Poetry, music and snow sculptures: Minneapolis artists honor 'victims of ICE'
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“You're new here. What part of town? Oh, you'll like it. Lots of writers there, and you'll seem so safe.”
Those are the closing lines of a poem that Ojibwe poet Heid E. Erdrich wrote as a tribute to Renee Macklin Good. The poem imagines a conversation between Macklin Good and Erdrich as if they had met as fellow Minneapolis poets attending a poetry reading.
Erdrich debuted her poem at dusk on Saturday to about 200 people. She shared it after she read one of Macklin Good’s own poems as part of a candlelit “ICE Out for Good” vigil Erdrich helped organize for “victims of ICE.”
Next to Erdrich rose a snow sculpture carved to look like Macklin Good’s face, with a steel plate over her mouth and a blindfold over her eyes. On the back of the sculpture, many hands spell “ICE Out 4 Good” in American Sign Language.
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ASL and English weren’t the only languages represented Saturday night. People shouted, “ICE out for good!” in Dakota, Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew, Somali and Gujarati. Erdrich herself taught the crowd to say the phrase in Anishinaabemowin, or Ojibwe.
Snow sculptors have also created a memorial wall etched with names of 15 people who have died in ICE custody or who have been killed by ICE agents nationwide, including the names of Macklin Good and Alex Pretti.
Both sculptures stand on John Larsen’s lawn, facing Lake of the Isles. Larsen offered his property to the artists after other anti-ICE sculptures they made for two sculpting competitions in January were destroyed.
Larsen said it’s an honor to host the sculptures. He said forces are trying to divide Minnesotans and make them feel alone. “We are not. We are one,” Larsen said.
“I have never been more proud to be a Minnesotan in my life,” Larsen stated emphatically.
Heather Friedli, a professional snow sculptor who helped organize the vigil, said she felt compelled as an artist to respond to ICE’s presence in Minnesota and honor the lives of Pretti, Macklin Good and “all the Black, brown, BIPOC people who are getting caught up in this vicious web of the federal government's fascist takeover of our cities.”
Dusty Thune, another snow sculptor, agreed.
“Those protesters who gave everything, we want them to live on forever through this as a call to arms to future generations to never sit down, always stand up, say something and do something,” said Thune.
This vigil, held by Erdrich, Larsen and a group of snow sculptors, coincided with this year’s Luminary Loppet across the lake from the vigil. People walked, pulled children in sleds or skied around the frozen lake to enjoy candlelit ice sculptures, food and music. Some people wore pins saying things like “De-ICE Minnesota” and “Be Good.”
Sarah Spiegle, 39, has been attending the Luminary Loppet for years and said she was determined to come this year, too. She said enjoying an event featuring nature’s ice felt “weird” with “ICE in our city.” But she added that enjoying the beauty of Minneapolis in the winter, “actually gives us strength to be able to fight what's happening and give back to our community, because it's given so much to us.”
Among the ice sculptures on display for the event were a set of portraits of Macklin Good and Pretti carved into slabs of ice with the word “remember” inscribed at the top of each slab.
Anna Ostroushko attended the luminary walk for the first time. Ostroushko now lives near Stillwater, but she was raised in Minneapolis.
“It feels so wonderful to be out in community and to do something that is centered around light and being together,” Ostroushko said.
She said it’s been difficult to watch what’s been happening in her city from afar and is glad to have an excuse to come home to Minneapolis.
“I feel the humanity here tonight.”
Correction (Feb. 10, 2026): This story has been updated to list the correct name of a singer who performed at the vigil.
