Once again, Minnesota educators, parents and students stood in front of a podium to talk about the stress inside schools reaching a breaking point.
They say fear, anxiety and frustration is spilling into classrooms all because of ICE activity.
Teachers say more students are opting into virtual learning. But educators say that while it is a short-term solution, it comes with long-term consequences.
“This is morning on the way to school and start of the second semester, we had another student in Columbia Heights get pulled over by ICE,” Columbia Heights School Board Chair Mary Grandlund said.
They aren’t the only district feeling the pressure.
In the Fridley Public School District, 80% are students of color and 16% of students are now enrolled in virtual learning.
About an hour and a half south, the Rochester Public School District superintendent says between Jan. 9 and 22, more than 530 additional students are absent from schools.
Now, students say they plan to protest Friday on behalf of classmates, taking their demands straight to the governor.
“No one should feel fear that Minnesota students face at schools,” said Ria DeLooze, a Maple Grove Senior High School student.
DeLooze says those demands include:
Guaranteed safe busing
Suspension of the policy that withdraws students who miss 15 consecutive days of school
After mass protests in Iran erupted in December and continued to escalate into the new year, the government shut down internet access throughout the country. But after weeks of trying, one man in Iran was able to get through the blackout and speak with CBS News on a video call, describing what sounds like a massacre of anti-government protesters in early January.
Jan. 8 and 9 are believed to be the bloodiest, most brutal days in the government’s crackdown on protesters since it was founded in 1979.
The man asked not to be identified and had his head wrapped in a black cloth and his eyes covered by goggles because he is afraid the government could find him and put him in prison or execute him. He described a crackdown on Jan. 9 in the city of Yazd, about 400 miles southeast of the capital Tehran.
He was in a crowd of about 1,500 people marching toward Imam Hossein Square when, he said, government forces started shooting at them from the front and the back in what he thinks was a plan to mow them down from both sides.
Two sources, including one inside Iran, previously told CBS News that at least 12,000, and possibly as many as 20,000 people have been killed throughout Iran in the protests.
“More than a thousand that night killed…because I hear a lot of shooting,” he said.
He said the only reason he survived was that he was in the middle of the crowd and was able to escape down a side street.
Now the streets across the country are quiet. The man told CBS News that people are sad and angry and that he lost a lot of his “brothers and sisters” — friends, comrades in arms — in the protests to oust the regime.
Asked what he hoped the protests would achieve, the man said, “All people that night come out and say, ‘Pahlavi,’” referencing Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, now living in the Washington, D.C., area.
“Just want Pahlavi, OK?” he said.
In an interview with CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell earlier this month, Pahlavi characterized himself as Iranians’ voice in the outside world, and has claimed that people chanting his name during the protests show he could play a role as a transitional leader, although it’s unclear how much support he actually has inside the country.
“Why is it that I offer my service to Iran? I’m answering their call,” he said. “I’m a bridge and not the destination at this point.”
Pahlavi’s father became shah in 1941 and consolidated power in a 1953 coup, backed by the United States and United Kingdom, that overthrew the Iranian prime minister. He ruled until 1979, when he was deposed by the Islamic Revolution.
Some now hope the U.S. will intervene again.
“On behalf of all Iranians, I ask President Trump to help us achieve freedom, because our freedom is the freedom of the whole world from terrorists,” the man said.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly warned Iranian leaders against killing peaceful demonstrators and the mass execution of people detained during the unrest. He has also threatened possible military action.
The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group recently arrived in the U.S. military’s Central Command area of operation, which covers much of the Middle East region, including Iran. The warships’ arrival came after the commander of the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that his forces had their “finger on the trigger,” following Mr. Trump’s threats.
The video call with the Iranian man, which suffered from numerous issues due to the blackout, dropped soon after his plea for U.S. support, but in follow-up texts, he told CBS News he wants the U.S. to provide air support “to send the entire leadership of this regime to their own ideological paradise in a lightning strike.”
A man inside Iran spoke with CBS News foreign correspondent Ramy Inocencio after weeks of trying to get through the government’s internet blackout. He described surviving a protest crackdown in which he believes more than a thousand people were killed.
After the fatal shooting of concealed carry permitholder Alex Pretti, debate over gun rights added a new layer to the federal government’s aggressive immigration enforcement activity in Minneapolis.
The day after Pretti was killed, FBI Director Kash Patel discussed the case on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Patel said, “You cannot bring a firearm loaded with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It’s that simple. You don’t have the right to break the law and incite violence.”
The administration shared an image of a gun and extra ammunition it said Border Patrol agents took from Pretti on Jan. 24 on Nicollet Avenue in south Minneapolis.
