Minnesota rallies against U.S. border militarization

Minneapolis, MN – On February 19, approximately 100 protesters rallied at Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office to demand an end to U.S. militarization of the southern border. Despite the frigid temperatures, protesters energetically chanted, waved signs and cheered as passersby honked their car horns in support. The action was organized by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition (MPAC) and Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC).

The Trump administration has unleashed a barrage of attacks against immigrants, including highly publicized ICE raids which have terrorized communities around the country. Highlighted at the protest was the recent announcement that 5000 active duty U.S. soldiers are now patrolling the U.S./Mexico border – a number that may increase. Speakers at the event were clear in connecting Trump’s inhumane attacks against immigrant communities with the United States’ long-standing exploitation of Latin America and Global South countries more generally.

“They steal the resources from the homelands of immigrants, they exploit the labor of immigrants and then have the audacity to claim that immigrants are the problem,” said Crista Ocampo, an organizer with MIRAC and the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC). Ocampo then specifically spoke about U.S. economic sanctions, a key driver of immigration as people are forced to leave their home countries due to deteriorating conditions imposed by the U.S.

Simon Elliot, an organizer with MPAC, elaborated on this connection between U.S. foreign and immigration policy, which he called the pattern of “destabilization and criminalization.” Elliot identified the injustices facing Haiti, a country brought into the public limelight recently due to Donald Trump and J.D. Vance’s racist vitriol against Haitian immigrants in the leadup to the 2024 election.

Elliot stated, “After the 1991 coup against Haiti’s democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, around 40,000 Haitians attempted to flee to the United States. Many were detained at Guantánamo Bay for at least six months under deplorable conditions.”

The current militarization of the border and worrying calls by some U.S. officials for a military operation against Mexico to “target the cartels” comes to mind when we think of the “destabilization and criminalization” pattern.

Another common theme during the event was the connection to the issue of Palestine. Multiple speakers specifically called out the role of Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons manufacturer which creates bombs and surveillance technologies that play a key role in Israel’s genocidal aggression against Palestinians both in Gaza and the West Bank.

“Elbit has also been contracted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to build similar militarized surveillance equipment as part of the U.S./Mexico border wall,” explained Meredith Aby, a founding member of the AWC. Aby then pointed out that the Minnesota State Board of Investments has $1.4 million invested in that very same Elbit Systems, making U.S. public pensioners unwillingly invested in a company that helps to slaughter Palestinians and militarize the U.S. border.

Ocampo, who also spoke about Elbit, called the weapons company “a perfect example of why we have to stand in solidarity with all oppressed people. We are all being oppressed by the same people and systems who are making a profit off of our oppression.”

Far from the chaotic atmosphere of panic and fear whipped up by the Trump administration, this action showed the clarity and focus of a movement that will only become more determined to organize, fight and win. The Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee’s next protest will be on Saturday, March 1 starting at noon at the Hub parking lot, 36 W 66th Street in Richfield.

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