A message from the SWIM crew:

Dear Community, Jan. 15, 2026

We wanted to share a much different kind of letter with updates on our collective at the beginning of the year. Instead, we are defending our neighbors and diligently tending to our relationships with our friends and family while ICE invades our city and sheds blood on our streets. Writing a public statement has been low on the priorities as imminent threats of violence have taken the front seat in Minneapolis.

We are devastated, but we remain committed to the safety and dignity of sex workers while our city looms in the shadows of a federal invasion.

Our last event in 2025 was a celebration of the book Not Your Rescue Project by Chanelle Gallant and Elane Lam. Please read this book. Sex workers have been speaking out against ICE since its inception and have long been frontline voices of resistance.

This was going on before the current administration and it will continue to happen until it is entirely abolished. We stand in solidarity with every migrant sex worker in this country and the world. Always and forever. Migration is important, necessary, and a means of survival – it must be safe to move.

The United States Government is the largest human trafficking group in our country and we are witnessing them in lethal action in our front yards and outside donut shops. SWIM is committed to aligning sex worker rights with anti-trafficking advocacy.

Our liberation is not bound up in decrim alone but it is one way we can layer protection of choice. We will not be handed liberation by the bloody hands of the system. Our liberation lives and thrives in the hearts of our community.

As the threats of people disappearing from our Minneapolis streets continue, they are creating the perfect conditions for labor trafficking, exploitation, and violence to thrive in our communities. People experiencing isolation, fear of their personal movement, and not being able to work have an increased vulnerability to dangerous situations. We are experiencing a massive deprivation of choice in Minnesota right now and we know how devastating the impacts are when public agency is lost.

Sex workers have had sophisticated systems of safety well before this occupation…and they are working. We encourage all workers to assess their screening protocols, review their safety plans, and always have a safety buddy system when working or traveling. Trust your guts! If something feels off, it probably is. That goes for protests, new gigs, new locations, and any presence of ice on the sidewalk. Tell your friends about sketchy situations (no one wants you to be alone in fear) and make sure you have what you need to maintain your boundaries and capacity to advocate for yourself.

If you are a worker and need support with any of this, please reach out! We will also accept any reports from the community as they find necessary.

If you are someone who supports sex workers and has resources, please reach out so we can expand our resource bank!

SWIM is a volunteer collective and we have operated on a shoestring budget with no expectations to change that. But sex workers in Minneapolis are hurting and we have found ourselves in a position to help. We are collecting mutual aid funds to directly support impacted workers in Minnesota (mostly Minneapolis). We are in awe (but not surprised) at the waves of resistance flowing through our city – it can be trusted that sex workers are the best wealth distributors this planet has ever seen. We all do better when sex workers have what they need.

They don’t stand a chance against the wisdom yielded across generations of whores.

Take time to rest.

Drink more water.

Dress for the weather.

And bring a snack.

With deep breaths and full chests, together we will get through this.

Sincerely,

SWIM Crew