Northwoods Socialist Collective

Minnesotans have been fighting to kick ICE out of the Twin Cities for over a month, since the Trump administration authorized “Operation Metro Surge,” unleashing thousands of federal agents onto the streets in a sweeping, indiscriminate attack on immigrants and their communities. The people of Minneapolis and St. Paul immediately jumped into action — drawing on the experiences of Los Angeles and Chicago — organizing within their neighborhoods to form patrols that identify and follow ICE agents, memorizing their rights and those of their immigrant neighbors, and delivering groceries to people too afraid to leave their houses in case ICE snatches them on their way to school or church. This has become part of daily life for hundreds of people across the city, from activists who learned the brutality of state repression firsthand during Black Lives Matter in 2020 to people who are being politicized for the first time as a result of the second Trump administration’s assault on immigrants...

In December, the Trump administration proposed sweeping restrictions on gender-affirming care for transgender minors. On Dec. 18, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) announced two new proposed policies that would effectively terminate Medicaid coverage of of gender-affirming care for individuals under 18, cutting off a critical lifeline for many trans youth. 1 The first of these policies would modify the Conditions of Participation (CoPs) to disqualify hospitals that offer gender-affirming care from Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement. As virtually all hospitals in the U.S. rely on CMS funding to operate, the adoption of this policy would mean hospitals nationwide would no longer provide gender-affirming care. The second proposed policy prohibits the allocation of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funds to gender-affirming care for minors under 18, ending state insurance coverage of gender-affirming care for minors. These policies alone would make ge...