How the whistle became an anti-ICE rallying cry in Minneapolis

Zoë Jackson, Star Tribune on Jan 21, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — The ICE operations on Minneapolis street corners are often heard before they are seen, as protesters and local residents fill the air with the piercing sound of whistles.

Activists, observers and other concerned residents are using the omnipresent whistles to bring attention to the scene of raids and other ICE activity, as the Trump administration carries out what it’s called the largest federal immigration enforcement effort ever.

At Minneapolis City Hall, state and city lawmakers, including City Council President Elliott Payne and state Sen. Doron Clark, wore bright red whistles around their necks during a news conference last week about ICE’s operations in the city, a sign that the whistle had been adopted as the symbol of resistance to the federal operation.

The use of whistles came out of similar immigration enforcement efforts in Chicago and Los Angeles last year. In Chicago, whistles seemed to de-escalate some situations or motivate agents to leave a scene, according to WBEZ Chicago.

Now, whistles have spread across the Twin Cities through 3D printer files and local businesses.

Since December, women’s sports pub A Bar of Their Own in the Seward neighborhood has handed out more than 1,500 whistles, with half of that number going out in just the past couple of weeks, said owner Jillian Hiscock.

“I have one on every key chain I have,” she said. “People want to help, and they want to do what they can. I think a lot of people feel really helpless right now ... and it’s a low-barrier way of stepping up and showing support for our community.”

Social media has been flooded with questions about where to find whistles since the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

The form of protest has become widespread enough to get on the radar of the federal government. Trained officers who face “rioting, doxxing and physical attacks” are not afraid of whistles and loud noises, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to the Minnesota Star Tribune.

“Your whistles won’t stop or hinder ICE,” the agency posted to X.

Physically intervening with ICE activity or obstructing justice is illegal. But whistles are considered a protected form of free speech.

“Bystanders certainly can make noise, blow whistles and alert presence,” attorney Tracy Roy told the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Last week, A Bar of Their Own put out a call for its stock to be replenished. Quickly, community members responded, with more than 2,000 whistles pledged to arrive.

Victoria Ford, owner of Minneapolis bookstore Comma, said whistles “seemed like a good fit to take advantage of what we have to help,” given the shop’s space and regular hours.

In addition to being a tool for potential observers, a lot of parents have come into the store to pick up whistles for kids who might feel the need for some form of protection going to school, Ford said.

In one day alone, Comma might pass out 300 whistles. Ford’s shop has several whistle designs on hand, along with zines by Chicago artists that have popped up around the Twin Cities. Those zines, with an image of a whistle and the words “Form a crowd stay loud,” have been packaged with whistles with help from the community group @mspwhistles on Instagram.

After Good was killed, Zack, a Minneapolis hobbyist printer who declined to give his last name out of privacy concerns, went to the scene with his camera. He left East 34th Street and Portland Avenue wanting to do more and went home to turn on his 3D printer. Since then, he’s made nearly 400 whistles, which he shared with Smitten Kitten on Lyndale.

Sometimes Hiscock hears people worry about getting the whistling pattern wrong or not doing something right.

“People laugh about it being a whistle and it feeling silly, but we’ve seen time and time again the power that they have in not only notifying folks but creating distraction and helping folks hopefully get to safety,” Hiscock said.

For some Twin Cities residents, having a whistle on hand if they encounter ICE feels like an approachable first step as they learn about more ways to get involved, Ford said. But that doesn’t make it easy.

“Picking up a whistle is easy, but using it is not,” Ford said. “It’s putting yourself out there.”

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