Video footage that surfaced in the first 48 hours after the shooting does not show Pretti holding the gun in his hands or pointing it at federal agents at any point. Some footage shows agents had disarmed Pretti shortly before he was shot.
The administration said the Department of Homeland Security would conduct an internal investigation, but its scope was reportedly limited.
The shooting of a protester who had a concealed carry permit prompted criticism by gun-rights advocates, who pointed to Second Amendment protections.
“Every peaceable Minnesotan has the right to keep and bear arms — including while attending protests, acting as observers, or exercising their First Amendment rights,” the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus wrote. “These rights do not disappear when someone is lawfully armed, and they must be respected and protected at all times.”
The FBI declined to comment for this article. Patel sought to clarify his stance in a Jan. 26 interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, saying, “We are not going after people and infringing on their freedom of speech to peacefully protest. We are definitely not going after people in their Second Amendment rights to bear arms — only if you incite violence and or threaten to do harm to law enforcement officials and break the law in any other way.”
We asked 13 legal experts about Patel’s statement. They agreed that Patel was wrong about the Minnesota law, although they cautioned that some states do ban guns at protests.
In general, “There is no blanket prohibition or long-standing tradition against bringing otherwise lawfully owned and carried firearms to a protest, parade, demonstration, or other public event,” said Clark Neily, senior vice president for legal studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. “To the contrary, the default practice or tradition is that someone who is lawfully carrying a firearm may bring it to public gatherings, including protests and demonstrations.”
It hasn’t been unusual to see people carrying guns at protests in recent years, such as at a 2020 protest against Michigan’s pandemic laws at the state capitol in Lansing.
Was Pretti within his rights to carry a gun?
Experts widely agree that because the state legally permitted Pretti to carry a gun, he was within his rights in Minnesota to do so, including at a protest.
While some states’ laws restrict guns at protests, “Minnesota has no such law in place,” said Konstadinos Moros, director of legal research and education at the Second Amendment Foundation.
Eleven states and the District of Columbia ban concealed weapons at demonstrations and protests, and 11 states and the district ban open carry of weapons at demonstrations or protests, according to a tracker assembled by the anti gun-violence group Giffords. Of these, seven states and D.C. ban both.
Several gun law experts also told PolitiFact they are unaware of any states that explicitly ban something else Patel mentioned: extra magazines for ammunition.
Some social media commentators said Pretti broke the law by not physically carrying his permit or other identification. (Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and former top Customs and Border Patrol official in Minneapolis Greg Bovino have alleged that Pretti carried no ID.) State law says not carrying a permit is a “petty misdemeanor” subject to a fine of up to $25. Such a violation “does not constitute a crime,” state law says.
Federal officials have said that Pretti went beyond observing and was interfering with a law enforcement activity. Experts agreed that Pretti would have been legally barred from threatening, interfering with or lying to officers. “As a general matter, peacefully observing a demonstration is different from criminally obstructing law enforcement,” said David B. Kopel, research director at the conservative Independence Institute.
Video footage that has surfaced so far does not show that Pretti criminally obstructed law enforcement, though uncertainties and gaps remain. Some footage begins as he helps a woman who had been pushed into the snow by a federal agent; he was holding a phone in his hand.
A majority of states have more expansive laws than Minnesota’s, allowing concealed carrying of guns without a permit. “In those states with broad public-carry rights, the mere fact that an individual is armed at a protest is not itself a crime,” said Darrell Miller, a University of Chicago law professor.
What have courts said about gun rights at protests?
Legal experts said the Supreme Court’s record bolsters a Second Amendment right to carry guns at protests, which are sometimes referred to in laws as “public gatherings” or “assemblies.”
The most recent notable Supreme Court decision is New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen from 2022. The justices, in a 6-3 decision, found that the right to carry a firearm in public for self-defense has deep historical roots, and that a “special need” is not necessary to exercise it.
The decision allowed states to ban public carry in certain “sensitive places,” such as schools and government buildings, and some states have moved to restrict the carrying of firearms at some events, such as protests, said Timothy Zick, a William & Mary Law School professor. Whether those laws would pass muster at the Supreme Court depends on whether there were similar laws during the 18th and possibly the 19th century, Zick said.
A Supreme Court case currently under review, Wolford v. Lopez, will decide whether Hawaii can restrict people’s ability to bring guns onto private property that is open to the public. As part of the previous ruling, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down California’s ban on carrying guns at public gatherings. Moros said that victory at an appeals court that’s “pretty hostile” to the Second Amendment is notable.
In another decision released Jan. 20, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals found that Maryland’s prohibition on carrying guns near public demonstrations is constitutional. This split between circuits could make the Supreme Court more likely to weigh in on a case that explicitly involves protests and gun rights, Moros said.
Neily agreed that based on the recent court record, it’s “quite likely that laws against carrying otherwise lawfully possessed firearms at protests and other public events would be struck down under the Second Amendment.”
