Podcast Summary: How Labor and Communities are Fighting ICE in the Twin Cities

Green & Red Podcast #464

Date: February 12, 2026
Guest: Amie Stager (Journalist, Labor Education Service & Senior Associate Editor, Workday Magazine)
Hosts: Bob Buzzanco & Scott Parkin

Overview

This episode offers a comprehensive look at the ongoing struggle between immigrant communities, labor unions, and the activities of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis-St. Paul and broader Minnesota. Journalist Amie Stager shares firsthand insights on grassroots resistance, the roles of labor and community groups, the impact on daily life, and the unique organizing models emerging in the Twin Cities. The discussion is urgent, both for its coverage of a fast-developing local crisis and for its broader implications for labor and anti-authoritarian movements nationally.

Key Topics & Discussion Highlights

Current Situation: ICE Operations and Community Mood

• ICE's "Operation Metro Surge": Despite reports of some ICE withdrawal, a heavy ICE presence remains (02:00). Abductions continue—including at courthouses and schools—keeping immigrant neighborhoods under constant threat.
• Local Atmosphere: Community anxiety is palpable. "Even though the news cameras might have gone away...it’s still happening here." (Amie, 02:00)
• Police & Local Officials: Many cities and counties claim "sanctuary" status, but often local police are present during ICE operations under the guise of "crowd control," raising questions about real solidarity (03:29-04:13).

Sanctuary Policies and Evolving Organizing

• Sanctuary Cities/Counties: While Minneapolis and St. Paul, and some counties, have sanctuary policies, several others have made agreements to cooperate with DHS (04:17).
• "Sanctuary Workplaces": Emerging movement for workplaces and campuses (like the U of M) to resist ICE entry and enforce Fourth Amendment rights (04:17-04:59).

Labor’s Role: From Workplaces to the Streets

• Reliance on Local Labor: Resistance has been initiated by local unions and labor councils, with little from national labor yet (05:17).
• Rapid Labor-Community Coalitions: After the murder of community leaders—like Renee Good (a poet) and union member Alex Preddy (a nurse)—unions, faith leaders, and community groups quickly formed the "ICE Out" coalition, demanding ICE leave and pushing for general strikes (05:17-07:13).
• Minnesota Model of Organizing: Years of cross-movement organizing (from Line 3 pipeline to pandemic to George Floyd uprisings) have laid groundwork for swift, coordinated action (05:17).
• Key Unions Involved:
  • Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005 (Metro Transit operators)
  • SEIU Local 26 (janitors, airport/building security, rideshare drivers)
  • UNITE HERE Local 17 (food service/restaurant workers at airport)
  • Communication Workers, St. Paul Educators, Teamsters, etc. (07:13-10:27)
• General Strikes & Actions: Major economic shutdowns on Jan 23 (labor-led) and Jan 30 (student/community-led). Actions included clergy-led civil disobedience at the airport and teach-ins by educators.

“Minnesotans showed up in subzero weather and clergy participated in civil disobedience at airports.”
— Amie Stager (06:38)

Choke Points and Tactics

• Airport as a Strategic Target: The airport is both an ICE deportation hub and a workplace for thousands of union members (10:27-11:56).
• Pressure on Corporations: Calls for Target and others to act, as ICE has operated out of their parking lots and detained workers (12:12). Some corporations issued generic press releases after strikes escalated pressure but with little real substance (15:01-16:02).

Societal Impacts: Business, Health, Education

• Business Effects: Small businesses face operational and tax relief challenges as workers and customers stay home. (17:22)
• Mental Health and Rumor Mill: Widespread trauma, fear of abduction, and persistent rumor-mongering even beyond the directly targeted (17:22-19:27).
• Schools & Daycares: Teachers union strong, mobilizing for student and parent aid; attendance (especially among immigrant students) is down. Daycares are both targeted by ICE and threatened by political attacks on funding, leading to further community and worker organizing. (19:27-25:30)

“If you don’t have daycare for your kids, you can’t go to work.”
— Amie Stager (21:24)

Special Focus: Somali Community and Racialized Targeting

• Solidarity and Threat: Somali leaders and broader community are highly mobilized, with faith and mutual aid groups providing protection; far-right agitation persists but with little success thanks to broad counter-mobilization (25:30-27:13).
• Quote: “There’s a long history here of people uniting against common enemies... From the 1920s and 30s farmer-labor movement... It’s really in our blood.” (Amie, 37:31)

Student Actions and Growing Radicalism

• Jan 30 Student Strike: Born from University of Minnesota student organizations, sparking walkouts across the U.S. Though not directly endorsed by labor, it inspired nationwide solidarity and new campaigns for "sanctuary campus" status (27:13-29:27).
• University Administration: Criticized for failing to show moral courage in support of student/worker activism, often silencing protest expressions during campus events (29:48-31:20).

