Minnesota matters to board game publisher John Nephew. It's where he and his wife co-run Atlas Games. It's where they raise their children. The Nephews and their business have lived all over Minnesota, from St. Paul to Duluth. "It's a wonderful state", Nephew tells me. Right now, it's also a state in turmoil - and Atlas Games has raised thousands of dollars to bring Minnesota aid.
In early December, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Operation Metro Surge, an initiative to arrest and deport the "Worst of the Worst Criminal Illegal Aliens" in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The crackdown spearheaded by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was originally said to be targeting Minnesota's Somali community, which is the biggest of any US state. At the time, Trump referred to them as "garbage" who should "go back where they came from".
By January 26, 2026, over 2,000 ICE officers had been sent to Minnesota. DHS says it has arrested over 4,000 people, including violent offenders, sexual predators, and gang members. Local and national news outlets reported that these arrests have also included asylum seekers, restaurant workers, Target employees, students, Native Americans, and children.
Nephew describes "armed gangs that are abducting people off the streets" in the Twin Cities, and even some ICE activity in his hometown of Duluth. Nephew also calls ICE's reasons for entering Minnesota "nonsensical". "This whole thing is just a pretext", he says. "It has been a terror campaign against American citizens in a state that never voted for Donald Trump, where Donald Trump is not popular, and we do not agree with hating immigrants." Minnesota has voted for every Democratic presidential nominee since 1976, longer than any other US state.
"So many people's lives have been disrupted by this", Nephew says, "and it puts immense pressure on all the social aid organizations that already have plenty to do." "Now there's even more to do, because people are paralyzed in their homes by fear, unable to make money to meet the rent, or trying to cope with the legal stresses of legally settled refugees being carted off to Texas - and needing a lawyer to extricate them and a plane fare to get home". "The stuff that's been happening in Minnesota is pretty upsetting", he says "and you have an urge to do something."
For Nephew, 'something' was hosting a "Fork Ice" sale on the Atlas Games website. Each day, the publisher puts a different board game on sale, with a steep discount of at least 50%. The sale only lasts for 24 hours, and 100% of the sale price goes to "local organizations helping our Minnesota neighbors affected by the ICE storm".
An announcement post explains: "Here in Minnesota, and most visibly Minneapolis, we've responded to an armed federal presence with radical nonviolence, solidarity, and mutual aid". "When legal immigrants are detained after showing up at their court hearings, people are picked up off the street for the color of their skin, and children are abducted and shipped out of state or country, it's understandable that some are afraid to leave their homes." "Countless Minnesotans and organizations have stepped up to help: delivering groceries, providing legal assistance, and even helping with rent."
Despite this stance of "radical nonviolence", violence has nevertheless afflicted Minneapolis. Renée Good was shot by ICE agents on January 7. Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis was shot in the leg on January 14 by an ICE agent, and Alex Pretti was fatally shot by Customs and Border Protection officers on January 24. On January 18, Victor Manuel Diaz was reported as having died in ICE custody. His death was reported by ICE as a suicide, something Diaz's family disputes.
Thousands have protested Operation Metro Surge in the wake of these deaths, and they have been met with increased threats, arrests, beatings, and tear gas. Atlas Games says "Federally-sanctioned violence and even killing has only increased our resolve and drawn more people of conscience to become active".
Currently, Atlas Games has raised around $4,500. $2,000 of this was raised from Gloom, the publisher's most popular board game. Nephew tells me that "the thing that really drove that was several other retail stores who reached out to me and asked if they could participate". "There were half a dozen stores that ordered like a dozen copies each - at least one of the stores told me that they were intending to donate all of their proceeds from selling it to charity as well".
Every time Nephew raises another $500, he chooses another Minnesota-based charity to donate to. So far, these have included the rent-relief-focused Immigrant Rapid Response Fund, and the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, "a non-profit providing legal counsel and demanding the release of people who should have never been taken in the first place - which is almost all of them".
Atlas Games has also donated to Second Harvest Northland, "a food shelf that offers emergency food assistance", Minnesota Legal Aid, a "rent assistance organization in St. Paul", a food shelter charity called Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless, and the Unidos MN Education Fund, whose "constitutional observer training" helps citizens legally and safely observe and record ICE activity.
The 'Fork Ice' sale is driven by many strong emotions. While grief and anger are certainly among them, so is love. "I love Minnesota", Nephew tells me, "and we love our immigrant neighbors".
Minnesota, with a population of 5.8 million, is one of America's least diverse states. It has, as Nephew tells me, a reputation for being "extremely white" - but it has grown increasingly diverse in recent decades.
"A characteristic that Minnesota has long had is to be extremely welcoming", he says. He tells stories of a deacon uncle that gave Catholic sermons in both Spanish and English to accommodate the Latin American immigrants in Pelican Rapids. He reminisces about the Vietnamese restaurants in St. Paul, near where Atlas Games was formerly based. He speaks fondly of the "vibrant" Somali and Hmong communities, two of the largest immigrant populations in the state.
"I'm in favor of bringing more immigrants and refugees into Minnesota", he says. "They enrich our lives, and they enrich our economy." "To me, that is the highest expression of American values", he adds. "It is Minnesota's expression of what I believe are the true American values that is so incredibly threatening to the Trump regime, and to the America they want to create." "Donald Trump hates our freedom", Nephew tells me.
On February 4, 700 ICE agents were withdrawn from the Twin Cities. Then, on February 12, the Trump administration announced it was ending the immigrant crackdown in Minnesota. ""The surge is leaving Minnesota safer," border czar Tom Homan said. "I'll say it again, it's less of a sanctuary state for criminals."
Nephew tells me that he is still hearing reports of people being abducted by ICE. "People on the ground in the Twin Cities are not stopping their observation", he says. "People up here are still anxious, and frankly, we don't trust what they say - because they also say that what they are doing is perfectly legal, and that they're only going after 'the worst of the worst' criminals as they cart off five-year-olds to prison camps in Texas".
"Even if ICE were completely withdrawn, we would still need to be doing this fundraising", he adds, "because we still have people who are a month or two behind in their rent". "We still have organizations that have spent their resources and need to replenish their coffers to deal with all the things they dealt with before this catastrophe."
After the announcement of withdrawal, Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz posted on social media, saying "the long road to recovery starts now". "The impact on our economy, our schools, and people's lives won't be reversed overnight. That work starts today."
Atlas Games' 'Fork Ice' sale will continue until February 28.
For more tabletop news, you can stay up to date in the Wargamer Discord. Photos of Minnesota protests are from Wikimedia Commons.