Community groups are condemning local leaders for cooperating with federal agencies during "Operation Metro Surge."
Advocates, who spoke inside Hennepin County Government Center Wednesday, are calling for the immediate withdrawal of federal agents from Minnesota.
But they are also taking aim at local leaders, including Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, for negotiating with federal leaders.
Local civil rights activist Nekima Levy Armstrong says dozens of local and state leaders are failing to protect Minnesota's citizens.
"Because our elected officials unfortunately have failed us by capitulating to the Trump administration, it has resulted in the people protecting the people of the state of Minnesota having to literally put their bodies, their lives, and their livelihoods on the line," says Armstrong.
The groups say in the meantime they will continue organizing community-led "ICE watch" patrols to provide neighbor-to-neighbor protection.
The groups cite the recent deaths of two residents, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and numerous arrests at the Hennepin County Government Center as evidence of due process policies being violated.
Michelle Gross President of Communities United Against Police Brutality.
"Part of the issue with that is not only does it strip them of their due process, but it means that if there are any victims, those victims never see their day in court either," says Gross. "And that's deeply unfair."
Armstrong is also among a group of people arrested and charged by the Justice Department. She was part of a group of protesters that entered the Cities Church in St. Paul, where an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official serves as a pastor.