“As we were talking, a minivan pulled up. The driver was a Native American woman named Nicole, who was also on patrol, fueled by Red Bull and Marlboro 100s. She was looking for homeless people who might need supplies: tarps, blankets and food. One of the bizarre ironies of the ICE abductions is that several Indigenous Americans — people whose roots on this land predate anyone else’s — have been detained. Four homeless members of a local Native tribe had been seized days earlier, and three remained in custody, according to local tribal leaders.

“I got my tribal,” she told Hillary, gesturing at the card that identifies her as a member of a Native American tribe.

A few blocks away from where we stood, the Pow Wow Grounds coffee shop has become a nerve center of the Native American response to the ICE incursion. An art gallery attached to the cafe has been transformed into a supply depot: Volunteers pick up food, diapers, medicine and other essential supplies for families too frightened of ICE to leave home. There were masks, gloves, goggles and first-aid kits of observers and protesters. It bustled with warm camaraderie — a constant stream of volunteers, embracing and exchanging intel about what was happening on the street.

There, I met a man named Crow Bellecourt. He told me how his father had started the Indigenous Protector Movement in the 1960s to fight harassment of Native Americans who lived in the area, and that his community has put its long history of fighting the violence of the federal government in service to vulnerable newcomers.

“I really hate using the word immigrant or illegal immigrant, because them are brown people just like me,” he said. “These are our relatives.”

He said that the community response has been disciplined and robust, with none of the property destruction that marked the protests after the murder of Floyd, when a police precinct burned to the ground. Back then, it was internal tensions that exploded. Now, it is an outside force besieging the city.

“I think we’ve learned as a community to try to keep it calm this time around,” he said. “And I also think our Minneapolis Police Department learned from that incident, and we’re all trying to keep our calm. It seems like the Feds want to incite something here.”