💌 America Resists! February 22-28, 2026

Your weekly dose of good news from the resistance

Mar 01, 2026

Welcome to America Resists! a series that connects the dots between this week’s inspiring stories from the resistance and the blueprint they give us for how ordinary folks can save democracy, protect the vulnerable, build community, and create the future we want.

This week, community and student‑led actions led the resistance against Trump’s immigration actions, opposing ICE enforcement and detention facilities across the country. We are still learning of the true depth of mutual aid and community care that happened in Minnesota during Operation Metro Surge, and this week, we’re hearing about how one woman raised $20 million for mutual aid in the state and how others organized to rescue pets left behind as their owners were detained and deported. Even as the federal presence shrinks in the Twin Cities, residents have continued to deliver food and supplies to hundreds of families still sheltering in place.

Across the country, communities in New Hampshire, Washington, Colorado, Michigan, and Kansas organized protests, pressured local officials, and successfully halted or delayed proposed ICE detention centers. Thousands of students from D.C. to Oregon walked out of schools in coordinated “ICE Out” actions, demanding protections for immigrant families and accountability for federal abuses. Faith leaders in Virginia convened clergy from more than 60 congregations to publicly condemn immigration tactics, and legislators and governors took stands ranging from State of the Union protests to launching major immigrant‑support funding and filing multistate lawsuits to defend public health.

The resistance is an ecosystem, and it’s amazing to watch how different actors step forward at different times to pick up the mantle and continue the struggle against authoritarianism and fascism. Students, youth, clergy, and local residents led the way this week, and you can read about their stories—and the blueprints their actions leave behind for us—below.

Thanks for reading!

M-.

America Resists! is published every Sunday.

Mutual Aid & Community Care

One Woman Raised $20 Million for Minnesota

In response to ICE raids in Minneapolis, Ashley Fairbanks created Stand With Minnesota, an online mutual‑aid hub that has raised nearly $20 million, coordinated flights for released detainees, and helped families cover rent and basic needs. Built entirely through grassroots generosity and digital organizing, the effort shows how everyday people can rapidly mobilize to protect immigrant communities and strengthen local resilience. Fairbanks now encourages others to replicate the model, recommending neighbor‑to‑neighbor support over reliance on nonprofits or government systems.1

Blueprint: Start small mutual‑aid networks using simple tools like Google Docs, Linktree, or shared spreadsheets. Build connections with neighbors before crises occur, including shared communication channels (e.g., Signal group chats). Organize community funds to cover urgent needs like rent, travel, or food. Encourage direct giving between residents to reduce barriers and meet needs quickly.

Mutual Aid Protects Pets During ICE Detentions and Deportations

As ICE operations intensified in Minnesota, grassroots groups — including Pet Haven, The Bond Between, and ICE Hurts Animals, Too — mobilized rapidly to rescue and care for pets left behind when their owners were detained or deported. Volunteers have provided food, vet care, foster homes, and secure deliveries, creating community‑run systems to support both pets and families in hiding.2

Blueprint: Join or form mutual‑aid networks focused on practical needs like pet care, food distribution, or wellness checks. Offer foster care, pet supplies, or transportation for community members affected by raids or crises. Use encrypted request forms and neighborhood communication channels to coordinate discreet support. Partner with local rescue organizations to expand capacity during emergencies. Keep donating and volunteering even after initial media attention fades, since needs often continue long‑term.

Minnesota Continues to Support Immigrants in Hiding

In response to ICE’s Operation Metro Surge, food shelves, local businesses, and community groups across Saint Paul rapidly organized large‑scale mutual‑aid deliveries to immigrants sheltering in place, reaching nearly 500 families and supported by about 1,000 volunteers. Organizations like Neighborhood House, Keystone Community Services, and the West Side Boosters have coordinated food, supplies, and transportation while local businesses launched donation drives and fundraisers. Fear and disruption persist, despite reduced federal presence, and making long‑term community support is still essential in these areas.3

Blueprint: Volunteer with or start neighborhood‑based delivery networks for food, supplies, and essential items. Support immigrant families by donating directly to local mutual‑aid groups or coordinating fundraisers through workplaces or small businesses. Help identify and meet practical needs such as transportation, pet care, or retrieving belongings left behind during detainment. Maintain support even after media attention fades, recognizing that fear, financial strain, and community disruption often continue long‑term.