Labor After Tragedy: The Case of Alex Preddy

• Labor Mobilization: Widespread, emotional union vigils and growing pressure for federal unions to cut ties with ICE and Border Patrol units (31:20-33:43).
• Enduring Disconnect: Despite solidarity rhetoric, concrete institutional steps against ICE remain slow.

Neighborhoods, Rapid Response, and Mutual Aid

• Grassroots Networks: Highly effective neighborhood rapid response groups, with many unionists organically integrated—though more union coordination could help (33:43-35:20).
• Inspirational Mutual Aid: From ad-hoc carpools to food delivery and protests, the resilience and care among ordinary people is a “response the people in power did not anticipate” (35:47-39:06).

“Care is what killed him. It was him being a decent person that made him a target.”
— Amie Stager, quoting a vigil sign for Alex Preddy (38:18)

Media Coverage: Local vs National

• National Media Fades: Initial onslaught of reporters, but ongoing resistance is mostly covered by local, grassroots journalists. National outlets often repeat government misinformation or miss local nuance (39:06-42:06).
• Press-Related Suppression: Universities and authorities often suppress direct, anti-ICE rhetoric in official events (29:48-31:20).

“National news...parachutes in. But we’re going to be here after the cameras go away.”
— Amie Stager (42:55)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Ongoing ICE Presence:
  “ICE is still here. There has been news of a drawdown...but they’re still very much active...It’s still very much on everybody’s mind and in everybody’s environment.”
  (Amie, 02:00)

• On Police Collaboration:
  “They say that they’re not collaborating with ICE, but they’re there to control the crowds and they’re preventing people from observing.”
  (Amie, 03:29)

• On Community Resilience:
  “People who have never been involved in politics are getting organized to protect their immigrant neighbors.”
  (Amie, 02:46)

• On Labor’s Response:
  “Unions and community groups and faith leaders were able to quickly form an ICE out coalition and [call for] a statewide economic shutdown.”
  (Amie, 06:11)

• On Mutual Aid and Organizing:
  “There’s been so much sharing and caring that’s going around...I do think that threatens the people in power and they see that happening.”
  (Amie, 35:47)

• On the Future:
  “The soil that has been prepared by organizers...is very rich with relationship and solidarity here...[I’ve] never been prouder just to be a human being and see all the humanity that’s happening here.”
  (Amie, 38:49)

• On Media Limitations:
  “A lot of what the mainstream and national news media does is parachute in...A lot of good local reporters have been on the ground every day.”
  (Amie, 40:10–42:06)

Key Timestamps

• 02:00: Amie describes the ongoing ICE presence, mutual aid, and abductions.
• 05:17: Foundations and details of labor’s frontline organizing.
• 10:27: Targeting of airports and the role of workplace organizing.
• 12:12: The evolving, outward focus of organizing: from ICE to corporations to eviction moratoriums.
• 17:22: Socioeconomic and mental health impacts on community and small businesses.
• 19:27: School and daycare effects; mutual aid and community organizing.
• 29:48: University restrictions on anti-ICE speech and critique of institutional responses.
• 31:20: Vigils for murdered union nurse Alex Preddy and labor's varied reactions.
• 35:47: Mutual aid, inspirational community responses, and highlights of local solidarity.
• 39:06: Reflections on the role and consequences of local vs. national media coverage.
• 42:55: On the continued grassroots resistance after the media moves on.

Further Resources

• Amie Stager’s work: Workday Magazine
• Green & Red Podcast: Podcast Homepage
• Local organizing efforts: Unions, rapid response neighborhood groups, and immigrant mutual aid communities in Minneapolis-St. Paul

This episode powerfully documents a living, evolving example of labor, community, and immigrant solidarity amidst crisis—a case study in organizing under pressure and the persistent drive for justice in the face of institutional violence.