Please understand the horrific conditions these children are being held in. Bug and dirt filled food, guards in these concentration camps they are held in tell the kids not to waste their oxygen by complaining or making the guard deny them. While physical abuse and verbal abuse is a given there is no doubt that some sexual abuse is happening. One boy had appendicitis and the guards refused him treatment until he was throwing up in a hallway that they even dealt with him and even then they kept him from medical attention for another 6 hours. The boy barely survived. First they don’t see these brown children as people and second the government has stopped paying for the medical care of the detained people in their care. Hugs
Detainees held at the South Texas Family Residential Center wave signs during a demonstration in Dilley, Texas, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026.
A protest broke out Saturday at the South Texas family detention complex in Dilley, about 70 miles south of San Antonio, after guards abruptly ordered attorneys to leave while detainees — many of them children — poured into open areas of the facility chanting “Libertad,” or “Freedom,” according to an immigration attorney who witnessed the event.
Immigration attorney Eric Lee said he was at the Dilley facility for a confidential visit with clients — an immigrant family of six, including five children — when guards began shouting for everyone in the waiting area to leave, citing what they described as “an incident.”
As the Michigan-based attorney walked toward his car, he said he heard what sounded like “hundreds of children” shouting, with voices he described as “high-pitched” and “urgent.” He said he could see children streaming from dormitory areas behind a chain-link fence and chanting “Libertad.”
Lee said clients he later spoke with told him the protest was triggered by concerns over the treatment of Liam Conejo Ramos, a five-year-old who was taken into custody with his father in Minnesota earlier this week and transferred to the Dilley facility.
Lawmakers and advocates are calling for the child’s release, while the Department of Homeland Security disputes claims about how the boy was taken into custody and faces criticism over access to the facility.
School officials in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, have said federal agents took the child from a running car in the family’s driveway and directed him to knock on the door of the home — an action the superintendent described as “essentially using a 5-year-old as bait.”
The Department of Homeland Security has disputed that account, saying agents did not target the child, were focused on apprehending the child’s father—whom DHS said fled on foot—and attempted to have the child’s mother take custody of the boy.
Lee described Saturday’s action inside the facility as a peaceful demonstration, not a riot, and said the show of solidarity carried risk for detained families.
Lee said the protest unfolded against what he described as harsh day-to-day conditions inside the Dilley detention center. He characterized the facility as “a horrible, horrible place,” alleging that drinking water is “putrid” and often undrinkable, and that meals have contained “bugs,” dirt, and debris.
“The guards are just as tough as the guards at the adult facilities. This is not a place that you would want to have your child be for even 15 minutes,” Lee said.
Lee said the site does not operate as “civil detention,” arguing it functions like a punitive facility despite housing families.
CoreCivic, the private prison company that operates the site under federal contract, has previously said the facility is intended to provide an “open and safe environment” with access to services such as recreation, counseling, and legal resources.
Texas Public Radio reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for comment on the disturbance and on Lee’s allegations regarding Liam Ramos’ treatment but had not received a response by Saturday evening.
The Dilley detention complex — known for years as the South Texas Family Residential Center — closed in 2024 and later reopened, as federal authorities expanded detention capacity for immigrant families, according to prior reporting and company statements.
Saturday’s episode comes amid heightened scrutiny of immigration enforcement nationally, including protests in Minneapolis following the January 7 killing of Renée Macklin Good during an ICE operation, and another fatal shooting involving federal immigration agents reported Saturday.
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No doubt we’ve all seen that AG Bondi has contacted Gov. Waltz stating that if he will forward the MN voter rolls to her, the federal government violence will stop in MN. Last I knew, that offer was declined. Meanwhile, they’re still in MN, and now they’re raiding in Maine (I’m certain their Republican US Senator is deeply concerned, though not concerned enough to demand a turnaround.) Anyway, below are some links and snippets about preparation. The fact is that immigration enforcement has been around in every state for years, but they mostly haven’t been Gestapo-awful, or not at the massive numbers of people abused and killed, as they are currently. So, it isn’t as if things can’t happen instantaneously anywhere. If we still haven’t begun building local community, it’s definitely time. Aside from making sure we can take care of our neighbors and vice-versa, here are some good guidelines for dealing with our reality. We can do this. There is a place for everyone.
snippet: Today, after a year of rapid, large-scale mobilizing, resistance to rogue immigration agents is seeing its own set of commandments emerge. From compiling strategies from across the United States, 10 Rules of Resistance for #ICEOut can be identified. Taken as a whole, they offer all of us a robust approach to denying ICE the basic necessities of their operation.
10 Rules of Resistance for #ICEOut
No silence.