America Resists ICE Facilities

🚨 Live near an ICE facility? You have a special job right now! Use this map to find locations of current ICE detention facilities and field offices, Section 287(g) agreements between DHS and state and local officials, and companies contracting with ICE near you. Get plugged into local immigration advocacy groups and follow them on social media to be notified of actions you can get involved in. Local pressure backed by regional and national networks is what works in shutting down these facilities for good!

New Hampshire Community Pushes Back on ICE Facility

About 1,500 people gathered in Merrimack, New Hampshire, to oppose a proposed ICE detention facility, uniting residents across political lines who fear the project would burden local resources and undermine community values. Speakers called for sustained pressure through zoning challenges, town‑council engagement, public oversight, and the collective responsibility necessary to halt the expansion of federal immigration enforcement in their town.4

UPDATE: New Hampshire ICE Facility Halted!

Plans for a 400–600‑bed ICE detention center in Merrimack were halted after sustained community opposition, unanswered questions about safety and local impacts, and calls from regional officials—including Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey—for the project to be rejected. New Hampshire Democrats also introduced federal legislation requiring DHS to obtain public approval before opening new facilities, adding further pressure to halt the proposal.5

Blueprint: Host large‑scale protests involving (1,500+ residents!) with media attention, pressure zoning boards and town councils, publicly challenge lack of government transparency, build coalitions that include multiple political perspectives, share local observations (e.g., suspicious site activity) with media and elected officials.

Colorado Leaders and Activists Oppose ICE Facility

Colorado lawmakers and immigrant‑rights activists are pressuring ICE to abandon plans for a new 1,200‑bed detention center in Hudson, citing secrecy, harmful impacts on families, and the expansion of Trump’s mass‑deportation agenda. Demonstrators, clergy coalitions, and statewide advocacy groups have been protesting since last year, urging the facility’s owner to refuse contracts with GEO Group and calling for transparency, humane treatment, and oversight.6

Blueprint: Work with local elected officials to issue letters or formal inquiries demanding accountability. Build coalitions across faith, legal, and immigrant‑rights communities. File public‑records requests to uncover hidden government or contractor activity. Pressure landlords, businesses, and investors who enable harmful immigration enforcement actions. Coordinate pressure from U.S. lawmakers through formal letters to DHS and ICE. Organize coalitions of clergy and immigrant‑rights groups. Expose contracts and agency actions through ACLU‑led records requests. Pressure the private property owner to block ICE leasing.

Washington Town Passes 6-Month Ban on ICE Facilities

More than 50 residents packed the Tukwila City Council chambers in Washington to oppose a potential new ICE detention facility, leading the council to unanimously pass a six‑month moratorium on new detention construction. Grassroots organizers, including Southend Indivisible, mobilized residents to demand local protections amid reports of expanding ICE operations in the city.7

Blueprint: Push city councils to use local zoning and emergency moratoriums to halt ICE projects. Monitor federal agency activity and raise early public alarms.

Michigan Senators and Local Leaders Fight ICE Facility Plan

Michigan Senators Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin urged DHS to reverse plans to turn a Romulus warehouse into an ICE detention center, highlighting unsafe conditions, lack of zoning approval, and the city’s refusal to issue permits. Local officials, including the mayor and city council, united in opposition after learning they were never consulted, emphasizing concerns about emergency service strain, infrastructure burdens, and federal secrecy.8

Blueprint: Pressure elected officials to issue formal letters demanding accountability. Work with city councils to pass resolutions blocking harmful developments. Use zoning and permitting laws to slow or halt facility expansions.

