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Christina Buttons Profile picture
@buttonslives
Feb 10 • 7 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X
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Minneapolis – Following a Jan. 17 counterprotest to a march led by @JakeLang, members of the Defend the 612 ICE Watch Signal network shared an image claiming involvement in physical confrontations during the event. Details in thread. ⬇️
In the lead-up to the event, Signal chats associated with the group discussed defensive strategies and rejected nonvioIence as the only approach. Image
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I was removed from two Signal groups after advocating for nonvioIent protest only. Image
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After the event, chat participants circulated images related to the confrontations and described the outcome in positive terms for their side. Image
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A few days later, members of Defend the 612’s Signal network tied to the “self-defense action” shared a jargon-heavy write-up that defended the use of force. somaliweynleague.substack.com/p/summation-of…Image
Screenshot claiming responsibility for counterprotest actions, Jan 2026. Image
Read more about how Minneapolis’s ICE Watch Signal network planned and celebrated these activties in my investigation for @CityJournal: city-journal.org/article/minnea…

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More from @buttonslives

Christina Buttons Profile picture
Feb 9
It’s not ICE’s fault immigrants aren't showing up to work.

Activists in the “Defend the 612” ICE Watch Signal network are providing groceries and rent assistance, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars so undocumented immigrants can stay home and avoid contact with ICE. Image
A fundraiser for immigrants in the Central neighborhood of Minneapolis raised $340,000 last month, enabling them to avoid ICE detection by staying home.
gofundme.com/f/critical-ren…

In South Mpls: $200,000.
givebutter.com/H6lQkA

There's more fundraisers in each neighborhood.
Across the Defend the 612 Signal ICE Watch network, there are “mutual aid” groups in each neighborhood.

They provide groceries and supplies and even vet care delivered to undocumented immigrants’ homes. They also arrange transportation and funds to pay rent. Image
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Read 14 tweets
Christina Buttons Profile picture
Feb 6
MINNEAPOLIS — After a Jan. 17 counterprotest to Jake Lang’s march, members of Defend the 612’s Signal ICE Watch network shared this image, taking credit for the assault and calling it a “testament to the violence the masses applied against this reactionary march.”Image
In the days before the event, the same Signal ICE Watch chats laid out plans for a “defensive counteraction,” posted graphics including an image depicting a bloody, hanging Klansman, and issued tactical guidance instructing participants to mask up, wear goggles, and avoid filming or documenting attendees.

Additional graphics dismissed the claim that “nonviolence is the only strategy” as false.Image
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My pseudonymous account was removed from two Signal groups after I advocated for a nonviolent protest and argued that no one should be assaulted for their speech. Members defended the use of violent tactics by citing “St. Paul’s Principles.” Image
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Read 7 tweets
Christina Buttons Profile picture
Feb 4
Minneapolis’s ICE watch network is not just “monitoring” ICE activity. Internal Signal chats explicitly describe their media work as propaganda and discuss controlling narratives and managing journalists.

While undercover in the Defend the 612 network, I accessed a vetted channel called “Central communications,” created for “external narrative-shaping strategy.” 🧵Image
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On January 13, trans activist Elle Neubauer, using the handle “princess (she/her/fae/faer),” described allowing Madison McVan of the Minnesota Reformer to accompany him on a ride-along while following ICE by car. minnesotareformer.com/2026/01/13/in-…Image
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Neubauer claimed the reporter gave activists editorial control over the article, writing, “they gave us final say over the story. They read most of it aloud to us line by line last night, and we asked for changes. If we told them to pull the story they would have.”

He added that the journalists were “extremely up front and down for any changes asked.”Image
Read 6 tweets
Christina Buttons Profile picture
Feb 3
I joined an ICE watch training held by Defend the 612 organizers in Minneapolis on January 8, before they began taking additional steps to conceal their identities and activities.

In the training, organizers described their goal as impeding ICE operations. They downplayed risks, delegitimized law enforcement, and encouraged participants to take risks. 🧵Image
Defend the 612 used Renee Good’s death as a recruitment opportunity. On the evening of January 7, they advertised an “emergency vigil” for Good, where fliers were distributed directing attendees to sign up for ICE watch on their website. Image
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This recruitment appeared to work. Andrew Fahlstrom, who led the January 8 training, is a longtime activist with the tenant organizing group Inquilinx Unidx Por Justicia (IX) and treasurer of Sky Without Limits.

He said the group had gained 1,000 new signups and stated that the purpose of the meeting was to “grow the number of people on the streets.”
Read 14 tweets
Christina Buttons Profile picture
Feb 3
Minneapolis’s “ICE watch” network did not arise organically. My 3.5-week investigation for @CityJournal found that a well-funded group of professional activists implemented the operation, deploying a model now being used in cities across the US. 🧵 Image
“Defend the 612” purports to be a spontaneous community effort merely filming ICE. My investigation shows it was organized with professional help. Its Signal networks are used to coordinate the hiding of illegal aliens, develop a media “propaganda” strategy, and plan violent protests, while its trainings push civilians toward dangerous confrontations.
Jill Garvey is the architect of this strategy. She pioneered the ICE watch model in 2017 with a Chicago group called Protect RP. In 2024, she co-founded States at the Core (STAC), which turned this model into a national strategy in early 2025.
Read 12 tweets
Christina Buttons Profile picture
Oct 17, 2025
Some of the most interesting research-based findings and insights from my new @CityJournal piece on the left’s depraved celebratory reactions to Charlie Kirk’s murder 🧵 Image
Post analysis:

Across all platforms, there were posts and comments that celebrated, mocked, or justified the murder.

Many of the explicitly celebratory posts were concentrated on TikTok, where people filmed their reactions; some drew hundreds of thousands of likes before being removed for violating rules against celebrating violence.

On Instagram and Blue$ky, the most common posts used false or context-stripped quotes attributed to Kirk, paired with sentiments implying he hated minorities and thus deserved what happened and shouldn’t be mourned. These drew hundreds of thousands of likes and shares.

TikTok and Instagram Reels also had a large volume of one-minute mashups of out-of-context Kirk quotes, carrying the same sentiment.

Taken together across these posts and platforms, millions engaged with them in agreement.Image
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Cognitive shortcuts:

Bandwagon effect: Believing something because others believe it. A large number of likes and shares on a post suggests many have vetted and endorsed the message; when that number is high enough, the post feels almost certainly true.

Illusory truth effect: As platform algorithms push similar posts, repetition makes users more likely to accept a claim as true simply because it is repeated.

Confirmation bias: When a post’s message aligns with a user’s worldview, they are less likely to question it or seek out opposing information.
Read 9 tweets

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