Guerrilla-like ‘ICE Watch’ groups backed by top, left-wing grantmakers

Liberal activists are deploying rapid response networks across Minneapolis to impede Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, and tensions between protesters and ICE officers are rising a week after the ICE-involved shooting of activist Renee Good in Minnesota.

Following the flow of cash between mutual aid allies, some of these guerrilla-like groups, operating in communities across the country, appear to receive generous funding from premier grantmaking foundations on the political Left with similar social justice-oriented aims.

For instance, in Minneapolis, Defend the 612 is a well-funded organization that is part of a local coalition called “ICE Watch,” a decentralized cohort of anti-ICE activists dedicated to disrupting raids. ICE Watch is not exclusive to Minneapolis, as other loosely-affiliated networks bearing “ICE Watch” in their names have formed nationwide.