Who’s funding the aggressive anti-ICE tactics used by activists like Renee Nicole Good?
Renee Nicole Good, the activist shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis last week after the vehicle she was operating made contact with the agent, appears to have been following aggressive tactics promoted by the leftist-funded organizing group Defend the 612.
Good, 37, had joined ICE Watch, a loose network of activists tracking and aiming to disrupt ICE activities, after discovering the network through her son’s charter school, The New York Post reported.
“MN ICE Watch,” an Instagram page, shared screenshots from a “de-arrest” primer, which gives agitators advice on how to prevent law enforcement officers from taking someone into custody.
The primer also appears on a list of “MN Community Response Resources” published by Defend the 612, a group that organizes “ICE Watch” activities. The resources page also recommends a tactic of “following ICE vehicles while honking and blowing on whistles when they are sighted,” aiming to create “traffic jams and slowdowns.”
While the ICE Watch groups appear to be loosely organized, some of the Left’s dark money nonprofits appear to have bankrolled a nonprofit that has organized a fundraiser for Defend the 612.
“Interfering with federal law enforcement is a crime,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Daily Signal in a statement Monday. “Anyone who interferes with law enforcement—thus committing a crime—will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
De-Arrest Primer
The “de-arrest” primer’s aggressive tactics have gained attention online.
“A de-arrest, aka an unarrest, is the act of freeing someone who has been seized by Law Enforcement Officers,” the primer states. “A de-arrest can look like physically removing an arrestee from LEOs’ grips, opening the door of a car, or pressuring LEOs to release and arrestee.”
The primer recommends hugging an arrestee with a secure grip; “pulling and pushing an officer off of an arrestee;” opening a car door to let the arrestee go free; and pressuring law enforcement to release arrestees by “totally surrounding the officers who have the arrestee or otherwise blocking them and/or their vehicle.”
The document celebrates a “de-arrest” as “a ‘shaking off’ which is to say each one is a micro-intifada which can spread and inspire others until we may finally shake off this noxious ruling order all together.”
“Intifada” refers to the violent resistance of Arabs living in Israel against the Jewish state, particularly during the periods 1987-1993 and 2000-2005. Anti-Israel protesters chant the phrase “Globalize the Intifada,” which critics call an incitement to violence and antisemitism against Jews worldwide.
Who Funds the ‘ICE Watch’ Groups?
Defend the 612 appears to take contributions under another name, Cooperation Cannon River. The website Give Butter allows users to contribute to Defend the 612 in a fundraising campaign “organized by Cooperation Cannon River,” a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with the employer identification number 82-0852275.
Various left-wing nonprofits have contributed to Cooperation Cannon River.
MN350, a climate activist group, gave the group $75,050 in 2021 for “Camp Migizi and Land Back Project,” according to federal tax records.
The organization’s spokeswoman, Elli Anderson, told The Daily Signal in a statement Monday that the funding was for land stewardship and environmental work and was not law enforcement-related.
“MN350 is a climate justice organization focused on advancing policies and community-led solutions that address climate pollution, environmental harm, and the disproportionate impacts on communities across Minnesota,” Anderson said. “We do not organize, direct, or coordinate law enforcement–related actions, nor do we develop or distribute materials related to arrest tactics.”
“In 2021, MN350 made a grant to Cooperation Cannon River for a specific project focused on Indigenous land stewardship and community-led climate work,” Anderson added. “That support was limited to that project and does not represent oversight of, or endorsement of, the activities or materials of other organizations.”
When asked to shed light on Defend the 612 or Cooperation Cannon River, she said, “We are not able to comment on the tactics, language, or materials of organizations outside our own.”
The Solutions Project, a left-leaning nonprofit co-founded by actor Mark Ruffalo, gave Cooperation Cannon River $50,000 as part of its Fund for Frontline Power grant initiative in 2023.
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, a left-leaning grantmaker that gave $410 million in grants in 2023, gave the group $15,517 in 2023 for “general” expenses.
Amalgamated Charitable, the foundation of the union-aligned Amalgamated Bank, gave Cooperation Cannon River $10,000 for “Project Support” in 2022.
The Tides Foundation, a pass-through funder that has received millions from Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, gave $10,000 to the organization for “Sustainable Environment,” according to IRS records.
The Proteus Fund, another left-leaning pass-through funder, gave the group $10,000 for “Rights & Justice” in 2021.
The Daily Signal has no evidence these funders intended to bankroll anti-ICE activity. However, money is fungible, and while Defend the 612’s anti-ICE activity is visible online, Cooperation Cannon River’s environmental activities are more opaque.
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Amalgamated Charitable, Tides Foundation, and Proteus Fund all contributed to the left-leaning activist groups that shaped policy in President Joe Biden’s administration. None of them responded to The Daily Signal’s request for comment by publication time.
Defend the 612 did not respond to a request for comment, and The Daily Signal’s calls to the phone numbers for Cooperation Cannon River listed on the IRS forms were not answered.
[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]