Under a pounding midday sun, around a hundred anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters lined the corner of East Lake Street and Chicago Avenue South in Minneapolis on Saturday.
The protest was organized primarily by the grassroots Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, or MIRAC, to demand an end to Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz.” In early June, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis led the building of Alligator Alcatraz, an immigrant detention center in the Everglades, according to a MIRAC press release.
The protest is part of Legalization for All’s National Week of Action, a nationwide grassroots campaign demanding an end to ICE detentions and deportations. The campaign is also meant to resist Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which includes $150 billion for immigration and border enforcement, according to MIRAC’s press release.
MIRAC and co-organizers from Twins Coalition for Justice moved through the crowd, handing out informational pamphlets detailing conditions inside Alligator Alcatraz. Organizers led chants with megaphones, saying, “No troops, no wall, legalization for all.”
Protesters hit drums in rhythm while chanting in both English and Spanish, including chants like “When I say ‘Chinga,’ you say ‘la migra.’” Others stood on the sidewalk, raising their signs high.
Florida built the detention facility in eight days using repurposed Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers and tents. It is estimated to have an annual operating cost of $450 million, according to CNN.
Detainees at the facility report that there is no running water or sewage system, toilets overflow when it rains, lights are kept on 24 hours a day, air conditioning is faulty, medical services are limited and meals are small and irregular, according to an investigation by CNN.
Protestors held signs reading “NO CONCENTRATION CAMPS! NO ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ!” with the MIRAC acronym on the bottom.
MIRAC volunteer since 2018, Kellie Rock, said she is careful to draw comparisons and currently uses the term “detention camps.” However, she said she believes the conditions within the camp are inhumane.
“We feel like the Trump administration is trying to see what they can get away with,” Rock said. “We have to push back, we have to do everything we can.”
Protester John Heidelberger regularly attended protests in his early adulthood, but said he was dormant until Trump was elected. He said he thinks ICE is a disgrace to the country, and the Florida facility is unprecedented.
“Lady Liberty, that big statue in New York harbor, says, ‘send me your tired and your poor’,” Heidelberger said. “She has always said it and will always say it. This country was built by immigrants.”
Long-time protester Jerry Guritz said this is his first protest against ICE, which he called “America’s Gestapo,” making a comparison to Nazi Germany’s secret police.
DeSantis said the facility currently has the capacity to house “a couple thousand” detainees, according to the New York Times. Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said the eventual goal is 4,000, The New York Times reported.
Detainees have reported being unable to see a lawyer and have on occasion not appeared in state or federal detention records, meaning families are unable to track their whereabouts, according to CNN. Rock said she is worried about the possible lack of due process and stressed the importance of that right.
“If immigrants are going to be subject to our laws and our conditions, then they also should be afforded the rights and protections of our federal laws and conditions, including the right to due process,” Rock said.
MIRAC volunteer since 2017, Mari Hernandez, said every immigrant deserves their day in court and emphasized that immigrants are a vital part of the United States and Minneapolis.
“They are doctors, they are nurses, they are working people, and also children in school,” Hernandez said. “These are your kids’ friends, and they deserve to be here.”
Around 1 p.m., an hour after the protest started, protesters momentarily flooded onto the street. Organizers in neon yellow vests blocked the flow of cars as a Trump piñata was held in the air and broken open, candy spilling out onto the road.
MIRAC volunteer Miguel Hernandez said into a microphone that there is hope despite the current fear, trauma and heartbreak.
“I’m really happy to share these streets with you folks,” he said. “I know that we must continue to create this hope here in this neighborhood and all over the U.S.”