Colorado Activists Pressure ICE Surveillance Company

Local advocates in Boulder are renewing protests against BI Inc. as the company expands its role in ICE’s surveillance and Alternatives to Detention programs, urging Boulder County and other institutions to cut ties. Colorado Immigrant Partnership Teams, American Friends Service Committee, and South Boulder County Indivisible are organizing demonstrations to raise public awareness and push for an end to federal and local contracts with the company.9

Blueprint: Join or organize demonstrations calling out private companies profiting from immigration enforcement. Build coalitions across faith groups, student groups, and community organizations. Pressure local governments to review contracts with ICE‑linked companies. Monitor procurement records to expose expansion of surveillance technologies.

Detroit Communities Mobilize Against ICE Facilities

Hundreds of Detroit‑area residents, students, and workers held mass protests in Romulus and Southfield to oppose new ICE detention and operations centers currently planned, with 700–800 people rallying in Romulus and 200–300 filling the Southfield council meeting. Community members, student walkout leaders, and immigrant‑rights organizers demanded an end to expanded raids and surveillance.10

Blueprint: Organize mass demonstrations. Support and protect student‑led walkouts. Attend city council meetings to challenge federal encroachments at the local level. Build alliances among labor groups, immigrant‑rights groups, and community members. Use public testimony and storytelling to expose the human impacts of detention and deportation.

Kansas Residents Fight CoreCivic’s ICE Facility

Dozens of Leavenworth residents protested outside city hall as more than 60 speakers urged officials to reject CoreCivic’s bid to reopen a dormant 1,000‑bed facility as an ICE detention center supporting Trump’s deportation agenda. Community members highlighted the facility’s history of mismanagement and abuse while mobilizing public testimony, moral arguments, and visible demonstrations to pressure city commissioners ahead of the upcoming vote.11

Blueprint: Mobilize neighbors to attend public hearings and deliver testimony. Use past records, audits, and investigations to challenge bids like this one from CoreCivic. Apply sustained pressure throughout the permitting process, not only on vote day.

Community Holds Vigil to Honor Immigrants Who Died in Custody

Imperial Valley, California, activists and interfaith groups held a vigil outside the Imperial Regional Detention Facility to honor Huabing Xie and Luis Beltran Yañez‑Cruz, immigrants who died in ICE custody, while condemning systemic medical neglect and unsafe conditions. Grassroots organizations — including Imperial Liberation Collaborative, Imperial Valley Equity and Justice Coalition, ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, Southern California Immigration Project, Catholic Charities, and TODEC — continued pushing for detainee rights, community education, and an end to for‑profit detention.12

Blueprint: Organize or participate in public vigils to honor victims and draw attention to abuses. Partner with local mutual aid, immigrant‑rights, and interfaith groups to support detainees and their families. Support abolition‑focused groups working to end for‑profit detention systems. Provide practical help such as temporary housing, transportation, or funding for recently released detainees.

Student Resistance

🚨 Want to organize at your school? Check out the National Youth Rights Association Guide to Organizing a Protest, Walkout, or Boycott, which will walk you through planning sit-ins, silent protests, walkouts, rallies, strikes, picketing, and boycotts. Successful walk-outs have the support of parents and community groups. Look for local grassroots organizations you can partner with for the event and also for long-term community organizing!

Students from 15 D.C. Schools Walk Out Against ICE Crackdowns

More than 1,000 D.C. students from 15 schools walked out of class and marched to the Lincoln Memorial to denounce President Trump’s escalating ICE tactics and the killings of two protesters in Minneapolis. Students chanted, gave speeches, and held signs calling for an end to what they described as excessive force, joining a nationwide wave of youth‑led walkouts challenging federal immigration crackdowns. 13 14

Virginia Students Stage Walkouts Against ICE Despite 323 Previous Suspensions

Hundreds of students across 10 Prince William County schools organized coordinated “ICE Out” on‑campus walkouts to protest ICE’s tactics and prevent a repeat of the 323 suspensions issued during an earlier off‑campus protest. Working with administrators, students created signs, led chants, and held peaceful demonstrations calling for an end to violence against immigrant communities.15

