UW-Madison/Minneapolis Labor Solidarity Statement

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies have mobilized thousands of agents and officers in a brutish and unlawful occupation of Minnesota’s Twin Cities as a part of what they’re calling “Operation Metro Surge”. This occupation is the latest in an escalating sequence of illegal urban deployments of armed federal police and military forces in American cities. Under the guise of immigration and law enforcement, agents of the federal government are accosting, arresting, and violating the rights of Twin Cities’ residents. 

Armed, masked agents, often in civilian clothes and unmarked cars have terrorized the working people of Minneapolis and St. Paul, abducting people from their homes, schools, and workplaces, and violently intimidating Minnesotans who stand against them. These agents frequently intentionally escalate interactions with civilians to violence, filming their raids and acts of brutality for propagandists to plaster all over the media and internet. Among those ICE has repeatedly abducted and brutalized are union members, their friends, and loved ones. Thus far, ICE agents have murdered at least one Minnesota resident, Renee Good, and have assaulted others. Elsewhere, ICE agents have acted as strikebreakers, intimidating workers standing up and taking action for a fair contract. 

The University of Wisconsin’s workers stand united with the Minnesota labor movement against the violent occupation of our cities. Rank-and-file workers are essential for all communities to function. Since the ICE campaign of terror began, both immigrant and non-immigrant workers have feared for their well-being and security when going to work, being at work, and coming home from work. Workers and their families are being criminally detained at disturbing rates, with workplaces and schools facing challenges intensifying daily.

ICE’s continued occupation, actions, and tactics are harming communities throughout Minnesota and making us all less safe. They are indiscriminately targeting Minnesotans of color, regardless of citizenship or immigration status. Many people are fearful of daily activities like going to work, shopping for groceries, and sending their children to school. 

Unions, faith groups, and other organizations in the Twin Cities have called for a Day of Truth and Freedom on January 23rd, calling on residents not to go to school, work, or shop in order to end business as usual and demanding:

1. ICE must leave Minnesota now.
2. The officer who killed Renee Good must be held legally accountable.
3. No additional federal funding for ICE in the upcoming Congressional budget and ICE be investigated for human and constitutional violations of Americans and our neighbors.
4. Businesses and organizations cease economic relations and resist cooperation with ICE, refusing ICE entry or using their property for staging areas

We echo the calls for accountability, an end to ICE funding, and for federal agents to stop their attacks on the working class. We also call for the University of Wisconsin System to end its contract with Lexis-Nexis on the basis of their $22 million contract with ICE for data services and surveillance. UW-Madison’s workers’ labor and UW students’ tuition dollars should not be used to support companies contracting to advance authoritarian domestic surveillance and brutal occupations of our neighborhoods and communities

The Teaching Assistants Association stands in firm solidarity with Minnesota Labor Unions and the working people of the Twin Cities in their fight to end their city’s occupation. 

~ The Executive Board of the Teaching Assistants Association – AFT Local 3220