How Americans in Germany can support those affected by ICE raids in Minnesota

For Americans in Germany, the news from back home has been particularly hard to watch this year.

Starting as far back as November 29th, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has ramped up operations in the state of Minnesota under the orders of President Donald Trump. 

On January 7th an ICE officer shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old US citizen and mother of three during an incident that was recorded from several viewpoints by witnesses, including the shooter himself.

The killing, as well as statements from Trump and government officials defending the officer’s actions and vilifying Good, sparked an intensified response on the ground in Minnesota, with local community members coming together in mass protests, as well as widespread grassroots organisation against ICE operations.

For many Americans living abroad in Germany, watching these events unfold back home comes with a mix of emotions ranging from fear or anger to detachment or even guilt about being powerless to help friends, family and neighbours in the states.

Alexis Sabo, who moved to Berlin from Minnesota a little more than a year ago, said that it’s scary to hear about what’s going on back home. Her parents live just a couple kilometres from where Good was killed.

She added that despite being scared, she’s proud to see how the surrounding community has come together to support each other.

“Minnesota is a place where no one would think twice about doing anything and everything they can to help a neighbour,” Sabo told The Local. “There’s a sense of pride that comes with calling a place like that home.”

There are ways to support the community in Minnesota, as it faces what state Governor Walz has called “a campaign of organised brutality…by [their] own federal government”, even from abroad.

Stand with Minnesota

For most Americans living outside of Minnesota, or the US, the two main actions that you can take are donating money to aid and support organisations that are working directly in affected communities and contacting your congressional representatives to urge immediate action.

You can find lists of organisations offering aid and support in Minnesota online, but especially for people living abroad it can be hard to know which organisations are best to support.

Sabo told The Local that a website called Stand with Minnesota maintains an extensive list of vetted organisations offering aid and support in affected communities, and has become the go to list for people seeking to support from outside the state. 

There you’ll find lists of; local collectives raising funds for mutual aid, crowdfunding campaigns for affected individuals and schools, organisations doing on-the-ground work, as well as organisations providing legal support and more.

There’s also a link to a petition by Faith in Minnesota that you can fill out and send to your Members of Congress urging them to demand that ICE leaves the state and no further federal funding be allocated to the agency.

There are also links to regional and independent news outlets to follow for the latest on-the-ground reporting.

For anyone who does want to support, but might not have time to look closely at the extensive options for doing so, the authors of the website have a quick and easy suggestion: “Donate to the Immigrant Law Center of MN, who is providing assistance to hundreds of people with families detained by ICE, or the Immigrant Rapid Response Fund, a fund assembled by a coalition of Twin Cities Foundations committed to getting assistance out the door as quickly as possible.”