Dark Money and Foreign Influence: Global Network Funding Anti-ICE Protests
Research and analysis groups investigating the funding behind protest organizations have identified a network of interconnected NGOs. Beyond the Soros and Open Society network, other major funding ecosystems include the Arabella funding network, the Tides funding network, Neville Roy Singham and his foreign-funded network, and other large left-wing donors.
The Tides Foundation and Arabella Advisors operate as pass-through entities that allow donors to fund specific causes anonymously. In Minnesota, groups such as the Sunrise Movement, which pivoted toward anti-ICE activity in 2025–2026, have received millions of dollars from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, an Arabella-managed group, as well as from the Tides Foundation.
The Soros and Open Society network remains a primary funding source for organizations such as the Legal Rights Center in Minnesota, which operates the “Know Your Rights MN” project. That project has been linked to bail funds supporting anti-ICE protesters in the Twin Cities.
The Ford and MacArthur foundations, while historically focused on broad social justice initiatives, have also appeared in 2025 grant disclosures as significant financial backers of Sunrise Movement chapters across the Midwest.
Some of these entities and funders are not U.S. citizens, including Hansjörg Wyss of Switzerland. They pour money into this broader ecosystem, which helps fund decentralized crowdfunding platforms that allow Antifa, the John Brown Gun Club of Elm Fork, which has been linked to an attack on an ICE facility, the Socialist Rifle Association, and other groups to receive financial support.
Neville Roy Singham is an American tech billionaire born in 1954 who founded ThoughtWorks, a software company sold for $758 million in 2017. He now resides in Shanghai, China, and has been accused by U.S. lawmakers, media outlets, and investigators of using his wealth to fund a global network of NGOs and activist groups that promote Chinese Communist Party narratives while opposing U.S. policies on foreign affairs, human rights, and immigration.