Clampdown on American antifascists: legal defence fund launched for Minneapolis 15

Activists have launched a legal defence fund for the Minneapolis 15, a group of activists who face charges of “conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer” in connection with protests against the Trump administration’s brutal anti-immigrant crackdown in the Twin Cities.

Minneapolis-based migrant justice organizer Aizar Cabrera, who recently visited New Brunswick on a speaking tour, told the NB Media Co-op the defendants have been released and are awaiting their day in court. He said one of the organizers facing the federal charges is a close friend. “He’s hopeful that things will go well,” Cabrera said in a text message. He said the activists have “a lot of support from the locals.”

The legal defence fund, with a fundraising goal of $400,000, launched by a group of family and friends, had raised more than $266,400 by Thursday. The National Lawyers Guild is providing pro bono legal support, Cabrera added.

“Apparently while they were waiting for the charges to be presented, they were in detention and instead of showing fear and sadness, they were very enthusiastically singing protest songs against ICE… the officers were extremely upset about their attitudes and the fact that they couldn’t do anything to stop them.”

Asked how people in Canada could show their support, Cabrera said: “The best way to support right now would be to spread the message that the U.S. federal government is attacking people who are standing against them, attacking those who dare to question and criticize their inhumane treatment of vulnerable people. They’re trying to scare us, but we ain’t gonna back down. Quite the opposite, we’re gonna rise.”

A 95-page indictment released by the Department of Justice links the activist coalition Direct Action Minnesota, or DAMN, to anti-fascist or antifa groups. U.S. President Donald Trump designated antifa as a “domestic terror organization” in an executive order last September, despite the fact that it is a decentralized and leaderless movement, not an organization. 

The Trump administration withdrew most of its thousands of federal agents from Minnesota after they fatally shot two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. However, ICE continues to operate in the state.

Meanwhile, Kirsti Noem — who oversaw those ICE operations as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security before she was reassigned — has a new job with a B.C.-based mineral exploration company.

NovaRed Mining Inc., which is headquartered in Vancouver, announced on June 16 that Noem would join the company as a strategic advisor. Trump named Noem as “special envoy for the Shield of the Americas,” after ousting her from her role as head of DHS.

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, via the Local Journalism Initiative.