What can I do?

All very best wishes for the ending of 2025 and 2026. We need to be personally involved in this.

Some ideas follow. More on photo at end of post;

late August 2008, St. Paul, Mn on the Mississippi River.

Getting in action:

Thursday morning a group of about 25 of us listened to an immigration lawyer talk about the current legal situation in our area and the country. There was little new information, but at the same time, it was very good to hear someone who is close to the day-to-day issues; and to hear the information as part of a larger group – in our case, concerned senior citizens. I think the gathering was important for the speaker as well – an opportunity to find out what we, the people were thinking.

My friend, Carol, had planned to attend but there was some conflict that changed plans. She asked me to deliver a message to the lawyer, and I share that here with permission. (NOTE: I had previously shared part of the below and changed or deleted some names.)

“We have friends from Peru. One of them was once in my ESL class, and became like family. Then his cousin, Sebastian, followed him here, and we are now friends with him also. They both graduated from college here, obtained work permits and jobs, and are working toward permanent legal residency.

Yesterday Sebastian called, really distraught. He said Immigration thugs had pulled a good friend of his over on the road (a man from Venezuela with no criminal record). The friend has a valid work permit, came here by legal means and requested asylum – his case is pending. The thugs in their vehicles passed him on the road, saw that he looked Hispanic, then pulled him over and pointed guns at him. The friend was driving his own car but was delivering packages for Amazon at the time. They plopped him into some facility in Elk River, where he was able to make a call. He doesn’t even know what happened to his car. He said someone just drove it off (along with maybe a dozen undelivered Amazon packages…)

Hearing the distress in Sebastian’s voice and realizing the terror of his friend is very disturbing. As is his shock that this can actually happen in America. I’m so ashamed and angry.

Sebastian and other friends of the Venezuelan man were trying to raise money for an attorney to represent him. They said it wasn’t until they contacted an attorney that they even knew he has a court date on Monday; no one notified the man himself.

*******

update from Tuesday:

Sebastian (the cousin) said that the court date scheduled for Monday was pushed to today (Tuesday), then cancelled. Through some means, they have learned that the man arrested has been transferred to Texas (I don’t know where) and no one has heard from him since. He has had NO court appearances. The cousin again said that his friend has absolutely NO criminal history.

update from today (Wednesday):

I just got another message from Sebastian. He says “finally my friend just contacted us today. He is in Texas, he said that they didn’t give him any food. He was handcuffed and foot cuffed for more than 24 hours. There is a UofM professor too over there [presumably also in Texas?? altho’ I don’t see any news reports of a professor from the U being arrested] and he started a protest because they didn’t have the right to make a call since Sunday. They are torturing them…. they said that they been transported to Texas because the jails from Minnesota are full already and need more space.”

*******

This man’s friends looked for an attorney for him when he was first arrested, and came up with a guy in Texas who was supposed to appear remotely when the Venezuelan appeared here in court (which didn’t happen). He was charging them $3,000 to do that. Sebastian surely doesn’t have a lot of money – and I’m sure none of his friends do. Is there someone they could go to for help – either here in MN or in TX?? Their friend deserves his day in court…”

After I returned from the meeting I had another note from her which is pertinent:

I just watched the press conference of Minneapolis Mayor Frey and the young Somali man who ICE picked up, even though he kept telling them he’s a citizen. Frey was impressive – as was the Somali. They grabbed him when he came out of a building for his lunch break. He said the restaurant he was heading for was 5 steps away. They had NO ID, knocked him down in the snow, put him in a chokehold. Then they hauled him off to ICE headquarters by Fort Snelling, where they fingerprinted him. Someone finally looked at his passport, then they turned him loose and told him to walk home (to South Mineapolis…) Mayor Frey was visibly angry. A class action lawsuit was mentioned.

So I just sent Sebastian’s story to the mayor’s office also. His friend is a Minneapolis resident.

Mayor Frey addressed any of us who are citizens, asking “Is this OK with you?? If this can happen to this young man, it could happen to you.”

Update Dec 16:

The latest from Sebastian re his friend just says “All the same with my friend, he’s still in Texas. He has another court day on January 7.” Not clear if that’s here or there, but I will ask him. So here is someone who was doing absolutely nothing illegal, who should have had the opportunity to appear before a judge right after being thrown in jail, but who has to wait over a month to defend himself.

I had sent Sebastian some links I’d found to agencies that help in these situations, but the Texas Civil Rights Project was not one of them. Thanks to Kathleen Valdez who provided the information – I will pass it along!

I also sent the story to a couple of journalists, but no one has responded. Rubin is a good suggestion, THANKS. Sometimes you just have to stir up the right person…

WHAT CAN I DO? Carol got into action (which she typically does, anyway). Her action counts for a lot. Every action makes a big difference.

Back in July I wrote. letter of concern about ICE training in my community. The letter and photos is here: Woodbury ICE at HERO Center. It was just a letter, and the city couldn’t accommodate my personal request. On the other hand, It got immediate attention from the chief of police who met in person with me, not to dismiss, but to dialogue. I also copied the same letter to the President of the College I had attended years ago.

