Ahead of the
first hearing for the 15 activists and community defenders charged with
conspiracy by the federal government, a crowd full of supporters gathered and
demonstrated in solidarity.
Tony LaRose, a member of IBEW Local 110, has been deeply disturbed ever since two of his coworkers and union brothers were arrested and had their houses raided by federal law enforcement on June 16. “This has been an attack on one of us, which makes it an attack on all of us,” LaRose said to a crowd of demonstrators rallying in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday at noon.
The crowd of around 300 was full of people wearing shifts with their union logos and colors, and some held signs that said, “Community, not conspiracy!” They gathered in front of the Diana E. Murphy federal courthouse to call on the government to drop the charges against fifteen anti-ICE union and community activists ahead of their first hearing. After the indictment in June of 15 Minnesotans, many of whom are union members, the state’s labor movement and community organizations are continuing to stand in solidarity with those who were targeted with charges of criminal conspiracy for activity related to protesting ICE. The speakers were overwhelmingly from the labor movement, and they argued that the charges are a form of political repression for the widespread response to Operation Metro Surge, are intended to silence dissent, and are an attack on unions’ and workers’ rights to freedom of speech, protest, and organizing.
Olga González is a professor at Macalester College in St. Paul who read a statement from the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). “The Macalester chapter of the AAUP condemns the federal indictment of professor Erik Davis and 14 others for exercising their constitutionally protected right to protest the actions of the federal government during Operation Metro Surge,” she said, addressing the crowd. “The citizens of Minnesota, including Professor Davis and co-defendants, participated in a broad, popular movement to protect their communities against an indecent assault by our government.”
Educators in Minnesota have been active in that response, raising funds for families and basic needs such as groceries and rent money. Treasure Thoreson is a special education teacher in Minneapolis and member of Minneapolis Federation of Educators Local 59 who spoke in support of the Minnesota 15 and denounced the targeting of public schools during Operation Metro Surge. “ICE snatched parents who were dropping their kids off in the morning. They followed school buses to school drop-off zones, and people’s homes to kidnap them in front of their own children, sometimes leaving them alone. School staff responded by being good neighbors,” she said at the rally. “Don’t stop being good neighbors.”
Speakers pointed out that the federal government has not yet brought charges against the officers who shot and killed two Minnesotans. “Instead of holding federal agents accountable for shooting and killing Renee Good and our union brother Alex Pretti, the Trump administration continues to weaponize the Justice department to settle scores and intimidate citizens for being good neighbors and exercising our constitutional rights,” said Todd Dahlstrom, the organizing and growth director at the Minnesota AFL-CIO, which represents 300,000 union members in the state. The national AFL-CIO just held its 30th convention in Minneapolis, where the anti-ICE resistance was celebrated.
Organizers say around 100,000 people marched downtown on January 23 in the economic shutdown against ICE. This included graduate workers at the University of Minnesota, according to President of Graduate Labor Union-UE Local 1005 Ben Lewis. “Fifteen people were indicted. Something else was indicted as well, our ability to organize,” he said to the crowd. “It is very clear to me that the feds looked at the wave of organizing that swept this city and they’re now working very hard to criminalize and warn us against building on that.”
Samantha Diaz Powell is deputy chief of staff at SEIU Local 26, which represents janitors, security officers, airport workers, and rideshare drivers, many of whom are members of communities targeted by Operation Metro Surge. “Over 100,000 of us peacefully marched in minus twenty degree weather. We stood up to the attacks on our state,” she said. “Ahead of our midterm elections, the Trump regime’s weaponized Department of Justice is lashing out in hopes of intimidating people who challenge their corruption, their abuses of power, and attacks on our freedoms.”
The government is trying to make an example out of the Minnesota 15, according to Chris Rubesch, president of Minnesota Nurses Association. “What happens in that courthouse is happening in our name. I don’t consent to these actions,” he said. “If this stands, it endangers every one of my members’ future ability to use their union rights, and that is not acceptable.”
Monique Cullars-Doty is co-founder of Black Lives Matter Minnesota and one of the protestors who was charged with conspiracy against religious freedom for disrupting a service at Cities Church in St. Paul where an ICE field director works as a pastor. “I want to encourage everyone to continue to stand up for them, encourage them and their families, let them know they are not alone and that the work they have done here is important,” she said at the rally.
The energetic crowd and speakers say they remain committed to standing in solidarity with the Minnesota 15. “This past winter, the Trump administration tried to break Minnesota solidarity,” said Dahlstrom at the rally. “They failed. Now they will try to break us in the court room. They will fail again.”
>> The photo used above is from Chris Rubesch, the president of the Minnesota Nurses Association.
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