More than one thousand people crammed into a Minnesota church Saturday for “training” in how to deal with ICE in the wake of Renee Nicole Good’s fatal shooting — during which the radical leftist organizer urged participants to annoy the agents like “mosquitoes.”
Program sponsor Monarca trains so-called “upstander legal observers” to follow, track, report, and record Department of Homeland Security officers while they are in the midst of operations, and urged the mostly white, middle-aged and elderly attendees to attend protests with gas masks, sunglasses and phone chargers.
“And a pencil,” they said. “In Minnesota, bring a pencil; a pen will freeze.”
Speakers decried the ICE as a “white supremacist police force that has no oversight,” urging the crowd at Roseville Lutheran Church to be persistent in their confrontations.
Good, 37, who was shot and killed Jan. 7 in an encounter with an ICE agent, was part of a different leftist group, “ICE Watch.”
One speaker blasted “conservative men” and spoke of the alleged “misogynist goals of a white person and nationalist movement that is strangling our nation.”
and killed on Jan. 7.Facebook/ODU English Department
Another speaker, who explained just how aggressive legal observers were allowed to be, told trainees to annoy ICE agents “just like a mosquito.”
Tables were set up at the front of the church to hand out whistles, which have been used by protesters to draw attention to ICE officers that they are shadowing.
The large crowd split up into groups affiliated with churches, schools, or neighborhoods and shared anecdotes of rumored ICE encounters, with some claiming their family members were “in hiding” and others insisting they knew children who were “stalked” by agents while walking home from school.
One attendee was clear that she was motivated to participate in the protest movement because of Good’s death.
“I live about a mile away. I had to come. After what happened. I just can’t stay at home any longer,” the older female attendee said.
The 12-page manual given to attendees instructs them how to use whistles to alert others to ICE activities. Short sounds are to indicate ICE is in the area while longer ones indicate ICE is actively conducting an operation.
It further gives instructions on how to speak to the media, using phrases such as “I am here because I believe in keeping our families and communities together.”
away from the police, nearly mowing one down in the process.X/@maxnesterak
Training sessions in other cities are scheduled through the month and are fully booked, according to the group’s website.
Monarca said it’s expanding operations.
On a “rapid response line,” Monarca representatives instruct citizen callers reporting ICE activity to follow agents, take photos and videos, and to share their location so the group can send out their legal observers to show up to active operations.
A website for the group stated that their legal observers are trained to come to the aid of those being detained by ICE, which is targeting violent and sexual migrant criminals.
Observers are instructed to get any detainee’s personal information and make phone calls on their behalf if needed. They are also instructed not to livestream any interactions or post any video or photo materials onto social media.
Other instructions on the site tell legal observers and civilians not to “run, argue, resist, or fight” ICE officers.
After the outset of DHS’s Operation Midway Blitz in the Land of 10,000 Lakes last summer, Monarca deployed a downloadable packet called a “weight station toolkit” on Oct. 31, informing inquirers of several locations, namely weight stations, where ICE would be conducting operations.
The group further gave out instructions on “narrative messaging” that declares, “No matter our race, class, or background, we all want to live in safe and strong communities. But when the government increases militarized activity, none of us benefit. When our neighbors are targeted, all of us are at risk.”
Monarca is an arm of non-profit group Unidos Minnesota, which reported $545,123 in total assets in 2023, according to tax filings. The majority of the funds came from a grant from non-governmental organization Tending the Soil Minnesota.
Tending the Soil Minnesota had about $1 million in assets in 2023, which are comprised of grants from major organizations like the D.C.-based New Venture Fund, the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, which managed over $270 million in grants and contributions in 2023, and the Minnesota-based McKnight Foundation, according to tax filings.
Monarca, Unidos Minnesota, the FBI, and DHS declined to comment.
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