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Lorde donates over $200,000 from merch sales to Minnesota immigrant funds

Lorde donates over 0,000 from merch sales to Minnesota immigrant funds

Lorde has announced that she is donating over $200,000 of her merchandise sales to support the Minnesota Immigrant Funds.

The support shared by the Kiwi singer-songwriter for those in Minneapolis comes amid a huge ICE operation taking place in the city in recent weeks, which has led to the deaths of two civilians.

Renee Good, aged 37, was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis on January 7. The killing triggered mass protests across the country, with many, including Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota governor Tim Walz, calling for ICE to end their presence in the city. Trump and many of his followers, meanwhile, defended the shooting, saying the agent acted in self-defence.

Later that month, an ICE agent shot and killed Alex Pretti after a brief altercation during a “targeted” immigration enforcement operation. They again claimed it was an act of self-defence. However, many have contested this, and said that the 37-year-old nurse was unarmed at the time of the shooting.

Now, Lorde has joined the growing number of famous faces coming forward to show support for the people there, and condemned the actions and presence of ICE.

Taking to Instagram Stories yesterday (Tuesday February 3), Lorde looked back at playing live in Minneapolis three months ago as part of her ‘Ultrasound’ tour, and said that she would be donating a portion of the money from that show to the local community.

“I’m donating our merch take in Minneapolis ($204k) to Minnesota Immigration Rights Action Committee + Immigrant Defense Network,” she shared, also sharing a photo of herself with the phrase “ICE Out” written on her hand.

The Minnesota Immigration Rights Action Committee works to gather resources for the families who have been impacted by the ICE raids, detainments and deportations. It also works to help organise protests against ICE.

The Immigrant Defense Network describes itself as a community organisation that works to help protect and advance the rights of immigrant communities in the area, and provide legal support for those impacted by ICE.

Other famous faces to have spoken out about ICE include Bruce Springsteen, who shared a song “in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis” and dedicated it to “the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbours and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good”.

Billy Bragg also released a track called ‘City Of Heroes’ recently, written in “tribute to the bravery of the people of Minneapolis”, and others to have used their platform to speak out include Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, Green Day, Neil Young, Moby, Zara Larsson, musician and Stranger Things star Joe Keery, Spider-Man actor Yuri Lowenthal, Duran Duran, Dave Matthews and more.

The phrase “ICE Out” was also sported by many at this past weekend’s Grammy Awards, with Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, Kehlani and more wearing a pin reading the phrase at the event.

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