How U.S. Citizens Are Responding to ICE in Minnesota

When I told Alicia that I wanted to write about the economics of ICE for this week’s newsletter, I knew I was biting off more than I could chew. The news feels so urgent and overwhelming, plus understanding the ins and outs of government funding is complicated. Where do you even begin?

My googling sent me down a rabbit hole that resurfaced articles from last summer about the Trump administration’s signature policy, The One Big Beautiful Bill Act. (Yes, both “bill” and “act” are in its official name.) That terrible piece of legislation didn’t just cut SNAP and Medicaid benefits for millions of Americans. It’s also funding these seemingly lawless thugs in balaclavas who are on a very successful terror campaign across the country.

In August 2025, Brennan Center senior fellow Margy O’Herron wrote about how the OBBBA will essentially create a deportation-industrial complex that’s hard to dismantle:

“The so-called One Big Beautiful Act allocates more than $170 billion over four years for border and interior enforcement, with a stated goal of deporting 1 million immigrants each year. That is more than the yearly budget for all local and state law enforcement agencies combined across the entire United States. The bill adds billions of dollars to border enforcement, but the largest percentage increase goes to finding, arresting, detaining, and deporting immigrants already living in the U.S., most of whom have not committed a crime and many of whom have had lawful status.”

That number is staggering. O’Herron continues: “Even the slice that goes just to ICE this year (2025)–nearly $29 billion–exceeds the budgets for all other non-immigration federal law enforcement functions put together, eclipsing funding to agencies whose law enforcement missions involve pursuing terrorists, violent criminals, sex offenders, fentanyl and other drug traffickers, and gun traffickers.”

This money is essentially a blank check for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to fulfill President Trump’s campaign promise of mass deportations. The agency can do what it wants with the funds with basically no oversight. And considering how things are going with ICE and Border Patrol in Minneapolis, it’s clear DHS officials feel emboldened to act with impunity.

On Saturday, after the news of Alex Pretti’s murder broke, I found myself frantically reading The New York Times looking for info about how our country’s leaders were responding to the crisis. Someone must be doing something, right??? When Democrats started calling to defund ICE, I felt really frustrated. Is this all we're going to do in this moment of crisis? Isn’t there more that someone can do to stop this?

And yet, the timing of the calls to defund ICE is a bit serendipitous, as Congress is in the middle of voting on a series of spending bills that includes more money to fund DHS. Arguably, this is the moment when our politicians could defund ICE—to an extent. On Thursday, congressional Democrats blocked the spending package, which could lead to another government shutdown. They’ve also said they are working with President Trump to reach a deal that would put more restrictions on DHS.

Still, voting against the spending bill doesn’t mean they can claw back the huge cash infusion DHS received with the Big Beautiful Bill. The best we can hope for is that Congress will be successful in putting some restrictions around how ICE and Border Patrol agents can behave. Democrats have a number of demands, according to The New York Times, including banning immigration officers from wearing masks, requiring them to have visible identification, and ending random immigration sweeps. They’re also calling for an independent investigation into the murders of Pretti and Renee Good.

These all seem like reasonable requests, and yet I feel so cynical about all of it. Why should we trust Republicans or the Trump administration to keep any promises they make? Why would they start following the letter of the law now?

I’m also struggling to believe that a shutdown will actually accomplish anything. It wasn’t much more than 12 weeks ago when these same congressional leaders promised they’d keep the government shutdown until they got Republicans to agree to extend Medicare subsidies. But the Dems didn’t stay a united front, and now health care is unaffordable for millions of Americans.

The first draft of this essay was much more bleak, but Alicia wouldn’t let me be so defeatist. Lately, I’ve been feeling much like I did in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, when so many people were dying in New York City that they were bringing in refrigerated trucks to hold the bodies. “Where are the grownups? Who is going to save us?” I wanted to know back then.

But just five years later, it seems I’ve already forgotten the true heroes of the pandemic. It wasn’t the politicians who stepped in to save the day. It was the frontline workers who risked their lives to keep our world from falling apart.

We’re seeing something similar happening in the streets of Minneapolis. I am in awe of how these everyday Americans are stepping up to help their neighbors. They deliver meals to families who can’t leave their homes for fear of deportation. They walk children to school. They blow whistles and alert encrypted group chats about ICE agents in their communities. It seems so simple—these are the actions of good neighbors—and yet two among their ranks have been murdered for participating in similar activities in just the past month. Those who continue to fight for this cause are very brave.

Writing this from the safety of my bedroom in Brooklyn, I’m overwhelmed with so many different emotions: anger, guilt, frustration, sadness, and rage. I feel like I am not doing enough at the same time that I do not know how to help.

I’ve never been one to pick up the phone and call my representative in situations like this. Maybe I would feel different if I lived in a red city or state, but Chuck Schumer is my senator, and he has plenty of other people telling him how they feel. I’ve also always felt a little like it’s pointless, but Alicia firmly disagrees with me, and truthfully, I can admit when I’m wrong about something. I really appreciated a newsletter from Ben Sheehan that writer Ali Griswold linked to detailing how all those political calls are making a difference. And what’s the harm in making a call? As Alicia said to me, we need to make things as difficult as possible for the people in charge.

But you don’t just have to pick up the phone. I love to throw money at a problem, and making donations to causes I care about has always been one way that I’ve expressed my opinion on an issue. And as skeptical as I am about widespread boycotts, I do believe in having some personal integrity when it comes to where you shop, and I feel pretty good about not giving my money to Target and Home Depot.

