Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan has urged Minnesotans to take trainings to monitor Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and to support groups that organize opposition to ICE on the ground.
Her support came after the death of Renee Good at the hands of ICE while she appeared to have been using her car to interfere with ICE operations. It came before anti-ICE agitators invaded Cities Church in St. Paul in the middle of a service, and before a U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and killed Alex Pretti, who—like Good—had reportedly joined an “ICE Watch” group.
Activists claim to be training “legal observers” merely to observe ICE activities and to alert the neighborhood to the presence of agents. However, some of the anti-ICE groups have also trained to directly oppose ICE operations, either by using their cars to block arrests or by using their bodies to prevent ICE from arresting illegal aliens.
Flanagan’s Comments
“Everyone is less safe because ICE is on our streets,” Flanagan, a Democrat, said in a Jan. 14 Instagram video from her personal account. In addition to serving as the state’s lieutenant governor, she is running for U.S. Senate in the November elections.
“On the local level, I’m asking you to sign up for a legal observer training, so that you can protect your neighbors when they need it,” she adds. “Our phones and our ability to document unconstitutional behavior is one of the most powerful tools that we have in this fight.”
“The Immigrant Defense Network and Monarca both offer trainings for folks to learn more about their rights and how to become legal observers,” Flanagan explains. “I’ve taken the training and I hope that you’ll join me. And for folks that are watching outside of state, please contribute to these organizations who are doing the important work here in Minnesota.”
Monarca and Unidos
Monarca, whose training Flanagan endorsed, describes itself as a “coalition of thousands” that has “trained over 20,000 everyday Minnesotans as neighborhood observers to help protect people’s rights where it matters most—on the ground, in our communities.”
The project hosts a “rapid response line” for people to report ICE sightings, along with trainings on the First Amendment (the rights to observe ICE) and Fourth Amendment (the right to keep ICE out of your home without a warrant).
The 501(c)(3) nonprofit Unidos MN appears to have launched Monarca as a project.
Unidos MN has helped organize sit-ins at Target locations and listed a set of demands: that the company distance itself from ICE; post placards warning ICE not to enter franchise locations without a warrant; and prevent ICE from using Target parking lots as staging areas.
Flanagan’s necklace in the Instagram video resembles the butterfly logo of Monarca.
The Immigrant Defense Network
Flanaga also endorsed the training of the Immigrant Defense Network, which describes itself as “a network of over 90 immigrant, labor, legal, faith, and community organizations” working as “a community resource hub, immigration policy watchdog, and engine for rapid response to violations of immigrant rights & due process.”
Its “rapid response strategy includes maintaining helpline infrastructure, deploying observers, and organizing public demonstrations.”
The group’s website explains that “Immigrant Defense Network is a project of COPAL Education Fund,” so donations go to the Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Accíon Latina. The Bush Foundation (no relation to the former presidents) gave COPAL a $995,000 24-month grant last year to set up the network.
COPAL hosts a hotline for people to call when spotting ICE. The New York Times described COPAL as being “on the front lines of anti-ICE operations.”
The Daily Signal reached out to Flanagan’s U.S. Senate campaign, the office of Gov. Tim Walz, Unidos and COPAL for comment.
