Jessica Costescu writes for the Washington Free Beacon about the latest dubious actions of a group funded by Minnesota taxpayers.
A “racial equity” and “restorative justice” nonprofit funded by Minnesota taxpayers is calling for donations to a new bail fund that’s helping free anti-ICE agitators and illegal immigrants detained in Minneapolis.
The Legal Rights Center, which Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison led for five years, is promoting the People’s Bail Gund of Minnesota through Know Your Rights MN, a Legal Rights Center project that provides legal information and resources for activists. The project’s website was updated Thursday to include a link to the bail fund, which only secured nonprofit status last week and is actively “accepting requests for ICE protest cases,” according to its Instagram account.
The Legal Rights Center received nearly $5.7 million—roughly two-thirds of its total revenue—in grants from the government between 2021 and 2024, according to the Minnesota attorney general’s office. It doesn’t indicate whether that’s from federal, state, or local sources, but the nonprofit’s website lists the state among its financial backers. At least $400,000 of that funding came in the form of sub-grants from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. In 2024, for example, the department awarded the Legal Rights Center a $45,000 award for work aimed at “ending racial disparities and improving outcomes in the juvenile justice system.” A state agency also promotes the organization.
The Legal Rights Center’s move to solicit donations for the People’s Bail Fund of Minnesota came amid escalating protests and riots across Minneapolis in response to a surge of ICE agents in the Twin Cities. The evening before Know Your Rights MN’s website was updated, Minnesota governor Tim Walz (D.) urged residents to resist ICE, accusing the agency of waging a “campaign of organized brutality.” In recent weeks, roughly three dozen agitators have been arrested, with charges ranging from assaulting law enforcement to refusing lawful orders to disperse.