Also, just because something didn’t work in the past doesn’t mean it won’t work this time. We’re living through unprecedented times, after all. It’s time for some good guys to start setting some new precedents.

Perhaps the most important thing we can do is not give up hope. ICE might be well funded and well armed, but we should not underestimate our power as U.S. citizens.

We’ve been through moments of crisis before, and if you pay attention to the history books, it’s always been the ordinary citizens who become the heroes that ignite real change. Maybe I just need to remind myself that I’m the grownup in the room. I am the one who has to take action. We have to help our neighbors in order to help ourselves.

ICE in the news

As we were writing this on Thursday, some news outlets were reporting the student groups at the University of Minnesota were calling for another general strike on Friday, January 30. “No work. No school. No shopping. Stop funding ICE.” At The Purse, we felt like it was still important to send out this newsletter, but we’ve removed all “subscribe” links in solidarity.
I didn’t understand until recently that both ICE and Border Patrol agents were in Minneapolis—or that there is a meaningful difference between the two agencies (and Border Patrol is managed by the Customs and Border Protection agency). This BBC article does a good job explaining how they both work.
Last year, 32 people died in ICE custody, marking the agency’s deadliest year in more than two decades. The Guardian shared their names and stories.
“No matter how many more armed men Trump sends to impose his will on the people of Minnesota, all he can do is accentuate their valor,” writes Adam Serwer in a moving essay in The Atlantic. “No application of armed violence can make the men with guns as heroic as the people who choose to stand in their path with empty hands in defense of their neighbors. These agents, and the president who sent them, are no one’s heroes, no one’s saviors—just men with guns who have to hide their faces to shoot a mom in the face, and a nurse in the back.”
I also related to this Atlantic essay by George Packer, “What Should Americans Do Now?” which calls for a mass movement of basic decency.
Bruce Springsteen released a protest song this week, "Streets of Minneapolis." When are we going to see younger artists doing the same?
Liberal white women are the latest group to be on the receiving end of right-wing animus, the New York Times reports. After ICE shot and killed Renee Good, right-wing provocateurs began calling her “AWFUL,” which stands for Affluent White Female Urban Liberal.
On that note, the writer Jelani Cobb relates Good’s killing to the murder of Viola Liuzzo, a white civil rights activist from Detroit who marched in Selma in 1965 and was murdered by white supremacists. The FBI “immediately launched a smear campaign against Liuzzo,” Cobb writes, a playbook we’re seeing again today.
Meanwhile, influencers in the conservative womanosphere are urging their followers to “ward off empathy for victims of ICE’s crackdown.”
Liam Ramos, the five-year-old detained by ICE, has fallen ill at the federal detention center he was sent to in Texas, according to reports.
Project C has identified 50+ independent creators and journalists covering what’s happening in Minnesota.
So many normal people have been doing amazing things in the face of this violence. Erin Boyle, who writes the Make/Do newsletter and regularly taps her audience to raise funds for important causes, raised nearly $25,000 for Minnesota rent relief as of Thursday. Aja Frost of Platonic Love curated a list of newsletter writers who have been donating to Minnesota causes over the last week.
Just a reminder that through February, we’re donating 10% of all new annual subscriptions to the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota.

What else we’re talking about

Friend of The Purse and Athletic staff writer Lindsay Schnell wrote this fun and inspiring piece on the working moms on the USA bobsled team who are gunning for gold medals in Italy next month. Who else is getting excited for the Winter Games? -Lindsey
If you need a break from the news, the U.K. seasons of The Traitors are a good, silly way to take your mind off things. -Alicia
One of my very favorite people, Vanessa Golembewski, is an executive producer on the new America’s Next Top Model documentary, launching on Netflix next month. Vanessa is a total boss who worked on this documentary while pregnant and mothering a toddler. (Shoutout to her awesome and supportive husband, too!) I am so so so proud of her, and everyone should watch this documentary! -Lindsey
Over on the Babylist Instagram account, I’m talking about Trump accounts, aka 530A accounts. (Alicia and I will single-handedly rebrand these accounts and get everyone calling them 530A accounts. He might name everything after himself, but it’s literally our tax dollars seeding them!) -Lindsey

On our radar

Did you hear we relaunched our website? Check it out! Share it with your friends! And let us know if anything looks off. And leave a comment if you love it! It's well documented that I need a lot of positive feedback! -Lindsey & Alicia

Comment of the week

“I’m an early 40s woman living outside the US, and when I went home for the holidays, I was surprised to learn nearly all of my friends—and their husbands—are on Ozempic and/or getting Botox regularly. So many people I never expected this from, who seemed confident and comfortable in their skin for ages, but they all spoke of it as routine maintenance. As something everyone is doing, like it’s upgrading tech or something.” - Ruby Katz on When did being hot become a job requirement?

On The Purse this week

We published so many good stories! Here’s what you might have missed!

Best money we spent this week

I bought some of the supplies requested by organizations working on the ground in Minnesota this week. ($70) -Alicia
We got out as a family on Saturday night to see a friend’s band play an all-ages show at a nearby brewery. Some of my favorite mom friends were there, and even though it was chaotic with the kids and the loud music, it was also nice to be out of the house having a drink among grownups. ($9) -Lindsey