There are those things you normally do not consider when hearing a story unless you were personally involved somehow. The aftereffects, I suppose you'd call them. Like when immigration officers stop a subject who was in a moving vehicle and subsequently arrest them, what happens to the car?
You'd probably only think of it if someone asked you, and then you, like me, would guess that either a friend or relative has it or the city tows it.
With the number of people they are detaining in Minneapolis, this has become a crusade of sorts for a couple of tow truck companies who are sympathetic to the plight of those who've just been stopped and detained by ICE or the Border Patrol (CPB). They've made it a point to reach out to the affected members in their community to let them know their tow services are available free or at a discount for any immigration-related tow. It's all in order to ease one less unexpected burden on family members shocked by the sudden loss of whoever was driving that day.
One of the companies offering assistance is Leo's Tow.
Immigrant, BIPOC-run tow companies save the day when ICE arrests leave cars abandoned
Stuck in snow, blocking traffic, broken windows. Gonzalo Villegas drives up and down Twin Cities roadways looking for vehicles bearing those signs — clues that drivers have been arrested in recent immigration enforcement.
Villegas stayed up until 3 a.m. Monday towing vehicles throughout Minneapolis and surrounding cities, and returning them for free or at a sharp discount to more than 25 families swept up in the hundreds of immigration arrests in Minnesota this month.
Sometimes losing the vehicle would be the complete undoing of their fragile financial state.
...Villegas works for Leo’s Tow in West St. Paul, which is owned by his brother-in-law, Juan Leon. Both are Latino. Leon started the company two months ago to make some extra income, but over the past two weeks, he’s been focused on helping as many people as he can.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Leon said. “I can’t just let my community down now that I have a chance to offer a service.”
...“We’re all ICE victims. It doesn’t matter who you are — Chinese, Somali, African,” Villegas said. “If you get detained by ICE, we’re going to help you. Just reach out, that’s what we’re here for.”
The cost for towing a vehicle typically ranges between $100 to $400, depending on the distance between where the car was left behind and where it needs to be moved.
Leo’s Tow is offering free towing for residents of West St. Paul, and a $100 discount to people in surrounding areas since it’s still a small company, Leon said.
“We’re just a one truck company,” he said.
Leon said they’ve been raising donations to tow more vehicles for free.
“If our price after $100 is still too much, we’ll work with you,” he said. “I’m not trying to get rich off of this.”
Even paying the significant fees to retrieve it from the city's impound system could be beyond their means.
...Customers have to pay an impound fee and daily storage fees to get cars out of city impound lots. In Minneapolis, the impound fee includes a standard tow and notification letter, which is $228, and customers are charged an $18 storage fee for every day a car is in the lot. In West St. Paul, the impound fee is $220, and the daily storage fee is $35. Customers also sometimes have to pay for an additional towing fee to get a car home if the car keys were with the ICE detainee when they were arrested, or if the car won’t start.
I mean, I get it. I absolutely understand the impulse to help if that's how they feel, and good on them for that, I guess.
The GoFundMe to pay for the towing strikes me as yet another example of the money to be made in chaos, but maybe it'll mostly go to expenses. I can't say, and I doubt we'll ever know if it did or, as with so many of these, wound up financing a lifestyle change or at least something new and shiny.
MSPMag has Leo's Tow listed as a resource on their 'supporting our illegals' page.
Ways to Support Minnesota’s Immigrant Communities as ICE Activity Escalates
ICE’s presence continues to intensify around the Twin Cities as the Department of Homeland Security ramps up Operation Metro Surge, what it asserts is the largest-ever immigration enforcement operation in its history. We’ve gathered information on how to support local immigrant communities—from fundraisers and food drives to know-your-rights trainings and businesses to support. We’ll continue to update this list as things shift and change; it's currently updated to January 26. Reach out to [email protected] with tips.
Priorities.
If Mr. Juan Leon merely stuck to his altruistic good deeds, running the streets with his tow truck, while helping those he felt were downtrodden and abused, that would be one thing.
But that's not what he's reportedly doing, and we know that thanks to the intrepid sleuths who have been breaking open the anarchist Signal chat groups.
Mr Leon, while driving his tow truck around, has been spotting what he would now term suspicious out-of-state plates and running them through the plate reader in his tow truck. If they pop for a fed or possible fed rental, he alerts the shrieking eel army to the location. He gives them the make, model, and color of the vehicle, along with the address, so they can swarm it if need be.
This guy has to have access to the DMV database to run plates. They need to when they run plates for towing. pic.twitter.com/jysBd8OWOO
— JJ Hardwood (@JJHardwood) January 28, 2026
Leon is allegedly accessing a DMV database to subvert legitimate law enforcement activities and potentially trigger violent assaults against officers.
I would think that would be a problem. If it's true, it absolutely should cause some issues with his access to the database, which, in turn, would adversely impact his towing business.
There's a statute known as the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) (18 U.S.C. § 2721).
The Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA), 18 U.S.C. § 2721 et seq., is a federal law enacted in 1994 that prohibits state Departments of Motor Vehicles (DMVs) and their employees from knowingly disclosing personal information (name, address, phone number, SSN, driver ID, medical data) from motor vehicle records without a driver’s consent. It mandates security for personal data, with specific exceptions for permissible uses, and provides penalties and civil liability for violations.
Providing notice to the owners of towed or impounded vehicles is one of the permissible uses (number seven on the list). Scouting for and alerting fellow subversives to ICE vehicles in the area is nowhere to be found in the 'permissible' section.
Using DMV data to dox ICE agents, like disclosing personal info from plates for harassment, violates the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA), as it's not a permissible use. It could also involve federal crimes like interference with officers.
— Grok (@grok) January 28, 2026
Report DPPA issues to Minnesota…
...For doxxing federal agents, contact ICE Tip Line at 866-DHS-2-ICE or use the ICE Tip Form
If you've read but haven't heard what Higby and Ohour busted into, this video will give you a real-life idea of how those license plate readings from guys like Leon and others are being used against ICE and CBP.
The fact that they were able to get a license plate ran with almost instant results is pretty fucking shocking. It almost seems as if the dispatcher has direct access to the license plate database, which is law enforcement only. Would love to know who’s making this possible…
— Matt (@LibTearFactory) January 28, 2026
The danger is real. The damage is real.
We'll be interested to see whether Mr Leon's name appears on a wall of shame any time soon.
