If you want to know what it looks like to govern on democracy’s frontlines, start in the states.
As Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and ICE escalate attacks on American citizens and immigrant communities in Minnesota and across the country, state lawmakers are stepping up to defend due process, civil liberties, and community safety.
Authoritarian politics tries to break the ties that make self-government possible, convincing us that neighbors are enemies, that institutions are pointless, that the only power that matters is force.
At State Innovation Exchange (SiX), we’ve spent more than a decade working with state legislators who refuse that logic. We support over 1,800 lawmakers across the country who are advancing immigrant rights, democracy, corporate accountability, workers’ rights, fair taxes, sustainable farming, reproductive freedom, racial and gender justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and more—not as abstract ideologies, but as measurable improvements in people’s lives.
Authoritarian politics tries to break the ties that make self-government possible, convincing us that neighbors are enemies, that institutions are pointless, that the only power that matters is force.
And we push something even more fundamental: co-governance.
What Is Co-Governance?
Co-governance is a way of doing democracy where community members, advocates, and public officials share information, power, and responsibility so policy isn’t something done to people but rather built with people.
It’s easy to say “community engagement,” to commit to bridging power. It’s harder—and more important—to build the structures where community knowledge changes decisions, where people see their lived experience reflected in law, and where elected officials earn trust the slow way: by showing up, listening, and staying.
Right now, Minneapolis is showing what co-governance looks like under pressure. Communities are organizing to keep each other safe, local and state leaders are pushing back on secrecy and escalation, and lawmakers are rushing alongside advocates and organizers to protect their communities and build guardrails that protect due process and civil liberties even when federal agencies won’t.
How Co-Governance Protects the People
When the federal government is gridlocked and/or pursuing an authoritarian agenda, statehouses become the place where national crises hit the ground. And that’s true for immigration enforcement right now. Nationwide, state legislators are advancing concrete tools to protect immigrant communities and restrain abusive enforcement tactics.
Here are examples already moving or enacted in states:
- No Secret Police: Law Enforcement Masking and Identification
States are acting to ensure transparency and accountability in law enforcement by prohibiting officers, including federal agents, from concealing their identities while carrying out official duties. See California’s SB 627, Florida’s SB 316, and Missouri’s HB 2520. These policies help prevent abuses of power, protect public trust, and ensure that individuals can identify officers involved in enforcement actions.
- Protecting Spaces from ICE
Multiple states are advancing policies that limit ICE access to essential community spaces, workplaces, and services, recognizing that fear of enforcement should never prevent people from accessing education, healthcare, or justice. Take for instance Arizona’s SB 1362/HB 2807, Colorado’s SB 25-276, Michigan’s SB 508-510, Rhode Island’s H 5225, and New York’s A 11013/S 08925. These policies restrict ICE’s presence in places such as schools, day cares, health facilities, courts, libraries, religious institutions, and shelters.
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- Cutting ICE Contracts with Law Enforcement
States are also limiting or prohibiting collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement. The TRUST Act (2021) in Illinois, Washington’s Keep Washington Working Act, and Colorado’s Restrict Government Involvement in Immigration Detention bill all limit or prohibit local law enforcement participation in immigration enforcement actions and detention agreements.
State lawmakers can also strip incentives from private companies that contract with ICE. In Delaware, legislators introduced SB 207 to remove financial incentives from Avelo Airlines unless it stopped conducting deportation flights. On January 7, 2026, Avelo Airlines announced it would end these flights. These approaches reduce state and local entanglement in federal immigration enforcement while signaling clear values around human rights and accountability.
- Protecting People’s Data from ICE Access
States are taking action to protect residents’ personal information from being shared with ICE by government agencies that necessarily store sensitive data. Wisconsin and Colorado have policies preventing state agencies from sharing personal identifying information with ICE. Data protection policies are a critical safeguard, particularly as surveillance and data-sharing increasingly drive immigration enforcement.
- Empowering People to Sue ICE Agents
Several states are creating pathways for individuals to seek justice when federal agents violate constitutional rights. States including New York, New Jersey, Maine, Massachusetts, California, and Oregon have enacted or introduced laws allowing people to sue federal agents for civil rights violations. The results have been mixed: These laws can create real leverage and deterrence, but state legal landscapes vary.
When the federal government is gridlocked, statehouses become the place where national crises hit the ground.
The Counterstrategy to Chaos
In moments like this, when Minnesotans are grieving and furious, we’re seeing state leaders learning from each other and building protections fast, in partnership with the people most impacted. That is co-governance under fire.
If we want democracy to outlast this era, philanthropy and the nonprofit sector have to stop treating relationships as an extra.
Fund the convenings that bring people into the same room, especially in places where distrust is high, and media narratives are weaponized. Fund the legal expertise that helps lawmakers write enforceable protections. Fund the community organizations that know what’s happening before it hits a headline and the legislators willing to show up and share power.
If we want democracy to outlast this era, philanthropy and the nonprofit sector have to stop treating relationships as an extra.
Because when chaos is the strategy, connection is resistance.
Minneapolis is teaching the country something painful: Democracy is a practice. It lives or dies in the daily work of keeping one another safe, protesting, telling the truth in public, and building systems that make accountability real.
Authoritarianism wants us isolated and afraid. Our job—everyone’s—is to prove we still know how to look each other in the eye, organize together, and govern together.
