As the Minneapolis and St. Paul area was inundated with federal immigration agents using deadly force, Anabaptists have worked to respond in love to support their neighbors and each other.

Members of Mennonite congregations began strategizing and organizing already in December when ICE activity increased. Joan Kreider, a retired attender of Faith Mennonite Church in Minneapolis, wrote Jan. 22 on Mennonite Action’s website about how she began driving three boys to and from school on Dec. 11 to limit potential exposure to ICE. They lived in the same neighborhood where Renee Good would be shot to death three weeks later on Jan. 7 in her vehicle by ICE agents.

When ICE’s operations ramped up dramatically in early January, Kreider was grateful for the opportunity to help families in a tangible way. On Jan. 7 she heard about Good’s death before picking up the boys from school.

“I arrived about 15 minutes after ICE agents had left,” she wrote. “They had shown up at the front entrance of the school, attacked students and teachers, deploying tear gas and pepper spray indiscriminately, and had taken an employee and protesters into custody. …

“We were encouraged to petition the school board to close schools to deescalate tensions, which was ultimately successful. At-risk students are now allowed to attend class virtually. I am assured by their parents that the boys are doing OK, but I know the trauma is ongoing.”

Kreider said Mennonites in the Twin Cities have been empowered by the support of friends, family and strangers around the world, and noted the reassurance she felt to participate in a Mennonite Action online gathering in which people from Los Angeles and Chicago shared their experiences of “ICE occupations.”

“In the midst of all of it, I’ve realized what we are called to do is something quite small and quiet,” she wrote. “Just deliver food, accompany someone to work, give money, be ready and resilient for whatever lies ahead. . . .

“I personally am immensely grateful to those individuals who have taken on the brave work of following ICE vehicles, documenting their actions at great personal risk. Only by bringing all this illegal and immoral activity to light will there be a possibility of ending it. As a community, we try to remind ourselves that every small act of resistance, every small act of kindness, every small encouragement, creates ripples of energy and hope that spread and grow.”

Two days later, intensive care nurse Alex Pretti was shot multiple times and killed by ICE agents after he stepped between them and a woman they pushed to the ground.

Faith Mennonite Church shared in a Facebook post about hosting a song vigil that evening in solidarity with other vigils “to flood our cities with song tonight to hold our collective grief.”

Pastor Caleb Yoder said Faith Mennonite recognizes a vision of God’s reconciliation starts in the congregation.

“We seek to live out an alternative in our congregational life, but our witness is not limited just to our congregational life; it also extends out into the street,” he said. “… We can’t separate a relationship with Christ and a desire to follow Christ from a call to be in solidarity with the folks in our communities that are suffering and in pain and are vulnerable.”

Members of the congregation grieved the death of Renee Good the weekend of Jan. 11 at a mass vigil outside the Minnesota Capitol and came together at the church the same weekend to make six quilts for Mennonite Central Committee, “sending goodness and love out into the world.”

“One thing that is true in our city — and I think this goes back to George Floyd and other eras — is that there’s so much neighborhood organization,” Yoder said. “There are so many ways to plug in that we don’t really need to reinvent the wheel. Of course we do value our unique Mennonite witness and we want to be involved as Mennonites, but we don’t necessarily need to create from the ground up a new program. People don’t all live in the same neighborhoods. People plug into neighborhood groups that are close to them and they plug in in ways that make sense, such as volunteering through food distribution networks and school networks that pair families.”

Minneapolis and St. Paul are home to five Mennonite Church USA congregations. The denomination renounced indifference toward mistreatment of asylum seekers and immigrants in a Jan. 27 statement that called for peacemaking and God’s reconciling mission.

“The current administration has not moved toward greater discipline or accountability for the agents under its authority,” stated MC USA. “Instead, officials have offered explanations for the deaths that lack thorough investigation and appear to conflict with available video documentation.

“The deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, as well as others, serve as yet another wake-up call for every follower of Jesus, that our commitment to peacemaking cannot wait.”

MC USA called on congregations and members to provide sanctuary and support in alignment with the denomination’s values of loving neighbors and welcoming strangers “to neighbors facing deportation or government-intimidation,” contribute to MC USA’s Justice Fund to support families of those affected by federal enforcement actions, advocate to federal political representatives for policy reform that prioritizes human rights and restorative justice over militarized policing, and participation in nonviolent witness, vigils and peaceful demonstrations for immigration justice.

“I would really encourage folks that are not in Minneapolis, if you have a contact of someone who lives here, reach out and offer support,” said Yoder, “and also seek stories that are firsthand without only relying on media sources, especially sources that are amplifying inaccuracies or misleading narratives.”