What Philadelphia Can Learn From Minneapolis’s ICE Resistance

Protesters clash with law enforcement in Minneapolis. / Photograph by Arthur Maiorella/Anadolu via Getty Images

On Tuesday, Philadelphia City Councilmembers Kendra Brooks and Rue Landau took to the apron of City Hall to announce proposed restrictions on Immigrations and Custom Enforcement and other federal agents in Philadelphia — restrictions ranging from banning the use of masks and unmarked vehicles to the prohibition of using city-owned properties as staging areas for immigration raids and entering city buildings without a judicial warrant.

“When federal agents are terrorizing our communities and executing American citizens in the street, we must take action,” Brooks said. “ICE is already here in Philadelphia, tearing families apart and forcing people to live in fear. Every day we’re seeing new reports of ICE’s cruelty and violence. I refuse to wait for another person to be publicly murdered before we take action on this issue.”

The bill stands in sharp contrast to Mayor Cherelle Parker’s public stance, which, essentially, is that she has no public stance. Her office has made no public comment on Brooks and Landau’s bill, and when asked about her non-confrontational approach on WHYY last month responded, “I lead in a way that is best for me as mayor to protect my city of Philadelphia and all of my people.”

But while the mayor takes her, um, quiet tack, and Council takes theirs (which involves a bill weaving its way through the legislative process), there’s still the question of what we, as residents of Philadelphia, can do to protect ourselves and our neighbors.

I spoke with two Minneapolis residents this week to get a sense not only of how the city and its residents are managing this federal takeover, but how that might be replicated, if necessary, here in Philly. (At their request, their names have been changed. If you saw this story from Maine last week you can probably understand why.) Both were unequivocal in one thing: the Trump administration underestimated them. They didn’t anticipate the level of anger there, in this nice Midwestern city, and they underestimated their pride. Pride for their city, pride for their community, and pride for their neighbors.

“It’s so odd that they thought we would all cave,” one Minneapolis resident, George, told me. “But I also think MAGA saw what happened here [following George Floyd’s death] in 2020 as an affront to their power and values, like, how dare those Midwesterners be mad? How dare they paint us as villains? So, I feel like this is sort of punishment for that. They want us to be racist like them, and obviously, we do have our own problems on that front. But there’s also a strong sense of don’t fuck with my neighbors.”

It made me think of a story I read the other day by Pulitzer Prize winner Spencer Ackerman on his (compulsory) Forever Wars website:

“Someone in Minnesota is driving. It is not Walz or Frey. It is not Greg Bovino or Kristi Noem or Donald Trump, and it won’t be Tom Homan. It is the people themselves: the outraged, galvanized, multiethnic working class… They are not only building power from necessity. They are laying a foundation that, should they choose to, can take the reins of state power by ousting those who either are failing to protect them or who promise to use state power against them.”

Taking cues from our friends in Minneapolis, here’s a (non-exhaustive) look at how regular, everyday Philadelphians — a people with no shortage of anger or pride, it bears noting — can help drive.

Demonstrators protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Minnesota on January 27, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. / Photograph by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Start a Signal Chat

Signal, the end-to-end encrypted messaging app, has become the hub of organizing activity, Max says. This is not uncommon; the app is known worldwide for its security — journalists use it frequently for secured conversations with sources. Schools, neighborhoods, churches — any and all versions of “community” have started these. Start them now, George says, to ensure they’re properly vetted if they need to be used.

Speaking of vetting …

Vet, Vet, and Then Vet Again

Even after you’ve started the Signal chat, you need to ensure that the folks asking for access and entry are who they say they are. (Right-wing influencers have claimed they’ve “infiltrated” Signal group chats in Minneapolis, prompting FBI director Kash Patel to announce on Monday an investigation into the chats, First Amendment be damned.) That means checking LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram accounts — or even property records — to verify who they say they are. “My 10 year-old says we’re running around like spies, “George says. “And she is not wrong.” There’s concern, he says, that federal agents will join a chat and then follow members to the very families they’re trying to protect.