Our ruling
Patel said, “You cannot bring a firearm loaded with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It’s that simple.”
Some states have laws that ban guns at protests, but Minnesota’s concealed carry law does not include such a ban. Pretti had a concealed carry permit. Even if he did not have the permit or an ID on him at the time, Minnesota law considers that a minor infraction. Some states’ laws are more permissive than Minnesota, allowing people to bring guns to protests even if they don’t have a concealed carry permit, as Pretti did.
The statement contains an element of truth — the legality of bringing guns to protests depends on the state — but ignores that this incident happened in Minnesota, where the law allows guns at protests. We rate the statement Mostly False.
CLARIFICATION, Jan. 27, 2026: This version clarifies the description of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision on a California law.
OMAHA HAS A NEW ADDITION TO THE 100 CLUB. SARAH ROUNTREE CELEBRATED A CENTURY OF CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISM TODAY. NEWSWATCH SEVEN’S IZZY JUUL WAS AT SARAH’S BIRTHDAY PARTY AND SHARES HER STORY. TRAILBLAZER I CAN. HISTORY MAKER ALL WORDS TO DESCRIBE THE BIRTHDAY GIRL SARAH ROUNTREE. SHE’S THE LAST SURVIVING MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES IN OMAHA’S NEWEST 100 YEAR OLD. HELLO EVERYONE! I AM SO HAPPY AND GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU FOR COMING FOR MY BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION. SHE IS 100 YEARS YOUNG. AMEN. YES, SHE’S STILL GOT THE FIGHT IN HER. THE FIRST THING SHE SAID TO ME WAS WE’RE GOING TO START UP THE FOR SALE AGAIN. ROUNTREE WAS AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE 1960S CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT HERE IN OMAHA. THEY DIDN’T TALK ABOUT BLACK HISTORY BACK THEN. THEY DIDN’T DO ANY OF THAT. AND IT BECAUSE OF SEVERAL ROUNTREE THAT WE ARE NOW ABLE TO TALK ABOUT BLACK HISTORY. SHE WAS THE RIGHT HAND AT FORT SILL DOING EVERYTHING FROM FIGHTING SEGREGATION TO TEACHING THEIR KIDS. I’M SURE THAT THE DEPARTED CIVIL RIGHTS MEMBERS FOR HCL MEMBERS ARE LOOKING. THEIR SPIRIT IS HERE TODAY, AND THEY’RE SMILING AND THEY’RE HAPPY. SHE ALWAYS WAS READY TO FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT AND GET INTO GOOD TROUBLE. ROUNTREE AND HER WORK HAVE BEEN ETCHED INTO OMAHA’S HISTORY. A STREET IN HER NAME AND A PROCLAMATION FROM MAYOR JOHN EWING JR HIMSELF. MANY YEARS OF FAITHFUL SERVICE AND MEANINGFUL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE OMAHA COMMUNITY, LEAVING AN INDELIBLE MARK OF KINDNESS ON ALL THOSE WHO HAVE HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF KNOWING HER. IN OMAHA, IZZY FONFARA JUUL KETV NEWSWATCH SEVEN. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH! CAN YOU IMAGINE EVERYTHIN
Civil rights activist celebrates 100th birthday
Sarah Rountree is the last surviving member of the Committee for Civil Liberties.
Civil rights advocate Sarah Rountree celebrated 100 years of activism Monday.Her friends describe her as a “trailblazer, icon history maker.”Rountree is the last surviving member of the Committee for Civil Liberties, a civil rights organization founded in the 1960s.”Hello everyone, I am so happy,” Rountree said at the start of her party. “God bless all of you for coming to my birthday celebration.””She is 100 years young, she’s still got the fight,” the Rev. Darryl Eure, son of another 4CL member, said. “You know, the first thing she said to me was, ‘We’re going to start up the 4CL again.”Rountree was at the forefront of the 1960s civil rights movement in Omaha.”They didn’t talk about Black history back then,” Eure said. “They didn’t do any of that, and it’s because of Sarah Rountree that we are now able to talk about Black history.”She was the right hand at 4CL, doing everything from fighting segregation to teaching kids.”I’m sure that the departed civil rights members, 4CL members, are looking. Their spirits are here today, and they’re smiling, and they’re happy,” Rountree said. “She always was ready to fight the good fight and get into good trouble,” Eure said.Rountree and her work have been etched into Omaha’s history. She has a street in her name and received a proclamation from city Mayor John Ewing Jr. at her party on Sunday.”Mrs. Rountree has dedicated many years of faithful service and meaningful contributions to the Omaha community, leaving an indelible mark of kindness on all those who have had the privilege of knowing her,” the proclamation reads.Family and friends said she is a firecracker who loves to dance to her favorite song, “She’s a Bad Mama Jama” by Carl Carlton.Rountree continued her activism well into her 90s, using her knowledge and reputation to raise awareness of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. She will be the keynote speaker during Catholic Charities’ celebration of African American history at the end of February.
