Counteracting ICE: What you can do?

Written By Lena Weisman

Given where we left off my goal was to share more about the 2026 General Assembly session in this next piece. However, given the state of the world and the state sanctioned deaths that are filling our screens - I figure there is more to be discussed.

Today’s repetition of horrendous historical patterns is what terrifies me. I was raised in a world, with textbooks, and teachers that taught history as lessons we need to learn from, and never repeat. So why are we? And why did we let this happen?

No one can say that we were not warned - we were. Between the outcomes of the President’s first term, the published and widely discussed Project 2025, and while on the campaign trail and in Vice President Harris’s concession speech she warned us explicitly about what was to come. What has now arrived.

A year into President Trump’s second term and we have state sanctioned officers embedded in our communities - attacking, hurting, and disappearing our friends, neighbors, and families. This is reminiscent of the worst chapters in United States and World history. Times where we enslaved millions of people, reducing them to only 3/5ths of a person, stripping them of their basic human rights. Or while the horrors of the holocaust persisted in Europe, when we established our own Japanese internment camps imprisoning US citizens.

Today ICE facilities are spreading rapidly - increasing 91% in the last year and detaining 73,000 people across our country. Repeating historical patterns seen during the years immediately proceeding World Was Two. These facilities and detainees are not just the ones making headlines, they are hiding in plain sight, behind contracts and nameless just around the corner from you. This is the antithesis of my dream for our country, and quite frankly an exact contradiction of what the founders intended when drafting our constitution, let alone what the framers labored for.

At the very core, our country is a great experiment. Yes in the ways dystopian novels, position it. Do our tv screens and algorithms look like the Hunger Games or 1984, in my opinion they do. But they don’t have to. They shouldn’t. Where are our leaders? Why are they quiet? Are they not accountable for what is happening now?

So what do we do when power and money are indistinguishably intertwined? When they have the capability of controlling our lived reality, directing misinformation, and brutally attacking our people.

We must hold those in charge accountable. Undoubtedly, the system is broken. Our government is not designed to work on our behalf, let alone for us. We must recognize this, yet not fall into the pits of despair, but rise up together. Our voice - the louder, more inclusive and collective it is - the strong we the people are.

This has worked in the past, not perfectly, but with demonstrated success. I reflect on Abolition, Suffrage, Civil Rights, the second wave of feminism, and Black Lives Matter movements. In each one of these periods, those who suffered the most, fought the hardest, and won the least are always the same - people of color, immigrants, and those in our marginalized communities. And that’s where we collectively go wrong. Those that have the most, must do the work. NOW.

Silence, disengagement, and ignorance of what is happening around us is complacency. Believing your life is not directly intertwined with politics is acceptance. Evaluate your own privilege and position - this enables your complacency and acceptance. It is why I write this. Something has to be said, what is happening needs to be recorded, and action must be taken.

As a collective we are trapped in a vicious cycle that will not stop until we ALL look up and engage. This is a moment in time where quantity and quality of collective voice and the resulting action - matters. I write from a place of understanding, we are all immersed in our day-to-day lives and deterring from this can mean the difference between food on the table or spending quality time with loved ones. However, it is, in my opinion, the only place we can find hope and build toward a resilient future.

Engagement can mean many things - for some it may be reading a newspaper, watching a different channel than normal, sharing posts on social media. If you haven’t checked in with friends in communities or places that have been greatly impacted - like Minnesota, the LGBTQ+ community, and those who have ties to Venezuela, Palestine, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine, among countless other conflict zones - do so. For those who can protest, organize, and advocate for causes who are fighting the hard fight - do so. Engagement means doing what you can to contribute your time, treasure, and talents to those around you who need it the most.

For me engagement looks like many things, but everyday I am committed to questioning everything. Through my organizing, advocacy, and legislative work - no matter who is in the room, I ask hard questions. More than anything, it is important to question what we are seeing and hearing. This is how we reflect and document the history happening around us. Ask yourself what this reminds you of, if it sits right to you, and if you would stay silent if it was happening to your own family. Ask these questions, seek to understand, have the hard conversations with yourself and others - and take your reflections into the world through your means of engagement.

What is happening in Minnesota is not the beginning and by no means is it the end. It is going to get worse. The fight is going to come to your backyard. So while you can educate yourself on your rights, share community resources, and call your representatives - do so.

Our constitution was built with mechanisms to prevent the executive and agency overreach we are seeing. They are being tested. And we the people who our country was built upon and for must now rely on our collective voice and action to safeguard our future.

Here are the resources I am using and sharing with others:

Subscribe
Lena Weisman
Previous

The Variables