Proud Snowflake

During Donald Trump’s first term as president, his supporters, MAGA (Make America Great Again) Republicans, started calling pro-democracy folks “snowflakes.” They thought they were being clever. “Har, har, snowflakes are so fragile! They melt with a little heat. Lol!”

True, snow melts with heat, as it has been doing these past few days in Minnesota. It’s the middle of February and we’ve got temps in the high 50 degrees Fahrenheit, about 30 to 40 degrees too warm for this time of year. (But, you know, there’s no such thing as global warming.)

However, just because snowflakes melt doesn’t mean they’re not strong in their own way.

As I am fond of saying, when snowflakes band together, they can become a blizzard or an avalanche.

Minnesotans well know that you don’t mess with blizzards. While we don’t typically have avalanches of snow here (no mountains), we also respect the danger of a giant pile of snow falling off a rooftop or being kicked up by a plow.

There’s strength in the accumulation of snowflakes, something the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) didn’t count on when it sent thousands of its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to the state between December 2025 and February 2026.

Ostensibly, they were here to round up immigrants who had criminal records. The reality is these masked, unidentified agents violently kidnapped as many people as possible, whether they were immigrants or citizens who looked like immigrants or protesters or journalists, and sent many of them to hellish concentration camps outside of the state as quickly as possible, so they wouldn’t have time to get legal help. (Reports are that less than 14% of people arrested by ICE had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses. Conditions in these camps are so bad that people are dying.)

In their rampage, ICE agents murdered two Minnesotans, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and shot another in the leg, lying about what happened in all three cases. (That many of us don’t trust “border czar” Tom Homan when he announced a drawn-down of ICE agents in the state ought to be understandable, given all the lying by the Trump regime.*)

ICE agents deliberately caused car accidents. (My husband witnessed two such accidents, during which agents jumped out of their cars with guns drawn, not caring where they pointed them. Erik was in the line of fire during one of these incidents.) ICE patrolled schools, hospitals, churches, courthouses, and businesses, having no guilt about using a 5-year-old as bait to capture his father and sending both to a concentration camp. Many children, including infants, have been taken by ICE during their siege on the state. ICE agents used chemical weapons, guns, and physical violence to terrorize Minnesotans, causing thousands of families to go into hiding and many businesses to close.

The past couple of months have been incredibly stressful in Minnesota, particularly in the metro. I’ve been telling people who don’t live here that whatever they’ve seen in the news, it’s much, much worse than they imagine.

However, faced with the existential threat of ICE, we supposedly fragile Minnesota snowflakes banded together and peacefully fought back against ICE’s terror.**

• Teams of observers kept track of ICE’s movements and sounded whistles to warn neighborhoods of their presence. Whistles were made by people who had 3-D printers and wanted to help.
• Observers recorded videos of ICE activities, which has been key to debunking the lies these agents tell about their violent actions.
• We created school patrols to protect children and their parents.
• We held two general strikes and multiple protests, with the first general strike taking place in sub-zero temps. (We snowflakes can handle it!)
• We created mutual aid networks, donating food, toiletries and funds to help feed our neighbors in hiding, pay rent, and provide legal support.
• We compiled and shared lists of resources far and wide. (Here is one from the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and another from the Minnesota State Bar Association.
• We created art and music and so very many protest signs to increase solidarity. We even used music to keep ICE agents awake at night.
• We boycotted businesses that support ICE (I’m looking at you, Target, Hilton, and Home Depot) and spent our money at local, immigrant-run restaurants and stores that haven’t capitulated to Trump.
• And we’ve written and called our legislators too many times to count.

If you want to call me a snowflake for helping my neighbors and for standing up for democracy, I am proud to be a snowflake. 🙂

*When ICE leaves Minnesota, its agents will be sent elsewhere to terrorize immigrants and whoever crosses the Trump regime by exercising their civil rights and standing up for the rule of law. Be prepared to help the people in your community if they are targeted. Be creative in pushing back against ICE, which constantly changed tactics in Minnesota. Try to get a state law in place that requires ICE agents to wear identification (badge numbers, names) and bars them from wearing masks. They are using anonymity so they can be violent without consequences.

**It is not lost on me that snowflakes have gone up against ICE, but most ICE agents didn’t seem to have the true fortitude to deal with Minnesota’s weather.

Addendum – February 18, 2026

After I published this post, a friend of mine, Joan, shared a meme she created that perfectly expresses the power of snowflakes that have banded together. She said I could share it. (Thanks, Joan!)