The People, United, Will Never Be Defeated: Leila Navidi’s Photograph as a Defining Image of Resistance to Trump’s ICE Regime

 Via Reading The Pictures

February 23, 2026

Heavily armed, masked federal immigration agents face a cluster of neighborhood residents filming them with their phones during an ICE operation that resulted in a car accident in St. Paul in January 2026. Leila Navidi/Minneapolis Star Tribune

A spontaneous ICE encounter on a St. Paul block becomes a rare picture of practiced solidarity—and a case study in how images can answer federal power.

By Michael Shaw

Leila Navidi’s photograph for the Minneapolis Star Tribune shows St. Paul neighbors on a Cathedral Hill sidewalk on February 11, 2026, standing shoulder to shoulder with their phones raised as militarized ICE agents turn away.

What began as a spontaneous response to a high‑speed crash caused by an ICE chase becomes, in her frame, a rare picture of collective solidarity—everyday residents forming a united front, documenting federal power, and quietly claiming the moral ground.

While the image went viral, little was written about why it had such an impact. In our latest Chatting the Pictures video, we read it detail by detail, to show how its composition, timing, and gestures have made it a breakthrough resistance picture for this state and this moment. Watch now:

More: The events that built this picture

"in an age of information overload, now, more than ever, seeing is believing"

Seeing is believing: Human rights content in the age of social media

Via Storyful.blog


"Remember this famous image of a naked Vietnamese girl running in agony after being hit with napalm? Or how the plight of Kosovo refugees was documented in this image in 1999? These photographs were both captured by professional journalists, at times when media professionals played an integral role in documenting human rights abuses and bringing about change for those who weren’t being listened to. But with tightening budgets and technological changes altering the way news is being reported, nowadays it’s often largely up to the citizens themselves to let the world know what’s happening to them. Because in an age of information overload, now, more than ever, seeing is believing."


Full post here. (with video)


"For many reasons, there will always be a need for journalists on the ground, but the burden of human rights promotion rests now more than ever on the shoulders of the people who it most affects. Citizen journalists, working often in harrowing circumstances, can only do so much, however, and NGOs and news agencies must play their part in helping to transmit their message. They collate these citizen videos, verify sources and publicize the human rights violations they document using their established networks. Curation tools, outreach and collaboration play a vital part. The tools made available on and through social media are proving invaluable in the fight for human rights: it’s hard to deny atrocities when they are being documented and shared across a global community. Seeing is believing: what action we take once we witness the result is up to us."


Related: People Get Ready: The Struggle for Human Rights

Guest Blog: "To see, one has to look"