Protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minnesota may look like spontaneous public uprisings, but many appear to be fueled by wealthy donors — including some with ties to China, the New York Post reports.
Last Friday, despite bitter cold and heavy snow, roughly 15,000 protesters filled downtown Minneapolis for an “ICE Out” rally, chanting demands to end immigration enforcement. Though promoted as a local, citizen‑driven movement, the demonstration featured many of the same veteran activists and digital organizers who have mobilized repeatedly during Donald Trump’s terms. According to The Post, much of their coordination happens through encrypted apps and niche online forums funded by opaque networks of billionaire backers.
Scott Walter, president of the Capital Research Center and a specialist in nonprofit funding, told The Post that a major force behind the Minnesota operation appears to be linked to former software executive Neville Singham.
“My team’s best judgement is that it’s the Neville Singham network that is most active [in Minnesota], partly because that’s the most crazy network,” Walter said.
“But they aren’t alone,” he added.
Singham, now based in Shanghai, has long financed a range of left‑wing causes, including the People’s Forum and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Both groups promoted the Minneapolis rally, which was formally organized by the activist coalition known as 50501, which stands for “Fifty states, fifty protests, one day.” Walter explained that Singham‑connected activists were present but have recently adopted subtler tactics to blend in with mainstream participants.
Walter suggested that what is unusual about this “we are seeing truly extreme Communist splinter groups showing up alongside an American Federation for Teachers union or the Ford Foundation. That’s a disturbing trend for us who follow these things. Normally, they wouldn’t have been cheek by jowl publicly with those people.”
Singham reportedly offered no comment, but his financial reach spans numerous activist efforts. Investigators say his network operates through a complex web of nonprofits and advocacy hubs — so intricate that many participants understand only fragments of the larger operation. Walter likened it to a “Byzantine” system that conceals its full scope.
“They work together through Byzantine networks of understanding. An average protester might have a dim understanding of the Neville Singham network, but [will be] friends with people in several other groups. He himself probably belongs to half a dozen groups, because their groups are constantly metastasizing new names,” Walter said, according to The Post.
Members of the House Oversight Committee are now examining whether Singham’s activities amount to foreign influence or potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, given his alleged links to Chinese Communist Party propaganda efforts.
Ian Oxnevad, a senior fellow for foreign affairs at the National Association of Scholars, argued that the timing of such protests is suspicious. “Have you noticed there’s no pro-Palestinian and anti-ICE protests going on at the same time? If it was organic, you would see multiple protests going on simultaneously, but you don’t see that,” he said.
The Minneapolis “ICE Out” protest was held under the 50501 label — a group that operates quietly but maintains links to several prominent progressive organizations. According to its website, 50501 partners with Voices of Florida, a Black- and queer‑led pro‑abortion nonprofit funded by the Ford Foundation, and with Our Revolution, the former PAC of Bernie Sanders. The Ford Foundation, now focused on promoting social justice and reducing inequality, recently awarded Voices of Florida a $100,000 grant.
Other major activist networks in Minnesota include Indivisible — supported by George Soros’ Open Society Foundations — along with the Sunrise Movement and Unidos Minnesota. The Post reviewed tax filings showing that since 2016, the Sunrise Movement has received at least $2 million from donors within Washington‑based Arabella Advisors, a large progressive funding hub. Indivisible has drawn millions more from Arabella, Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, and Soros‑backed foundations.
Local groups like Unidos Minnesota and its project Monarca are frequent presences at statewide protests. A Post investigation earlier this year revealed that Monarca is financed through Tending the Soil Minnesota, a nonprofit with over $1 million in assets as of 2023, funded partly by Arabella, the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, and the McKnight Foundation.
Walter said the constant shifting of names, partnerships, and organizational fronts is deliberate. “The mainstream media is very happy to always pretend it’s just poor ordinary Americans outraged by this horrible injustice. But, no, the guy who organized it is a leader in five or 10 different entities.”