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Justice & Public Safety

News Bites: Minnesota Immigrants, ICE, and Politics

A noise demonstration is scheduled in Albert Lea Sunday on behalf of a 23-year-old man with serious health issues who has been in ICE-related detention for 14 months. And Keith Ellison updates campaign volunteers on cases against ICE agents.
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DEEP DIVE: The Values of Trust, Data, and Strategy in Solving Violent Crimes

With the Minneapolis police budget under scrutiny for effectiveness commensurate with dollars spent, analysis of how Saint Paul public safety programs have been effective in some ways as a comparison, and the Hennepin County attorney election in play, I revisited notes from a conference held a year ago by the Minnesota Justice Research Center titled “Committing to Progress in Policing.”
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EXPLAINER: Minneapolis Policing Budget (updated 10/15)

As Minneapolis faces proposed property tax increases amounting to 11.3 percent — alongside cuts to public services, park hours, and municipal positions — public debate has intensified over funding priorities and fiscal oversight. Mayor Jacob Frey’s proposed budget allocates $246.8 million to the Minneapolis Police Department — more than the combined budgets of the Fire, Public Works, and Health departments. Of every $1,000 in 2027 property taxes, about $223 goes to policing.
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COMMENTARY: Compulsory Safety — What Black Rural Families Need

"The systemic failure at the heart of the issue: The lack of consideration for Black children in Minnesota's education system has produced generations of predictable and preventable harm."
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“Allison’s Bill” Would Strengthen Investigations Into Deaths Suspected as Domestic Violence

Minnesota Senator Mary Kunesh is preparing to introduce “Allison’s Bill,” fueled by the death of Allison Lussier, who died of blunt force trauma. Police initially ruled the death an overdose, despite a history of domestic violence calls.
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ESSAY: Transportation Blues (or how I became a school escort)

"I wave to E’s father as I step into the driver seat. He looks about as confident as he should — which is to say he looks equal parts nervous and resigned as a stranger who doesn’t speak Spanish drives away with his daughter."
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Community Values in Action

This compilation of stories reflects the community values Minnesotans care about: protecting children, caregivers, health care patients, and renters. It includes the values reflected in an essay from Cannon Falls, from someone who was arrested for protest, and of community members at an MPR town hall.
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Consumer Boycotts Reflect Who Actually Controls the Economy

GEO Group, CoreCivic, and CSI Aviation — some of the country’s largest private prison and deportation contractors — gave Trump close to $5 million and received over $5 billion in revenue. Consumer boycotts are designed to showcase other values. Said one, who was arrested for a sit-in protest at Target: "Everyday people are doing their part. We are asking why large corporations will not.”
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Emilia González Avalos: Collective Refusal to Surrender Humanity

What is being defended in Minnesota is larger than any policy. The question is whether a multiracial democracy can imagine itself as a shared project. The answer offered by dog whistle politics is no. The answer offered by organizing is that people are building an “us” anyway — patiently, visibly, and with increasing strength. 
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U.S. Congressional Leaders Discuss ICE Actions With Minnesota Residents

        Minnesota’s…
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Sights and Sounds at the Clergy-Led Airport Protest

"“We pray for Bruce — a janitor who was taken while leaving work. We remember 1 Corinthians 12: 'That we are all one body, and that when one part of the body suffers we all suffer.' We demand that Delta stand with us as a body, care for their workers and protect them, and use their voice together, with us.
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How to Be an Upstander: Tips From a Monarca Training

González Avalos said Minnesotans will show the country how to choose community. People are watching our state again, she said, and will see "a beautiful movement we're creating here. ... We are meant to make this country better."
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UPDATED 2-7: Mutual Aid

How to help immigrant communities, restaurants, and local grocery stores as more Minnesotans stay inside to avoid federal agents. ... and other best practices for being part of community support.
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Commentary: Why the Minnesota-Led Target Boycott — and the Backlash to ICE — Reasserts the Meaning of People Power

Minnesota is living through another moment of economic truth-telling. It is everyday people who are feeding families, escorting children to school, translating for neighbors, organizing safety networks, and showing up — often in subzero temperatures — to protect one another. Meanwhile, corporations that profit from this labor remain conspicuously silent.
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Nekima Levy Armstrong: Why We Protested at Cities Church in Saint Paul, and What Our Arrests Mean

Instead, Armstrong and Allen were taken to the Sherburne County Jail using three sets of restraints “as if we were hardened criminals and murderers. We had ankle shackles on our ankles, we had belly chains around our waist, and we had handcuffs with bars in the middle. As someone who majored in African American studies, I can tell you that that is the closest I ever felt to slavery in my life.
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