Minneapolis residents deliver over 1000 petitions to mayor’s office to demand a stronger sanctuary city

By Melissa Greene and Erika Zurawski

Minneapolis, MN – On Monday, October 6, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) held a rally inside City Hall to push forward their Real Sanctuary Now campaign. The booming chants of dozens of activists echoed throughout the building as council members completed a budget meeting.

Before the start of the rally, a group of MIRAC members delivered an overflowing box of petitions to the mayor’s office to demonstrate the broad support for their demands. After only one month, they collected over 1100 signatures from residents representing all Minneapolis wards. The effort continues, and MIRAC expects this number to grow rapidly.

After successfully handing the petitions to Mayor Frey’s staff and delivering them to each city council member’s mailbox, MIRAC members joined the rally taking place in the rotunda just downstairs.

MIRAC member Myrka Zambrano stated, “We are here today to deliver our petitions, our collective demands to our representatives: to prevent the militarization of our streets, to prevent the terrorization of our communities, to do their jobs, to protect their constituents, to uphold justice, and to keep us safe!”

A member of the immigrant rights group Asamblea de Derechos Civiles reminded rally participants, “Hay sólo una lucha, y la lucha es de todos [there is only one struggle and the struggle belongs to everyone].”

Lizzie Palmer spoke on behalf of the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice, an organization campaigning for community control of all aspects of Minneapolis policing. Palmer stated, “The Lake Street raid in June was meant to terrorize and intimidate our immigrant neighbors. Not only did the Frey administration and the police chief blatantly lie to us about ICE’s involvement, they refused to admit that MPD used our tax dollars to assault residents and beat up activists whose only crime was protecting their neighbors. Those who stood up, like Isavela Lopez, are facing felonies, risking their livelihoods, and safety to do what’s right. We cannot afford to allow ourselves to be intimidated into silence and inaction. Now is the time to stand up against ICE terrorism.”

MIRAC’s Real Sanctuary Now campaign aims to strengthen the city’s current Separation Ordinance, which is supposed to prohibit municipal employees, including MPD officers, from collaborating with federal immigration enforcement agencies. City residents witnessed the limitations of the current ordinance when a highly militarized federal raid took place in a Minneapolis immigrant neighborhood on June 3. City officials and the city auditor told residents that MPD didn’t violate the current ordinance. However, these claims only prove the current ordinance is ineffective, out-of-date, and doesn’t offer the protections needed for the current political climate. Residents witnessed MPD pushing back protesters, assisting federal agents’ attack protesters, and protecting heavily armed federal agents at the expense of local residents and community advocates. The city must be bolder if they truly want to protect immigrant residents from the increasingly tyrannical practices of ICE and the Trump administration.

MIRAC’s Real Sanctuary Now campaign advocates for an overhaul of the current Separation Ordinance and stronger protections for our Minneapolis community through four key demands:

First, no collusion: no information sharing between local law enforcement and federal agencies. Second, no crowd control: no local law enforcement cooperation with ICE, HSI and other federal agencies, including supportive roles like crowd control and police taping. Third, no coverups: no face coverings to obscure federal agents’ identities; federal agents must clearly display their agency association and identify themselves with name plates and badge numbers. And fourth, real consequences: punitive measures for local law enforcement agents or agencies found to be in violation of the city’s separation ordinance.

MIRAC calls on city leaders to take immediate action to pass and implement all their real sanctuary demands. Tensions are increasing across the country. Trump has openly called on the National Guard to treat American cities like war zones. Chicago and DC are under full military occupation, with Portland and Memphis coming next. We don’t have time to wait for Trump to announce his attack on Minneapolis. We need our officials to proactively defend us.

“When the very institutions that are meant to protect us become instruments of terror, when communities are surveilled, families torn apart, and lives devalued, it is not safety they bring, but oppression disguised as order,” said Zambrano.

At the close of the rally, MIRAC invited the mayor and all the candidates running against him to attend a press conference on October 16 to voice their support for a Real Sanctuary Now.

When immigrants are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!

Sign MIRAC’s Real Sanctuary Now! petition online here.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #ImmigrantRights #MIRAC

Source: https://fightbacknews.org/minneapolis-residents-deliver-over-1000-petitions-to-mayors-office-to-demand-a?pk_campaign=rss-feed