Find Some Whistles

This predates Minneapolis — when ICE rode into Chicago last year they became a thing — but whistles, George says, are mandatory: “When we hear a whistle we all run in.” In theory, he says, there are different signals for “ICE driving nearby” or “ICE detaining someone right now.” In practice, if you hear whistles you just run out and either document or follow them. Need a whistle, or 1,000 whistles? There’s a group in Chicago that’s 3D-printing them for communities, free of charge.

Form a School Buddy System

Philly residents were already doing this a bit in the fall, but it’s become a necessity in Minneapolis — parents helping immigrant kids and their families with school drop-off. Parents in need will reach out to another parent who, incognito, walks your kid to the bus or to school. That adult then waits with the kid until the bus picks them up or they’re safely inside the school.

When defending the school itself, groups wear hi-viz vests to be seen as helpers for families in need, Max says.

Get Trained

Lots of immigrant rights groups in Philly offer online training and resources, including the Pennsylvania Immigrant Coalition, Juntos, and SEAMAAC, to name just a few. (SEAMAAC has printable Know Your Rights cards in more than 40 languages, from Amharic and Igbo to Polish and Greek.) Even if just a handful of people attend training, these protocol gets discussed around the neighborhoods, so everyone knows the basics, George says. And it’s not just training about immigrant rights or ICE enforcement — think basic protocols for de-escalation and nonviolent protest. “To be honest, I’m amazed the people here aren’t chucking snowballs at agents left and right, but I think that’s partly because we understand that it would only make things worse and antagonize ICE and give [Homeland Security Secretary Kristi] Noem more fodder.”

Always SALUTE

Okay, so you’ve spotted ICE agents in your neighborhood. Now what? Remember SALUTE:

• Size: How many agents or officers?
• Activity: What specifically are the agents doing?
• Location: Give an exact address or intersection.
• Unit(s): What letters, details, or patches are visible on the uniforms/vehicles? (Here’s a helpful guide for identifying different patches.)
• Time: What precise time did you witness this?
• Equipment: What did agents have with them? Weapons, flex cuffs, dogs, door breakers, etc.

That information can be distributed across Signal, and also, in Philly, to different hotlines.

• Juntos (South Philly): 814-205-3293
• Asian Americans United (Chinatown): 445-310-4081
• New Sanctuary Movement (North, Northeast, and Southwest Philly): 267-217-2292
• MILPA (Delco): 717-536-8367

This kind of documentation is important not only in the moment, but in the future, Max says. The only reason we have a clearer picture of the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti is because other people used their constitutionally protected right to record the encounters.

Get On Board, No Matter How

“I think the main thing is getting everyone on board in some way and understanding the differing roles and skills, even if it’s just ‘I’m making cookies, if anyone needs some moral support’ or ‘Let me grab a screenshot of the map at that intersection,’” George says.

Minneapolis restaurants are serving as drop-off locations for food, diapers, and other resources that families in need of such things but too scared to leave their homes. Fundraisers are popping up to support those too scared to go to work. Also: Don’t feel like you have to be an experienced protester or anything other than a normal human being in order to be of use. George was not. “If you’d asked me about this a month ago, I would have stared in confusion,” he says.

There’s No Such Thing as Other People’s Children

A friend of George’s saw Renee Good get killed because he was with his brother, who lives on that block. Alex Pretti was murdered in front of George’s kids’ favorite doughnut shop. Philadelphia, like Minneapolis, is a city of neighborhoods — neighborhoods where you recognize every kid, even if you don’t know their names. We’re small enough that there’s almost always a personal connection, as George says about his city — and we should tap into that energy.

“The main thing here is that we are just fucking relentless in supporting our neighbors,” George says. “That’s it. We don’t care where they’re from originally. They help dig out our cars after a snowfall, they’re the nurses who take care of our kids. They help us, we help them, and when we hear a whistle, we all run in.”