Peter Digitale Anderson, the executive director at Peace Catalyst International, recently came to New Hampshire to share with us the lessons learned as Minnesota continues to resist ICE.
He told us when federal immigration enforcement descended on the city, it didn’t happen in a vacuum. It followed a familiar pattern: escalate rhetoric, target vulnerable communities, flood a region with agents and control the narrative. What happened next, however, offers a powerful lesson, not just in resistance, but in preparation.
Minnesota didn’t just react. They anticipated.
Months before large-scale operations began, communities organized. They trained neighbors. They built rapid response networks. They strengthened relationships between faith leaders, labor groups, immigrant advocates and residents. So when ICE arrived, they weren’t facing isolated individuals, they were facing an ecosystem of resistance.
And that made all the difference.
What unfolded in the Twin Cities was not just protest, it was coordination at scale. Neighbors tracked ICE activity. Lawyers, including the ACLU, mobilized immediately. Communities raised funds to keep families housed. Schools, clergy and volunteers stepped in to protect children and provide care. Tens of thousands took to the streets, but just as importantly, tens of thousands more played quieter roles, driving, documenting, organizing, feeding, donating funds and supporting.
The result? Federal overreach was exposed. Narratives broke down under the weight of video evidence and lived experience. Public pressure forced a drawdown in operations. Minnesota didn’t “win” in the traditional sense, families were still torn apart, but they proved something critical: organized communities can push back.
New Hampshire should be paying very close attention.
Because the same playbook is already visible. We’ve seen the rhetoric that paints immigrants as criminals. We’ve seen efforts to pressure local cooperation with federal enforcement. We’ve seen attempts to divide communities and silence dissent.
The question isn’t whether this could happen here. It’s whether we will be ready if it does.
Minnesota teaches us that readiness starts long before the first raid. It means building trust across communities now, not later. It means creating networks where information can move quickly and safely. It means training people in their rights and in nonviolent ways to respond. It means ensuring there is legal infrastructure in place before it’s urgently needed.
It also means telling the truth, clearly and relentlessly.
In Minnesota, one of the most powerful tools wasn’t a protest sign. It was a phone camera. It was neighbors documenting what they saw and refusing to let false narratives stand unchallenged. “Believe your eyes, not the lies” became more than a slogan, it became a strategy.
That matters here in New Hampshire, where misinformation can spread quickly, and quietly shape public opinion.
But perhaps the most important lesson is this: there is a role for everyone.
Not everyone will stand in the street and they shouldn’t have to. Effective resistance, and more importantly effective community protection, depends on a wide range of participation. From mutual aid to legal support, from organizing to storytelling, from elected officials to everyday neighbors, this work belongs to all of us.
And it must start with our values.
New Hampshire has its own deep traditions, of local control, of community responsibility, of looking out for your neighbors. If those values mean anything, they must extend to everyone who calls our communities home.
The lesson from Minnesota is not just about resistance. It’s about what becomes possible when people act together, early and with purpose.
We don’t need to wait for a crisis to begin. We just need to decide that we will be ready.
Rep. Wendy Thomas represents the town of Merrimack.