A Plea for Help for Immigrants in Minneapolis
My name is Wintana Melekin, the Executive Director of Groundwork Institute and Groundwork Action, and a co-chair of the Democracy Defense Table. I am also a Minnesota based community organizer and a proud immigrant.
Over the last few weeks, all of our lives have been upended by ICE’s attack on my community. We are fighting every day to end this occupation. Thousands of proud Minnesotans who are immigrants have been locked in detention cells, and we are doing everything in our power to free them all.
As calls from Minnesotans seeking legal help poured in, I reached out to trusted legal partners and asked for support. They responded in a major way. Within days, they built the Minnesota Democracy Defense – Legal Spoke: a coordinated legal infrastructure that connects and supports Minnesota’s legal community so efforts are not duplicated, but instead aligned, visible, and fast.
The Legal Spoke links immigration legal work to MNDD’s broader network while respecting existing leadership and capacity. MNDD brings together labor, community-based organizations, faith leaders, advocacy groups, and local and state partners to respond to threats to democratic participation, civil rights, and community safety.
My ask today is that we urgently need experienced immigration attorneys who can provide rapid-response legal triage. This work will connect to a larger effort to file habeas petitions. Minnesota has fewer than 350 immigration attorneys, fewer than half of whom handle habeas cases yet we have thousands of people in detention. We are issuing a public call for attorneys to join this work, both virtually and in person. If you can help, please sign up here.
These are our neighbors, our coworkers, our elders, and our children’s parents. They deserve dignity, due process, and freedom. If you can help defend them, we need you with us. $Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions.