No selling.
No service.
No hotel rooms.
No entry.
No informing.
No looking away.
No collaboration.
No transporting.
No detention centers.
(You can add to this list, of course. There’s no limit to the ways we can resist.)
Nonviolent movements succeed by strategically pressuring the pillars of support for an injustice to withhold or withdraw things like information, cooperation, funding, labor and more. These 10 Rules of Resistance for #ICEOut offer ways to deny immigration agencies the key resources they need to function effectively. ICE cannot function without detention centers, transportation of detainees, access to businesses and properties, staging areas in parking lots, surveillance, telecommunication, recruitment ads, deliveries, or even quiet and uninterrupted sleep at hotels. (snip-more at link-the title above)
General strikes can have a tremendous impact, but to succeed they require an organized majority, networks of solidarity and resources to weather repression.
The call is coming from a rapidly growing coalition that includes the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, Service Employees International Union Local 26, UNITE HERE Local 17, Communications Workers of America Local 7250, the Saint Paul Federation of Educators, the Minneapolis Federation of Educators, the Minnesota AFL-CIO, Sunrise Movement, and grassroots groups like Tending the Soil, among others.
That breadth matters — it’s not just a tiny group but an array of organized, powerful entities.
The action carries momentum. It follows the extreme violence carried out by ICE and other immigration agents in Minnesota — and the courageous, sustained pushback by Minnesotans who have stepped in to protect one another. The Jan. 23 one-day economic blackout is not the only tactic on the table. It sits alongside legal challenges, corporate pressure campaigns targeting ICE enablers, mutual aid and direct services, physical interventions, and more.
This is how real movements tend to move: not in a straight line, but through overlapping experiments. (snip-see the rest by clicking the title above)
The movement for justice and democracy is growing and has displayed significant political clout: mobilizing unprecedented millions in mass protest, resisting ICE attacks in Minneapolis and other cities, turning interim electoral outcomes against MAGA policies, and building pressure for National Guard withdrawals. Trump’s ratings have slumped to the lowest level of his second term. A recent poll shows a majority of Americans opposed to ICE’s aggressive tactics.
Now we are at a critical juncture, a moment of escalating risk, but also opportunity for political gain. Protests and protective actions have surged in Minneapolis, especially following the murder of Renee Nicole Good. Citizens and public officials in Minneapolis have condemned the brutality of ICE and Border Patrol operations and their blatant acts of racial and ethnic profiling. They are demanding the withdrawal of federal forces and a halt to the de facto military siege of city neighborhoods.
Minnesota is under occupation by federal agents from ICE and CBP, and they need your help.
Not just Minneapolis, and not just people protesting. Across Minnesota, ICE continues to stop, harass, and detain people regardless of their citizenship status. Normal life in Minnesota has been interrupted, as schools have been forced to close or go virtual, as people live in fear of leaving their homes or going to work.
Minnesotans are organized and activated to respond to this violence. But they need our help.
This directory of places to donate to all comes from activists on the ground, plugged into the situation. Everything is vetted, with the exception of individual GoFundMes (not everyone is in our networks, and we don’t want to pick and choose who is worthy of help.)
If you don’t have resources to give, please amplify what you are hearing and seeing about Minnesota, across social media, but also to your networks, friends, and family offline.
Overwhelmed by the amount of listings here? Donate to the Immigrant Law Center of MN, who is providing assistance to hundreds of people with families detained by ICE, or the Immigrant Rapid Response Fund, a fund assembled by a coalition of Twin Cities Foundations committed to getting assistance out the door as quickly as possible.
Mutual Aid & Materials Purchasing
These funds are administered by neighbors helping their neighbors, not large organizations. This is one of the most direct ways to help and to get cash and resources into people’s hands quickly.
Diaper Fund
Rent Relief Funds
Mutual Aid Funds
Provide Food Support
Buy/Donate Materials
Crowdfunding Campaigns
We are only including campaigns which have not met their goals. To get a campaign added please email contact@standupforminnesota.com
Funds for Employees
For Individuals
Funds for Schools & Students
Funds for Communities
And there is so much more on the page. Please thoughtfully consider what you can do, including simply telling people about this when it comes up (or when you bring it up, maybe?) And thank you!
