Call to Action:
The Testimonies of ICE Resistance Story Quilt
Note: This quilt follows an open, improvisational structure, where each panel stands as its own testimony and the whole becomes a shared record of lived experience.
A Collective Quilt of Witness & Resistance
The Testimonies of ICE Resistance Story Quilt is a collaborative, improvisational quilt composed of individual panels created in response to Operation Metro Surge and its impact on individuals, families, and communities.
Each panel stands as its own testimony. Together, they form a shared record of lived experience.
This project gathers stories shaped by fear, vigilance, care, anger, grief, solidarity, and refusal. Through fabric, contributors create a public archive of what might otherwise remain dispersed or silenced.
A Collective Quilt
of
Witness & Resistance
Why This Work Matters
Operation Metro Surge has altered how communities move, gather, and care for one another. Increased enforcement activity and visible federal presence have reshaped daily routines, public space, and the atmosphere of trust within neighborhoods. These shifts are lived realities, not abstractions.
Families weigh ordinary decisions differently. Children attend school via video link rather than in person. Parents reconsider familiar routes, routines, and public spaces.
Community gatherings carry new calculations. Who is present? Who is watching? What feels safe today may not feel safe tomorrow. Conversations that once felt routine may now feel cautious or monitored.
The emotional landscape has shifted alongside the physical one. Vigilance becomes habitual. Absence becomes noticeable. Care becomes quieter, more deliberate, and sometimes more hidden.
The Testimonies of ICE Resistance Story Quilt offers a form that can hold these realities collectively. It transforms individual response into shared witness. Rather than allowing testimony to remain fragmented or private, it binds separate experiences into a visible record.
In moments when speech can feel risky or dispersed, fabric becomes a durable surface for memory, grief, refusal, and care.
How It Works
The quilt is composed of individual 10″ × 10″ (25.4 × 25.4 cm) finished panels created by contributors.
Each panel is reviewed prior to approval.
Approved panels are assembled into one or more large-scale quilts.
Full technical requirements, materials guidance, and submission instructions are available on the Specifications page.
How It Works
Who Can Participate
Participants from Minnesota and elsewhere are invited to contribute.
This includes:
- Individuals directly affected by Operation Metro Surge
- Family members and community members
- Minnesotans living far from home
- Contributors anywhere in the world, regardless of their association with Minnesota.
- Those who choose to stand in solidarity
Whether directly impacted, or responding in support, each contribution becomes part of a broader record of resistance and care.
Privacy & Safe-guarding
Privacy & Safeguarding
Contributors may choose to participate anonymously.
Mailing addresses are not posted publicly.
Submission details are shared privately after review.
All contributions are reviewed prior to inclusion.
Given the current political climate, safeguarding contributors and organizers is a central priority.
Full participation and privacy details are outlined in the Submission Guidelines.
Add Your Voice
This quilt will only come into being through the hands and care of many people.
Whether you are an experienced quilter, a beginner stitching your first square, or someone making a single panel as an act of solidarity, your contribution matters.
Sew one block or many.
Stitch alone or with others.
Participate from Minnesota, the UK, or anywhere in the world.