The tragic killings in Minnesota this month were not an isolated injustice.
We hold Alex Pretti and Renee Good in our hearts, alongside Silverio Villegas González and Keith Porter, who were killed by ICE agents in recent months in Chicago and Los Angeles. We also remember the dozens of people who have died in ICE detention over the last year and the thousands and thousands of families whose lives have been fractured by detention and deportation.
As I reflect on what is happening in Minnesota, I don’t just see a story from another state. For months, immigrants across the country, including here in the Mission, Daly City, Fruitvale, and across the Bay, have been living in fear of aggressive immigration enforcement.
On Monday, news outlets began reporting that the Department of Homeland Security plans to send ICE to conduct enforcement operations during the upcoming Super Bowl in Santa Clara. We know what this means for our community: increased fear of our family members and neighbors being ripped away, and increased fear of violence inflicted on immigrants and allies.
This moment requires more than words. It requires action and resources to protect our neighbors.
I see the same spirit of resilience in the people of Minneapolis as we witness every day here in the Bay Area.
We call on federal leaders to halt the surges of ICE agents, to end enforcement methods designed to instill fear, and allow local law enforcement to investigate acts of violence. We stand with community organizers and people raising their voices against injustice across the country.
This week, we publicly supported the Alameda County Board of Supervisors’ decision yesterday to make all county offices “ICE-free zones”—joining Chicago, San Jose, San Francisco, and Santa Clara in ensuring that public services never become a gateway to deportation.
In partnership with cities and counties throughout the region, we launched the Stand Together Bay Area Fund to provide direct emergency assistance, such as rent, food, and legal support, to our immigrant neighbors who are struggling with day-to-day needs due to increased enforcement.
By protecting our immigrant neighbors, we are protecting the soul of the Bay Area. We will not retreat, and we will not turn our backs. Our staff has compiled recommendations below for supporting locally, in Minnesota, and nationally.
In this moment, I am reminded of a quote from Cesar Chavez, who in 1968, after waging a 25-day hunger strike to draw attention to working conditions for farm workers, reminded us that “Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.”
How You Can Help
- Locally: Stand Together Bay Area Fund We are mobilizing $10 million to provide a lifeline for families in crisis right here in the Bay Area. Donate to Stand Together Bay Area
- In Solidarity: Minnesota & National We continue to work with our partners at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation and the Minneapolis Foundation to support the front lines in the Midwest:
- Immigrant Rapid Response Fund at the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota
- Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota
- One MPLS Fund at the Minneapolis Foundation
- ACLU Foundation