The video below shows another shooting where the ICE thug fired into a car striking a person when he shifted his weapon to his other hand. The car was not moving and full of pepper spray. The man was not trying to drive. Yet ICE told a judge the man had weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over ICE thugs. The judge dismissed the case because ICE refused to hand over the body cam footage that showed what the ICE thug did and that DHS was lying. Again. Hugs
Suzy Sunshine and I met today and we mutually agreed that she couldn’t help me. She started off the session on grounding technics, and when she told me what they were I led her through each sense and how I try to stop the vortex from taking me and the steps involved, I described every step involved she stopped and looked sad. I asked her what was wrong and she said you knew all this before I could tell you. I said I have been dealing with these memories, emotions, and the cascading tornado of the vortex along with the emotional roller coaster of what happens for most of my life. I have learned to image and use the positive things in my life as handles to keep the tornado black vortex from drawing me in to it. In the last decade or more I have had to seriously draw on them to stay sane. No one taught me these things, I found them on my own because I was in such distress. At that point she told me I had passed the point where anything she could offer me would help. We left it I would work on it more myself and if I started to get in a bad place like I was in November and December I would call her and she would get me in with a trauma therapist. We parted on good terms with her saying as I put my heavy over shirt on because it is really cold here in Florida, “I am sorry I wanted to help, but what you are dealing with is way beyond anything I was trained for or ready for”. I thanked her and explained what I am dealing with most people can’t understand … but all I need is their caring support and honest concern for my wellbeing, something I never got as a child. I think what broke her was when she asked about smells could I think of a positive smell that might pull me from a trigger. I explained to her that all smells are relative and for example Ron might be cooking hamburgers and french fries and it might make me happy. Or it could remind me of when as a child the rest got to sit at the table eating hamburgers and French fries while I was made to stand across the room and watch. I saw her start to close down and she stuttered as she said yes I can see how that may be triggering. Anyway a song for the attempt at therapy. Oh if no one noticed I updated the Kamyk post, please read the new part at the end. Hugs
to spread brightness in as much space around us as we can, especially if we’re in an area endangered by the Trump enforcement brigades we’re seeing. But even if we’re not, we can extend these actions locally to build community so we’ll be safer when it is our turn.
“We, at Wrecktangle, at all locations for the rest of the weekend, are going to donate one pizza for every single pizza sold, to families and friends that are affected by the increased ICE presence in Minneapolis,” one representative said.
In the caption, they noted that they are “set on volunteers” who would deliver pizza and other goods to people unable to leave home, but added: “We could really use some help raising funds to keep the momentum and keep people safe inside during these disturbing and uncertain times.”
Wrecktangle leaders said they started with $2,000 in donations from family and friends, and figured if they posted their Venmo information, they might be able to double that.
The support exceeded their expectations.
In addition to the collection of non-perishable foods and home essentials, two days later, they announced that they had received over $83,000 in donations.
Along with the donations, the local chain sold 2,291 pizzas between Thursday and Sunday.
During this time, they distributed 600 pizzas, non-perishables, and toiletries to vulnerable families, adding that “we have been working only with volunteers we personally know and trust to ensure the safety of our community.”
But thousands more meals are being made and prepared for free delivery as quickly as possible.
Wrecktangle co-owner Breana Evans told Bring Me The News that nearly every local restaurant in their area has been negatively impacted by the presence of ICE.
“We have staff, coworkers who are directly affected and scared to come to work,” Evans said. “It’s not fair for our friends to be scared to provide for their families and make a living. We know how to make food. So, we said, let’s just start making food.”
The company began donating their 13-inch frozen pizzas privately by connecting with their network of neighboring businesses and organizations. But then they realized the community could expand their efforts even wider.
Trusted volunteers were sent off to deliver free pizzas and meal kits, and others came to the shop to help assemble the goods.
“I think that’s a testament to our community and that there’s more good in the world than this horrible bad that they’re making us go through,” Evans said.
After meeting an immediate need to distribute food, Wrecktangle owners are working to figure out how to best use the funds they raised to help the community.
A screenshot of an Instagram story from Wrecktangle, sharing a weekend total of donated pizzas. Photo courtesy of Wrecktangle/Instagram
“We are working hard with nonprofit organizations to make sure these funds do the most good. We have not yet touched a cent,” they shared on social media. “As soon as we have updates as to specifically where your kindness is going, outside of purchasing food and home products, we will keep you thoroughly updated.”
And on Sunday, to finish out the campaign, Wrecktangle encouraged supporters to spend their money with other local restaurants. For one day only, they accepted emails containing a photo of a receipt from any Minnesota restaurant, and an additional meal was donated on their behalf.
“A lot of our community wants to come back to work, and we need to make sure these restaurants can help support their staff,” Evans said in a social media video. “We need you to be there.”
s of Monday morning, Wrecktangle shared on an Instagram story that they received 176 emailed receipts, which translates to 176 more meals for vulnerable community members.
“This week has spread so much love and friendship,” the company added in an Instagram story. “And we couldn’t be more grateful.”