California Youth Organize Statewide Walkouts Against ICE

Thousands of California students from middle school through college have coordinated “ICE Out” walkouts since January, protesting the Trump administration’s intensified immigration enforcement and killings by ICE agents. Despite threats of suspensions, curfew citations, and even misdemeanor charges against adults who assist them, students across Los Angeles, Fresno, Clovis, and statewide campuses continue organizing demonstrations — supported by coalitions such as California Youth Unite and The Reclamation Project — to demand an end to mass deportations and to assert youth power in shaping political change.16

Oregon Students Rally for Stronger Immigrant Protections

Nearly 2,000 Salem‑Keizer students walked out of class and rallied at the Oregon Capitol to demand stronger protections for immigrant families, led by the youth advocacy organization Latinos Unidos Siempre. Students urged lawmakers to pass House Bill 4079 and additional immigrant‑justice bills to ensure schools notify families of immigration enforcement near campuses and improve statewide safeguards.17

Faith as Resistance

Virginia Faith Leaders Unite Against ICE Abuses

Richmond‑area clergy representing more than 60 congregations gathered to condemn the Trump administration’s immigration tactics, highlighting the fear and family separation faced by immigrant communities. Organized through For Richmond, the coalition spoke of moral responsibility, publicly affirmed the dignity of immigrants, and learned new ways to partner with nonprofits providing direct support. Their statement joined a growing national wave of faith‑based resistance.18

Legislative & Judicial Resistance

🚨 Have a Republican Representative? It would take only 16 Republicans voting with the Democrats to stop Trump and his out-of-control administration. It would take 23 to impeach and remove Trump. If you live in a red state or district, this is now your job! Call the congressional switchboard (202-224-3121) daily. Need a script? 5Calls has scripts for current issues and contact info for your representatives, all in one place. Still nervous? Call before 7 am or after 7 pm EST to leave a voicemail with info identifying you as a constituent. It all counts!

Democrats Protest State of the Union

During Trump’s State of the Union address, several Democrats used visible acts of protest to challenge his rhetoric, including Representative Al Green, who held a “Black people aren’t apes” sign before being removed from the chamber. Others resisted by remaining seated, walking out early, or verbally confronting Trump’s claims about immigration and public safety, presenting a collective refusal to normalize harmful narratives.19

California Launches $35 Million Initiative for Immigrant Families

Governor Gavin Newsom launched a $35 million initiative to help families affected by escalating ICE enforcement, directing funds toward legal defense, food access, health care, and nonprofit support networks. In partnership with major philanthropic groups, the state aims to strengthen community‑based assistance and counter the harms caused by the Trump administration’s intensified mass detention efforts. California’s approach centers on protecting due process, expanding multilingual outreach, and reinforcing local aid infrastructures.20

15 States Sue Trump Over Vaccine Rollbacks

Fifteen Democratic‑led states filed suit to block the Trump administration’s decision to cut the childhood vaccine schedule from 17 diseases to 11, arguing the changes ignored scientific evidence and sidelined established advisory experts. The lawsuit contends that the administration’s newly appointed advisory panel, installed after firing all prior members, made arbitrary changes that could leave children less protected from preventable illnesses.21

Blueprint: Support coalitions advocating for science‑based public health policies. Share accurate vaccine information from medical experts to counter misinformation. Join or amplify grassroots groups monitoring federal policy changes that affect community health. Promote community education efforts about the importance of routine childhood immunizations.

What’s Happening Next Week?

There are 1,185+ protests, vigils, rallies, multistate protests, social gatherings, banner drops, outrage hours, silent protests, pop-ups, honk & wave, bridge protests, postcard writing, sit-ins, boycotts, marches, Women in Black, Moral Mondays, Visibility Brigade, Tesla Takedowns, and other events scheduled across the country for the week of February 28-March 6th. (list | map)

Nothing going on near you? Follow local organizations on social media, check out virtual opportunities below, or grab some friends and find something meaningful to do in your community!