The head of the Minneapolis teachers union has openly acknowledged that elected officials are participating in encrypted Signal groups used to organize resistance against federal immigration enforcement across the Twin Cities. Her comments shed new light on the scope of local coordination aimed at countering Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
Activist Describes Widespread Participation
Marcia Howard spoke about the effort in a recent interview, insisting that the community is not ashamed of its role in mobilizing against federal agents. “The notion that people that are actively engaged in ICE watch, in being vigilant in protecting our neighbors, in Signal chat groups, running plates, in their cars doing patrols, that somehow we’re ashamed of that activity, that somehow you can call our bosses and show our faces and then we would be shunned by our community…” Howard told Al Jazeera.
Despite public scrutiny, she said the activity is embraced locally. According to Howard, involvement includes everyone from neighborhood organizers to some of the city’s most recognizable civic leaders.
Union Leader Says Officials Are Inside the Chats
Howard, who serves as president of the Minneapolis Federation of Educators, said elected leaders are embedded within the same channels used by activists. “Our bosses are in the Signal chats with us,” she said. “Our elected officials are in the chats with us.”
Her long history as an organizer dates back to the unrest following George Floyd’s death in 2020, and she remains a daily presence among activists in Minneapolis. Howard, a former English teacher of 25 years, has often been described as a steward of the area surrounding the site of Floyd’s death.
Community Members Join Pushback Against Federal Agents
Howard said the movement now extends well beyond activists. She noted that “nanas,” hockey coaches, and soccer moms are also involved in confronting federal immigration enforcement as agents pursue people living illegally in the country, including some with criminal records.
“Everybody that’s anybody is doing the work of protecting our neighbors, because that’s how we show up in Minneapolis and St. Paul,” Howard said.
Teachers Helping to Interfere With Enforcement
She also claimed that educators are assisting in efforts to disrupt federal operations, especially when students are at risk. “We’re armed with whistles and our phones making sure that students are safe going to class,” she said.
Howard described escalating confrontations, alleging aggressive behavior from federal personnel. “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 claimed federal agents have gone far beyond enforcement goals. According to her, they have “declared war on my state, they have declared war in my city,” comparing their tactics to slave catchers and the Ku Klux Klan.
