Feds bar Minnesota from investigating fatal ICE shooting

Welcome to our news segment: TL;DR of Immigration News, for when the news is Too Long and you Didn’t Read it.

This is a weekly collection of immigration-related news stories. These bite-size summaries will keep you up to date without overwhelming your inbox.
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To understate things: there’s a lot going on. Our prayers are with the family of Renee Good and with all the victims of state violence. We’ve done our best to provide a comprehensive picture of immigration news this week, which means there is an even-higher-than-usual number of sources we’ve done our best to summarize. If the news is too much, skip to the end for a list of ways to take action.
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Feds bar Minnesota from investigating fatal ICE shooting, prohibit access to evidence

On Wednesday, January 7, Renee Good was shot while trying to drive away from a confrontation with an ICE officer. She later died in the hospital. This marks the fifth death resulting from ICE and CBP operations in the past year. ICE and CBP in the past year killed Silverio Villegas González, Jaime Alanis, Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez, and Josué Castro Rivera.

In response to the fact that no one from the state wanted them there in the first place, and to calls from both Minnesota and Minneapolis leaders for ICE to withdraw and allow local experts to investigate this crime, the federal regime is sending more troops to spread terror in the city.

However, the resistance is real and growing. Within a couple days of this latest shooting, resistance groups in Minnesota and across the nation planned more than a thousand protests. Thousands attended these events in spite of rain and snow; the resistance against the federal regime, as well as the determination to stand in solidarity with our immigrant neighbors, only continues to grow.
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Tribal leaders say ICE is detaining Native Americans during immigration sweeps

Leaders of the Oglala Sioux Tribe are looking for three tribal members who were detained by ICE in Minneapolis. They are not the only tribal members ICE has targeted in what Peggy Flanagan, MN Lieutenant Governor and member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, called “obvious racial profiling.” She added: “To Indian Country — take care of each other, protect each other, and continue to have each other’s backs. I’m with you. This won’t be the last you hear from me on this.”
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YouTube guy makes false claims about MN Somali population, stoking hate and racism

The twin engines of the Trump regime’s attempt at fascism are brutal force justified by far-right social media “news reporting” (aka hate- and fear-mongering). The current confrontation in the Twin Cities has its roots in a video posted in late December by YouTuber Nick Shirley, stoked by David Hoch, a Minnesota politician who has called Somali immigrants “demons.”

Shirley’s video makes a series of claims about supposedly Somali-run daycares defrauding the federal government. It involves stunts where Shirley, a grown man, tries to enter daycares and pretends to be shocked when he is not allowed in.

The fact that the claims in his video had all either been widely debunked or were already being investigated and addressed by local authorities didn’t stop the fascists from using it as an excuse to spread terror.
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Previous ICE and CBP murders likely to receive further scrutiny

Just in the past two months, two people have been killed during raids by ICE officers and two more have been injured by DHS agents shooting at people with seemingly no probable cause.

Prior to the murder of Renee Good by ICE officer Jonathan Ross, LA resident Keith Porter Jr. was murdered by an off duty ICE agent with his work-issued weapon. LAPD and the LA County District Attorney claim to be investigating this incident but have told Porter Jr.’s family nothing, not even the name of the ICE officer.

In Portland OR, police dispute the story of a US Border Patrol agent that shot a married couple trying to flee the scene. And in Glen Burnie, MD police are disputing a statement that ICE made about a man ICE agents fired at while he was driving a utility van. ICE has claimed the man attempted to use his vehicle as a weapon when they shot at him while driving and injured him. In light of Renee Good’s killing, local police are re-examining and disputing the agency’s narrative.
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An effective resistance tactic: targeting corporate sponsors

ICE cannot function without help from the private sector, and concrete actions like boycotts on both the local and national level are helping to erode Trump’s support from big business.

The Nation details how consumer pressure campaigns can start with petition gathering and social media callouts, then escalate to coordinated one-day boycotts. Employees can circulate internal petitions calling on their CEOs to cut ties with ICE and organize collective actions like sick-outs. Tactics can include rallies in front of targeted stores, leafleting customers about a company’s ICE contracts or collaboration, and nonviolent civil disobedience that makes clear that business as usual won’t stand. The key is providing people with concrete, outward-facing actions they can take right now, while building an escalating national campaign.

One victory of such tactics occurred recently: as a consequence of a dedicated coalition of immigrant rights groups, labor unions, and other community organizations in Maryland, Avelo Airlines announced that it will no longer operate deportation flights for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The coalition framed the move as a major shift and hopes to set a precedent for other private airlines considering similar work.

Action items:

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