melissa feilmeier-marzen

Minnesota’s economy runs on the strength of our small businesses.

I’m proposing $10 million in direct relief to help businesses impacted by Operation Metro Surge stabilize, protect jobs, and get back on solid footing.

In a flurry of walkouts, Chicago-area students continue protest of ICE: ‘This is what our world has come to’ Several hundred high school students from Proviso Township walked out of their classrooms Wednesday morning in protest of mass deportation.

Students have taken action, organizing walkouts from their classrooms in protest of ICE. Some are going up against the advice of school officials, the police and others in the name of making their communities more aware of what’s been happening.

“I Have Been Here Too Long”: Read Letters from the Children Detained at ICE’s Dilley Facility Hundreds of children are currently being held with their parents at an immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas. In letters and drawings, eight kids convey the pain of feeling trapped with no end...

Maria Antonia Guerra Montoya was used as bait by ICE, just like they did to Liam Ramos.

The Dilley camp has held the 9 year old for 113 days. She wrote a letter pleading to go home to Columbia.

Make noise for all of them.

Public pressure got Liam released.

Now close the camps.

In Minnesota, sending a child to school is an act of faith for immigrant families For many immigrant families in Minnesota, sending a child to school each day requires faith that one of the thousands of federal immigration officers deployed around the state won’t detain them.

Parents praying for their kids to come home safe. Teachers forced to do virtual class. Students needing to get escorted safely to school. The fear and chaos ICE is causing is disrupting learning—schools must be safe from ICE.
apnews.com/article/minn...

Data centers use MASSIVE amounts of water

Just one Google data center in Iowa used 1 BILLION gallons of water in 2024 -- enough to supply all of Iowa's residential water use for 5 days. ⬇️

Walz demands DHS stop detaining Minnesota children In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Walz demanded details about how many Minnesota kids are in detention facilities.

They’re taking children from Minnesota and locking them up like criminals in detention camps in Texas.

For the love of God, send our kids home and bring an end to this nightmare.

www.startribune.com/walz-demands...

Evil.

Human Rights Watch warns US heading to 'authoritarianism' Donald Trump's return to the White House has intensified a 'downward spiral' on human rights, the New York-based advocacy and research group said in its annual report.

Human Rights Watch warns US heading to 'authoritarianism'

Minnesota needs to know the number of children in federal detention, who they are, and where they’re being held.

This is a really big deal: a union leader wins in Texas.. and beats a billionaire backed candidate who led anti public school culture wars…. .h/t @zephcapo.bsky.social

Trump's new pick for Fed Chair makes an appearance in today's Epstein Files release:

ICE is quietly reshaping daily life in greater MN, too.

In Willmar, more than 1,200 of 4,000 students were absent recently -- both white and BIPOC, teacher Tammy Knapper says. ICE detained a 19-year-old student for five days. Trauma takes the place of learning. Something must change. #edmnvotes

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free

Minnesota educators say ICE activity is causing problems in the classroom Teachers say more students are opting into virtual learning. But educators say that while it is a short-term solution, it comes with long-term consequences.

The chaos and fear ICE is bringing to our communities is disrupting learning. I'm proud to see educators meeting the moment by offering virtual learning options and doing all they can to keep students safe.
www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...

“Imagine how they lie when there’s no evidence to contradict them.”

Watch this powerful message from Jon Stewart.

Screenshot of an X.com post by The Associated Press (@AP) stating that dozens of immigrant families protested for better treatment behind fences at a Texas detention facility, where a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy and his father were sent after being detained in Minnesota. Below is a video thumbnail showing a crowd gathered outdoors along a fenced walkway; many people wear bright blue or red outerwear, and some hold signs.

After being held in two of them as a boy, I fought for decades urging America to never again build concentration camps and put human beings in them. It breaks my heart to watch this happen twice now in my own lifetime.

Here's what ICE is up to in Northeast Minneapolis today. Absolutely heartbreaking.

Warning: video is hard to watch

How immigration detainees move around Minnesota and the nation ICE detained hundreds of thousands of people last year, shuttling them between jails and detention centers around the country, limiting access to legal support.

ICE detained hundreds of thousands of people last year, shuttling them between jails and detention centers around the country, limiting access to legal support.

REGISTER NOW. How do national immigration enforcement policies impact K–12 schools? Join educators nationwide for a @aft.org webinar on Jan 28 to better understand the realities & school-based responses https://sharemylesson.com/webinars/immigration-enforcement-nation-risk @sharemylesson.bsky.social

Hotline operators report flood of calls for rental assistance as residents hide during ICE surge 211 calls from Spanish-speakers have increased more than 1,600 percent and requests for rental assistance have more than tripled, according to Greater Twin Cities United Way. Local officials are pushi...

Staff at 211 Greater Twin Cities United Way, a line that connects Minnesotans with resources, report calls have increased more than 1,600 percent. Calls requesting rent assistance more than tripled in mid-January. Local officials are pushing for an eviction moratorium.

Two Minnesotans—Renee Good, a devoted mother of three, and Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse who served our veterans—are gone, killed by federal agents.

The Trump Administration is trying to block fair, transparent investigations into their deaths. We need justice and cannot let anyone hide the truth.

Bauer has been a teacher for 25 years, a period that has included a rise of school shootings and the drills that have become common to protect against them. “But I never thought it would be our own government we had to protect the kids from…We kept them physically safe, but they saw what happened”

Tomorrow's front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 26, 2026

We call for a deescalation of tensions from both sides, the murderers and the people being murdered

Watching America Unravel in Minneapolis

As federal agents stormed Minneapolis and residents banded together to protect their own, Charles Homan saw a dystopian future become reality. “The federal agents looked more like a platoon of soldiers navigating a hostile foreign capital than conventional law enforcement in an American city.”

This woman speaks for the majority of Americans. 🙌🙏🫶👇

People in winter clothes at a vigil for Alex Pretti. One person in a medical mask and gloves holds a poster that says JUSTICE FOR ALEX PRETTI. A headline reads: "Alex Pretti, the Man Killed by Agents, Was a Nurse and U.S. Citizen" Photo by David Guttenfelder/The New York Times

Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by Border Patrol agents on Saturday, was a registered nurse who worked in the ICU at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis. “He wanted to be helpful, to help humanity and have a career that was a force of good in the world,” a colleague said. trib.al/0Yb3jXF

Fearing ICE, parents make plans for their children’s care Some families give legal authority to others to make key decisions about a child’s life if a parent is detained and deported.

Some immigrant parents, fearful of their children facing similar uncertainty if they were to be arrested, detained or deported are taking the extreme step of legally transferring parental authority to teachers, co-workers, fellow parishioners and neighbors.

Fact check: Federal officials’ claims about fatal Minneapolis shooting A review of statements by Greg Bovino and Kristi Noem finds several assertions unverified or contradicted by video and witness accounts.

A review of statements by Greg Bovino and Kristi Noem finds several assertions unverified or contradicted by video and witness accounts.