The Anti-ICE Revolution Shares an Office in Minneapolis
Groups leading the attacks on ICE officers share an office with the Green Party of Minnesota, pro-Hamas groups building a "new communist party based on Marxism-Leninism."
A single office space in Minneapolis is the nexus for at least four radical leftist groups organizing the attacks on ICE officers after the shooting of Renee Good, Restoration News has discovered.
A rundown, dilapidated 1950s office space at 4200 Cedar Ave S in Minneapolis is the headquarters of multiple pro-Hamas anti-war groups, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, and even the Green Party of Minnesota—all of which have attacked ICE for deporting illegal aliens.
"ICE must leave Minnesota immediately. We demand ICE leave all American cities," the Green Party wrote immediately after the Jan. 7 shooting. Good had attempted to run an ICE agent over in her SUV, but was shot dead by the evading officer.
In response, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) organized a mass protest led by "indigenous dancers," "colorful puppets," and picketers wielding anti-ICE signs.
MPLS Magazine credits MIRAC for gifting food cards "to help get groceries and necessities to families forced into hiding, parents kept away from work[,] and kids from school."
“Stay in the streets," MIRAC co-founder Erika Zurawski told Minnesota Public Radio. "Stay out there to make sure that federal agents know that we are not afraid of them. What we need now is we need people power.”
Zurawski is a professional protester whose arrest records date back to at least 2018, when she organized a sit in at ICE's office in the Minneapolis Whipple Federal Building. "Today we declared ‘no more deportations’ in Minnesota, and we’ll keep fighting until there’s legalization and full equality for all," she boasted.
Last May, she blasted Gov. Tim Walz (D) for rejecting a measure to expand the state's health insurance program, MinnesotaCare, to cover illegal aliens. She's called the U.S. immigration court system a "terror" and even accused the Biden administration of promoting "racist and repressive anti-immigrant policies."
Erika Zurawski, professional agitator
“We will continue to come out and we won’t let anyone be taken quietly," she said last June during an earlier deportation operation.
Zurawski's LinkedIn profile lists her as "self-employed."
Her ties to pro-Palestine militants run deep. One week after the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks, Zurawski joined a protest demanding the U.S. cease selling weapons to Israel. "Weapons equals war equals migration," she said.
"There is no crisis at the border. There is no crisis of migration. The only thing that is a crisis is imperialism . . . We say that people have a right to remain in their homeland. We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people. And we say that Palestinians have a right to resist by any means necessary and have a right to return to their homeland by any means necessary."
MIRAC's other co-founder is Brad Sigal, a member of the defunct 1990s group Student Liberation Action Movement (SLAM) and Freedom Road Socialist Organization, a Maoist group "building a new communist party based on Marxism-Leninism." As InfluenceWatch explains, "while the organization encouraged voters in swing districts to support Democratic Party candidates," it prefers "direct action and a struggle in the streets as a means of acquiring power."
In 2020, Sigal visited Venezuela to attend Communist Hugo Chavez's World Anti-Imperialist Congress to advance the "struggle against U.S. imperialism." Sigal told the Venezuelan press that he hoped it would inspire "anti-imperialist movements" back in the U.S.
Brad Sigal, MIRAC co-founder, at the 2000 World Anti-Imperialist Congress in Venezuela. Image credit: KeyWiki
Inside the Nexus
Filings show MIRAC's funding is minimal, so the organization does not file detailed IRS Form 990 disclosures. But it shares office space with multiple pro-Palestine groups, including the Anti-War Committee Education Fund, Women Against Military Madness, and the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers. Google Maps Street View shows multiple signs out front reading: "Keep Abortion Safe and Legal!" "Wage peace," "Justice for George Floyd," and "Protect Roe v Wade."
A mural on the building's face depicts an activist-generated wave crashing over a factory protected by a police officer covered in radioactive smoke.
4200 Cedar Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55407. Google Maps
A 2012 Minneapolis Star-Tribune report says the office was purchased for them by Dave Bicking, a "veteran protester" who twice ran for Minneapolis City Council on the Green Party ticket in 2005 and 2009, respectively.
Bicking, as part of a "defund the police" group, organized protests in the city after fentanyl addict George Floyd died in police custody in May 2020. His daughter, Monica Bicking, has criticized U.S. Border Patrol agents for violently arresting a protester.
Its other major tenant, Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), was founded in 1982 to protest "U.S. imperialism and involvement in wars." In practice, that means pressuring the Minnesota State Board of Investment to divest in companies "profiting from Israel's apartheid regime." It's led by Robyn Harbison, a former member of the communist group Students for a Democratic Society.
WAMM led a rally on Jan. 10 "to show solidarity with Palestine and protest U.S. foreign policy" regarding the "ongoing violence in Gaza and the West Bank."
The Minnesota Anti-War Committee, which shares that address, similarly aims to "divest Minnesota from apartheid Israel." From its website:
"NO BOOTS ON THE GROUND NO BOMBS IN THE AIR, U.S. OUT OF EVERYWHERE!
FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE!"
They're joined by another tenant: The Anti-War Committee Education Fund, which organizes protests at the Minnesota State Capitol to "free Palestine" and "stop funding domestic and international militarism."
In December 2022, these groups hosted a "Holiday Craft & Bake Sale for Social Justice" at the 4200 Cedar Ave office to "support your favorite activist organizations by getting great holiday gifts & treats!"
ICE officials have denounced rioters' efforts to "protect some of the worst criminal offenders in the world" with tacit support from Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who recently told ICE to "get the fuck out of Minneapolis."
Those arrested, per ICE, include Hernan Cortes-Valencia, an illegal alien from Mexico convicted of sexually assaulting a child; Ge Yang, a Laotian illegal alien convicted of rape and assault with a weapon; Abdirashid Adosh Elmi, a Somali illegal alien convicted of homicide; and dozens more.
(CLOSE THE BORDER: If We Don't Want Hyphenated Americans, We Should Stop Creating Them)0
