In the late 1960’s, The Henry Benjamin Whipple Federal Building was named to honor the legacy of the first Episcopal Bishop of Minnesota who was an advocate for Native American Dakota peoples. Today, the Whipple Federal Building holds a regional “deportation machine.” Inside are the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Immigration courts separate families, ICE raids and arrests are planned and executed in our communities, and immigrants are sorted for detention in five Minnesota county jails that operate as immigrant detention centers.
On Oct. 29, the Episcopal Church in Minnesota, ICOM and the Minnesota Council of Churches called for the General Services Administration to remove DHS and ICE from the building or to remove Bishop Whipple’s name from the building’s façade. This event also served as the launch for a joint movement to designate Minnesota a Sanctuary State.
Check out the press coverage of the Oct. 29 vigil and press conference for the “What Would Whipple Do?” campaign.
wccoradio.radio.com/articles/news/protesters-call-whipple-building-name-change