The National Association of Community Health Workers (NACHW) stands in solidarity with the people of Minneapolis and communities across Minnesota impacted by Operation Metro Surge, an unprecedented federal immigration enforcement operation. Recent enforcement actions in the Twin Cities have resulted in multiple incidents of violence, including the deaths of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Linda Davis, and the serious wounding of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis. These events have shaken public trust, intensified community grief, and renewed urgent calls for transparency and accountability.
As Community Health Workers, we witness how fear, trauma, and violence directly undermine health and access to care—especially for Black, Indigenous, immigrant, and other historically marginalized communities. We reject policies and practices that terrorize families, disrupt daily life, and erode well-being under the guise of public safety. Our values — self-empowerment, self-determination, unity, integrity, dignity and respect, and social justice and equity — guide our work and our response in this moment. As we fulfill our mission to unify Community Health Workers across geography, ethnicity, sector, and lived experience, we affirm that health, safety, and justice are inseparable and that every person deserves to live and thrive without fear.
NACHW calls for full transparency, independent investigations, and accountability in all use-of-force incidents involving federal agents. We urge community-centered approaches to public safety that affirm the leadership of immigrant and BIPOC communities; expanded supports for healing and mental well-being; safe, inclusive policies that protect families rather than criminalize them; and an end to aggressive enforcement operations that harm civilian lives.
We stand with Minneapolis, we stand with Minnesota, and we stand by our belief that all people have the fundamental rights to live, work, and thrive without fear.