THE PHOTOGRAPH: In August of 2008, the Republican Party had its national convention in St. Paul. A group of peacemakers (I was among them) organized a Peace Island Conference, and another identically named Peace event took place after the conference across the river from downtown St. Paul and Convention Headquarters. The gatherings were totally peaceful, as was an organized peace march at the time the Convention began. But their very existence was viewed as a threat, to the extent that Coast Guard was deployed to protect the river (the photograph), and before the island event, a parade of ominous looking vehicles drove slowly by. Of course. nothing negative happened. There were occasional negative events – not organized or sanctioned by us. Our emphasis was peace. There was no need for the authorities, such as they were, to go to war. What we did were actions. Actions make a big difference.

As bad as 2025 has been, I have a feeling that 2026 will probably be worse in unknown ways. One of the things to prepare for beginning now is the possibility of tampering with the 2026 elections. People must be mobilized to be properly registered to vote long before the election, and especially those who didn’t vote at all last time, or voted for candidates who had no chance whatever for success, have to be encouraged to cast their informed ballot.

Absent a great turnout of informed voters in 2026 and beyond, the future of our democracy is at great risk.

POSTNOTE: Heather. Cox Richardson on Alabama, Dec. 12, 2025.

At Christmas time:

Chuck sent a Native American prayer of thanks at Thanksgiving time. Here it is: Iroquois Thanksgiving

My brother John was recently on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake, and sent an album of photos there. Take a look.

COMMENTS (more at end)

from Carol: Thanks so much for sharing all that, Dick – plus your kind compliment. However, nobody seems to actually care (enough).

I just texted Sebastian to ask if there are any updates – if so, I’ll let you know. Last night I heard a figure of how many ICE says they have arrested – plus the estimate by others of how many they’ve actually hauled away, which was way higher. I think they’re “disappearing” people who they know are legally here. “There but for the grace of God”… and the fact I have Norwegian, German, “acceptable” skin color. Wow, how quickly we’re becoming a third-world country.

from Pierre: That is horrible!! I am ashamed of the U. S. government. The Democrats need to be very hard-nosed dealing with these terrorists when this is all over. No tap on the wrist.

from Jane: OMG, these stories are just heartbreaking. Not to mention unconstitutional. Thanks for letting us know.

from Sue: Dick, thank you. This ICE nightmare is so ugly. MN ice fishing even on the coldest day is far more humane than the trumpian ICE fishing so many good people are dealing with. I can’t help but fixate on the greetings “Merry Christmas” & “Happy New Year” – who will be merry in 2025 & happy in 2026?

from Jeff including an e-mail from his friend Joe, who had seen this post:

Joe is the brother of a childhood friend…he was a CPA and did stints as [as corporate management] before he retired. He

is very active in social justice regarding refugees/immigration and attends [a local Catholic Church with emphasis on social justice]. I never really knew the extent of his work, he just returned from El Salvador, but I know he has been down with groups monitoring elections in Central America. Putting it on the line. He … is about 75 or 76 I think.

from Joe: Thanks…this is not the American I know.

I just returned from 10 days in El Salvador. The delegation numbered 26 and of the 22 women, 11 were nuns and the other 11 lay missionaries. The purpose of the trip was to commemorate the religious martyrs during their civil war and meet with several grass roots organizations. It was a wonderful and fascinating experience and being surrounded by such an inspiring and joyful group was extremely uplifting. I have long felt a deep connection with the people in the war-torn countries of Central America and may have missed my calling.

I wrote the attached letter to the Strib about my visit. Even though they apparently decided not to run it, I thought I’d share it with you. [Dick: I’m not including the letter, only because his commentary would be redundant to the above, and was submitted to local media, which is another action we all can take. Just because his letter is not published (not yet a certainty), doesn’t mean it hasn’t had impact on the editorial page editor. Keep writing.]

from Lois: Happy Holidays to you and your family! I hope you and those enjoying your blogs will be recipients of better news as we start a new year. Your messages and suggestions are appreciated to stay involved, consider all voices, and accept our differences while we work through every day’s events.

I\Finally if you need motivation for the work ahead for all of us:

Brad Lambert-Stone says:

December 13, 2025 at 2:05 pm

ILLEGAL racial profiling. SF Chronicle reports “Nationwide, according to ProPublica, more than 170 U.S. citizens were arrested during the first nine months of President Donald Trump’s presidency this year.”. 13 US citizens are suing the US Govt. – results tbd. Pregnant women and children are being swept away in horrible jail conditions, it is not that you, a citizen, might be next: we are now.

Kathleen Valdez says:

December 15, 2025 at 3:07 pm

TEXAS CIVIL RIGHTS PROJECT
A nonprofit I donate to that provides attorneys gratis. That being said, they are overwhelmed but it’s worth a call to them.

Also, send this (these stories) around ti Journalists who have a platform.
I’m thinking of Jen Rubin who left WPO to found The Contrarian with Norm Eisen. Good people with connections.

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