National Latino philanthropy group channels funding to Minnesotans impacted by ICE

NINA MOINI: I'm Nina Moini. Thank you for joining us on Minnesota Now.

A national Latino philanthropy organization created a new fund to support Latino communities in states that are experiencing a heavy immigration enforcement presence. Its first focus is in Minnesota. Christian Arana is the Vice President of Civic Power and Policy with the Latino Community Foundation. It's based in California. He recently visited Minnesota to help oversee distribution of the new fund, and he's with us now to tell us more.

Thanks for being with us, Christian.

CHRISTIAN ARANA: Thank you for having me, Nina.

NINA MOINI: Your foundation launched what it's calling a national community protection fund. Why did you decide a national relief fund was necessary at this moment?

CHRISTIAN ARANA: Well, yeah, thank you for the question. Thank you for having me on. I think what we're seeing on TV right now, in regards to immigration enforcement all across our country, necessitated us to launch this fund. We saw in Minnesota, the deaths of two American citizens in Renee Good and Alex Pretti. And we felt that if we didn't stand up to address this moment that this was going to continue not just in Minnesota, but across the country.

NINA MOINI: So are you based in California? Because I am curious, know what your perception was when you came here to Minnesota and saw what was going on around immigration enforcement, how it compares to what had been going on in your state.

CHRISTIAN ARANA: Yeah, so I am based in California. I live in Los Angeles, and we ourselves experienced this immigration dragnet in our city last summer. When I visited Minnesota and specifically the Twin Cities in January, what I experienced was something next level. I thought things were bad in Los Angeles, but in the Twin Cities, it just felt eerie to me. It felt like ICE was on every single corner. At least in Los Angeles, there was immigration enforcement in various parts of the city. But when I visited Minnesota, it eerily felt that I was being watched on every corner in the city, and I had never experienced anything like that before.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, obviously the population is, smaller here than in LA or in California. But I wonder about some of these themes of the ripple effects that you were seeing-- rent money, legal protection. What are you hoping to support Minnesotans through this fund?

CHRISTIAN ARANA: Yeah. So two things. Number one, we got to continue to hold ICE accountable. They got $75 billion last year in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. And groups like COPAL, who we invested in Minneapolis, they are training more constitutional observers. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem literally said yesterday that 650 agents remained in Minnesota. So as far as I'm concerned, this is still a state, and specifically the Twin Cities, under occupation.

The second part is supporting impacted families by this immigration enforcement. So we're supporting families that are too afraid to go to work, children that are too afraid to go to school, Latino small business owners. I had a chance to visit a couple of the Latino business corridors in the Twin Cities, and it was a ghost town.

And so as far as I'm concerned, if ICE is going to continue to have a presence in Minnesota and specifically the Twin Cities, there's going to have to be a continued need to support these communities that are being impacted by this immigration enforcement.

NINA MOINI: You mentioned COPAL and other community organizations here that have been doing a lot of the work on the ground, really in a grassroots way, and with some of the connections that had already been formed over time, just in that space of work. What other types of organizations are you engaging with to make sure that any funds go where they need to go and also, in a timely manner?

CHRISTIAN ARANA: Yeah. So one of the organizations that we're also partnering up with over in Saint Paul is the Latino Economic Development Center. So as soon as these raids began, they actually set up a relief fund for small business owners that have been impacted by this. When I had an opportunity to visit Minneapolis, it took a while to actually find a place to go get something to eat, because most places were closed down because either people were just too afraid to go or workers didn't want to come. And so, as I mentioned, if ICE is going to continue to have a presence in the community, how are we making sure that Latino small business owners are still able to operate in the midst of this continued immigration enforcement?

NINA MOINI: I think a lot of people wonder about the Latino community here in Minnesota. Obviously, strong and doing their own work. But to have support from other cities where there's an even greater population and history, longer history, I wonder what that interaction is like going to other states and coming in and maybe trying to let them they have support, or how do you see that relationship on a human level?

CHRISTIAN ARANA: Yeah. So that's a great question. As you mentioned at the very top of this interview, we launched this national fund. Historically, we were just a California-based foundation. And so the reason why we wanted to do national and the reason why we wanted to invest at the outset in Minnesota is because what we were witnessing in real time was a community and people just standing up to the overreach of the federal government.

If those people were not successful in beating back the draconian immigration enforcement of the Trump administration, they were going to continue in city after city after America. And even though they continue to have a presence, I think, there are some several victories that the people of Minnesota definitely deserve a lot of credit for.

The Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino is literally out of town now. You were able to reduce the number of agents in the state. And not to mention, just the incredible amount of organizing and mobilization that has happened. Those are real, tangible victories that we owe the people of Minnesota for. And so depending on where the federal government goes next, it's just important that we're supporting community after community across this country. Because unfortunately, so many people in this country are asking themselves, am I next?

NINA MOINI: And to your point about communication with other cities and what might happen next, we've talked about this a little bit. So much community support for people struggling has come from mutual aid and just everyday people volunteering their time, donation. We're in the middle of our state legislative session, where there are some bills that are being proposed, but we don't how that's going to turn out. Where is the place for philanthropy in that?

CHRISTIAN ARANA: Yeah. So philanthropy has a fundamental and very important role in this moment right now. Because what we saw in Minnesota, and what we saw in Los Angeles, and what we continue to see in communities across this country is that people are being awakened, and they want to organize and mobilize. Very rarely does that kind of work get funded, because obviously, we want to make sure that families have food, they have a house over their heads. The social services. Of course, we got to continue to support those things and actually get government to lead on that, because that is the chief responsibility of government to provide for its people.

But philanthropy can really tap into an awakened populace that want to see better changes for their community. Because once we give power back to the people to advocate on all these issues, not only do you actually address these issues, but in the long run, our democracy is strengthened, as well.

NINA MOINI: Along those lines, what do you hope people take away from this fund? Like, what is your goal for it and your hope for what it accomplishes? Is it about stabilizing? Is it about healing? Maybe both?

CHRISTIAN ARANA: Yeah. So definitely stabilizing and healing families that have been impacted by this. When I was in Minneapolis, we had a chance to visit a couple schools in the region that were affected by all these ICE raids. Even if ICE leaves Minnesota today, the generational impacts and trauma is going to be there, and they need our support.

In addition to that, what we hope to accomplish with this fund is that we finally have to hold ICE accountable. Like I mentioned, they have $75 billion to continue this kind of work. We've already seen them murder American citizens, not to mention arresting and harassing American citizens who are standing up for their immigrant neighbors. If there is no check on this government right now and the actions that they're doing, they're going to continue. And so we hope that by supporting local organizations in Minnesota, in places across the country, that we can actually move the needle on this issue and finally have a government that is responsive to the people.

NINA MOINI: Christian, thank you so much for coming on Minnesota Now and sharing about your experience. I really appreciate your time.

CHRISTIAN ARANA: Thank you so much.

NINA MOINI: That's Christian Arana, Vice President of Civic Power and Policy with the national group, the Latino Community Foundation.