Participation in [Minneapolis] neighborhood watch groups has surged alongside ICE’s presence and ramped up even more since Renee Good’s recent killing by an ICE agent in the city on 7 January. With each passing day, animosity is building.

“It’s very clear that the Trump administration is looking to disguise what is a blatant campaign of cruelty, under this illusion of ‘we’re going after the bad guys,’” said city council member Robin Wonsley. “It couldn’t be further from the truth.”

And yet, the notion that community members must protect and provide for one another, whether because of state violence or state failures, is not new. The police killing of George Floyd in 2020, and the uprising that ensued, also spurred neighborhood-level organizing in Minneapolis.