassroots power-building, and visionary transnational organization.
- ACLU Minnesota.
and a few lists of lists of immigrant resources
Call on Congress to Stop ICE Funding
ICE funding runs out at the end of the the month unless congress approves continued funding. Indivisible and others are demanding that congress block further funding of paramilitary forces in our cities. Script and contact form here. 5-Calls is also featuring this demand.
Local Aid
AWAVE and Keweenaw Indivisible are working with the Salvation Army to provide housing assistance. The Western UP does not have a homeless shelter. Please donate.
Local orgs are raising money to help our neighbors with housing-related issues such as utility bills and emergency shelter this winter. Please contribute if you are able! One-hundred percent of the proceeds will remain local and go towards supporting those experiencing housing insecurity or at risk of homelessness.
Speaking Out in HoCo
Here are my words to the Houghton County Commission on Tuesday, Jan 13th. Remarkably, Commissioner Gretchen Janssen, stated publicly during the meeting that she agrees with me.
HoCO, 2026-01-13
Hello, Iām Sarah Green from Calumet Township.
I am here to again warn of the dangers a lawless federal government poses to our community.
An attack on Venezuela, which turns out to be not āregime changeā, but only dictator change has been revealed to be a clumsy effort to benefit multinational oil companies, not Venezuelan (or US) citizens. The long-term strategy for this operation seems even more vague than were the plans for invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. We will be paying for those follies for decades, most especially in the health of the hundreds of thousands of veterans who served in those wars. Iām sure you all know local people who were impacted. Americans across the political spectrum are overwhelmingly opposed to ill-conceived adventurism in foreign countries.
Aggressive, unprovoked international military actions abroad with bellicose nationalist rhetoric are a characteristic of fascist regimes.
Closer to home, Minneapolis is being attacked by our own federal government. Masked goons are marauding in the streets, demanding that people show their IDs, breaking car windows, forcing their way into homes, dragging people from cars, snatching people from their workplaces, showing up at schools, and in a terrifying incident last week, murdering a citizen in her car.
Deployments of the military to suppress nonviolent dissent is a characteristic of fascist regimes.
It is a supreme irony that the president is threatening Iran because their Revolutionary Guard is shooting peaceful protestors at the same time he is deploying his own newly empowered federal police force against our own citizens. A second irony is that ādonāt tread on meā second amendment champions have warned us about having our freedoms stolen by an oppressive government, yet they have been silent in the face of real threats today.
We may feel these events are occurring in distant cities, but ICE is deploying into rural Minnesota, too. Michigan actually has a higher immigrant population than Minnesota. It is frightening that their safety may depend on the degree to which our state government panders to the president.
According to the last census, 1706 immigrants live in Houghton County, and I can tell you that many of them are now alarmed for their safety.
I urge the commissioners to closely follow federal actions and take steps to protect county residents.
Thank you
When and Where to Speak UP
Check the calendar for details.
Here's the list view of Elected Official Meetings: https://calendar.online/electedofficialmeetings.
I want company, I will go with you. Drop me a line.
Some public body meets somewhere every single week; take 30 minutes to show up and express your opinion. (Sample statements.) And let me know if you go and what you learn.
Houghton Country Jail Committees
The 2026 jail project needs public input! You can show up and just observe one of the committees, or speak up! Details and schedules.
January 21
- Hancock City Council, 6 pm
January 23
- Calumet Township, 1 pm
Why and how to attend local meetings
Events
Organizational Meetings
Details are on the CALENDAR. (Organizers: Please send updates when times, dates, locations change!) These groups are all very welcoming. Drop by a meeting to connect with friendly faces. Any level of engagement contributes to making our world better.
Houghton/Hancock
- Yoopers for Ukraine šŗš¦ Rally at the bridge Wednesdays at 5 pm.
- Keweenaw Indivisible meets 3rd Tuesdays, 6-8 pm (work groups at 6, general membership at 7) at the KUUF. (Join KI). [Note meeting has been shifted to accommodate the HoCo Commission, which meets on the 2nd Tuesdays.]
- Houghton County Dems meet every 1st Wednesday, 7 pm at the Super 8.
- 4th Wednesdays AWAVE, 6 pm. Gathering at KUU Fellowship Houghton.
- 3rd Sundays, 7-8:45 pm, Keweenaw Against the Oligarchy Monthly Action Committee (KATO). Please register at the link to help with the headcount.
Baraga
- Baraga County Democrats, 3rd Tuesdays at 6 pm, L'Anse Township Hall
Marquette
- Every Tuesday evening at 7pm, Yoopers Unite, a gathering of local pro-democracy groups, at LoveMarq Church, 728 W. Kaye Ave, Marquette.
- Visibility Brigade Demonstrations take place regularly in Marquette and Ishpeming. Click here for information and to register through Mobilize.
- Saturday Morning Demonstrations at the Post Office in Marquette: Members of Citizens for Peace and Justice, Lake Superior Region Indivisible, Yoopers Unite, area community members, friends and neighbors gather for a peaceful demonstration at the Marquette Post Office every Saturday from 11:30 am - 12:30 pm.
- Subscribe for free to the Lake Superior Region Indivisible newsletter here. Contact LSRI at lsrindivisible@gmail.com
Michigan
- Statewide Indivisible Michigan (SWIM). This page lists various virtual events for statewide connections.
Leaving MAGA resource
- Leaving maga resources by former MAGA folks that might help people speaking with friends and relatives.
Kallie dressed for cold weather, Zack is concerned.
Thanks for all your support and all your efforts to promote and expand freedom, justice and democracy!
Stay safe,
Sarah
This FAQ page answers common questions about CRAG.