Rachel Thunder
Posted June 12, 2025
On June 3, federal law enforcement descended on Minneapolis under the guise of a coordinated raid. Alongside the FBI, DEA, and HSI, ICE agents were present…despite repeated assurances from local officials that ICE had no role in Minneapolis policing. But we know what we saw. ICE was here, and their presence cannot be ignored.
This was not just a miscommunication. This was a test. We at the
Indigenous Protector Movement— like our friends at Lakota Law— recognize this for what it is: a warning shot. Across the country, from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, this administration is unleashing ICE as an arm of fear. These aren’t isolated incidents. They are part of a national campaign to destabilize communities, criminalize migration, and suppress resistance. Please watch Lakota Law’s new video addressing this threat to our communities and democracy, and if you have not yet done so, take action by telling your reps to protect our human and constitutional rights.
Let’s be clear, migration is not a crime. It is a right. Our people have been migrating since time immemorial, long before colonial borders carved up our lands. These borders are new. We are not. Our roots run deeper than any map drawn by colonizers. Movement is sacred. It is ancestral. We have always crossed rivers, mountains, and plains to care for our families and protect our nations. That is not illegal.
ICE doesn’t just target immigrants; it targets sovereignty.
That is who we are.
ICE doesn’t just target immigrants; it targets sovereignty. It seeks to fracture the bonds between Indigenous and undocumented communities, to divide us, distract us, and dominate us. But it won’t work. When systems fail to protect our people, as they did on June 3 in Minneapolis and as they are now in Los Angeles, we invoke our sovereign right to defend our communities. We organize. We patrol. We bear witness. We speak out. We do what this government refuses to do: protect life, not profit, power, or property.
We are not afraid. We are not fooled. We are not alone.
To our relatives across Turtle Island: stay alert. Stand together. The state may deploy raids, but we carry the memory of a thousand generations who survived colonization, removal, and criminalization. We are still here. We will always be here. And we will not be moved.
Kinanâskomitin — my gratitude to you for standing together with us!
Rachel Thunder, Big Stone Cree Nation, Vice-President, Indigenous Protector Movement via the Lakota People’s Law Project.
