In a recent interview, the president of the Minneapolis teachers union highlighted the involvement of local elected officials in efforts to monitor and counteract U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities within the city. This revelation sheds light on the collaborative nature of community vigilance in Minneapolis.
Marcia Howard, who leads the Minneapolis Federation of Educators, spoke to Al Jazeera about the community’s proactive stance in safeguarding their neighbors. “The idea that those who actively engage in ICE watch—being vigilant, participating in Signal chat groups, running license plates, patrolling in their cars—should feel any shame for their actions is unfounded,” Howard remarked. “These activities are supported by our community, and we are not isolated in these efforts.” She emphasized that both their superiors and elected officials are active participants in these communication channels.
Howard is a well-known figure in Minneapolis, recognized for her pivotal role during the 2020 protests following George Floyd’s death. With 25 years of teaching experience, she has become a prominent advocate for social justice, often seen at George Floyd Square—a site commemorating Floyd’s life—where she meets with fellow activists daily.
Further illustrating her activism, Howard has been involved in major demonstrations, including the trial of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter. Potter faced charges of manslaughter after mistakenly using her firearm instead of a Taser in the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright. Howard’s engagement with demonstrators from across the nation highlights her commitment to justice and community solidarity.
“Our bosses are in the Signal chats with us,” she said. “Our elected officials are in the chats with us.”
Local teacher and activist Marcia Howard (C) speaks with demonstrators who traveled from around the country outside the Hennepin County Government Center on Dec. 23, 2021, in Minneapolis, Minnesota during jury deliberations in the trial of former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter, who was charged with manslaughter in the April 2021 shooting death of Daunte Wright. Potter says she thought she was using her Taser when she shot Wright with her handgun. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
Howard also said that local “nanas,” hockey coaches and soccer moms are participating in the pushback against federal immigration enforcement, as ICE and Border Patrol attempt to arrest illegal aliens, many of whom have further criminal histories in the United States.
“Everybody that’s anybody is doing the work of protecting our neighbors, because that’s how we show up in Minneapolis and St. Paul,” she said.
She also said that teachers are involved in the attempts to subvert federal law enforcement.
A Border Patrol agent chatted with a protester in Minnesota on Thursday, finding common ground over military service. (Brendan Gutenschwager via Storyful)
“We’re armed with whistles and our phones making sure that students are safe going to class,” she said. “And then they escalated the brutality. Every single day they taunted us. From their rental trucks, they would do things like — the agents that they brought to the Twin Cities — these hapless, untrained, overly-militarized agents, were in hotel rooms where they did not detain the workers in those hotel rooms because they wanted to be served by immigrants.”
She also said federal immigration officers have, “declared war on my state, they have declared war in my city,” and compared them to slave catchers and the Ku Klux Klan.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Minneapolis Federation of Educators for comment.