OMAHA, Neb. —
Civil rights advocate Sarah Rountree celebrated 100 years of activism Monday.
Her friends describe her as a “trailblazer, icon [and] history maker.”
Rountree is the last surviving member of the Committee for Civil Liberties, a civil rights organization founded in the 1960s.
“Hello everyone, I am so happy,” Rountree said at the start of her party. “God bless all of you for coming to my birthday celebration.”
“She is 100 years young, she’s still got the fight,” the Rev. Darryl Eure, son of another 4CL member, said. “You know, the first thing she said to me was, ‘We’re going to start up the 4CL again.”
Rountree was at the forefront of the 1960s civil rights movement in Omaha.
“They didn’t talk about Black history back then,” Eure said. “They didn’t do any of that, and it’s because of Sarah Rountree that we are now able to talk about Black history.”
She was the right hand at 4CL, doing everything from fighting segregation to teaching kids.
“I’m sure that the departed civil rights members, 4CL members, are looking. Their spirits are here today, and they’re smiling, and they’re happy,” Rountree said.
“She always was ready to fight the good fight and get into good trouble,” Eure said.
Rountree and her work have been etched into Omaha’s history. She has a street in her name and received a proclamation from city Mayor John Ewing Jr. at her party on Sunday.
“Mrs. Rountree has dedicated many years of faithful service and meaningful contributions to the Omaha community, leaving an indelible mark of kindness on all those who have had the privilege of knowing her,” the proclamation reads.
Family and friends said she is a firecracker who loves to dance to her favorite song, “She’s a Bad Mama Jama” by Carl Carlton.
Rountree continued her activism well into her 90s, using her knowledge and reputation to raise awareness of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. She will be the keynote speaker during Catholic Charities’ celebration of African American history at the end of February.
Greg Ketter has spent nearly five decades selling comic books and science fiction novels at DreamHaven Books and Comics in Minneapolis. This week, his phone hasn’t stopped ringing.
Ketter said his store has seen a surge of online orders and messages of support after a photo of him at a recent protest circulated widely on social media. The image appears to show Ketter moving through a cloud of tear gas during a demonstration following the killing of Alex Pretti, which happened just minutes away from his store.
Ketter said he went to the protest after learning about Pretti’s death.
“This is personal, being right here in Minneapolis,” Ketter said. “I mean, this is the U.S. government attacking its own people, and that’s what just got to me.”
Ketter, 69, said he did not intend to draw attention to himself and was surprised to learn he had been photographed.
“I wasn’t even running,” he said. “I just walked.”
In the days since, customers from across the country — and even internationally — have contacted the store to place orders or express support. Ketter said the volume of traffic temporarily overwhelmed DreamHaven’s website.
“It’s been insane,” he said. “I never pictured anything like this. It’s gone truly global.”
Among those who visited the store in person were Jeff and Rachel McMahon, who said they were moved by the image and wanted to support Ketter and his business.
“When I saw the photo of Greg and looked into who he was in the community, we felt like we had to come down and thank him,” Jeff McMahon said.
Rachel McMahon described Ketter as a hero, a label he rejects.
“I don’t know why I deserved all that,” Ketter said. “People have been amazingly kind.”
Ketter said any donations made through an old GoFundMe page connected to the store will be redirected to local food shelves. He said he hopes the attention leads to positive action within the community.
Despite the attention, Ketter said he plans to keep doing what he has always done — running his store and serving customers.
Incoming Target CEO Michael Fiddelke has broken his silence about recent violence in a message to employees on Monday, after a second fatal shooting in the corporation’s home base of Minneapolis over the weekend.
“We’ll have time to talk very soon about our plans to move Target forward, but right now, as someone who is raising a family here in the Twin Cities and as a leader of this hometown company, I want to acknowledge where we are,” Fiddelke said in the video, according to a transcript published by CNBC.
“The violence and loss of life in our community is incredibly painful,” he said. “I know it’s weighing heavily on many of you across the country, as it is with me.”
Fiddelke did not name Alex Pretti, who was killed by a Border Patrol officer on Saturday, or Renee Good, who was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on Jan. 7.
He also did not mention President Donald Trump, ICE, or policy changes at Target. The company has been the target of protests across Minnesota after immigration officials detained two Target employees, who are U.S. citizens, during their shift in Richfield.
Clergy members in Minnesota met with outgoing CEO Brian Cornell, urging the company to call for ICE to withdraw from the state and call on Congress to end funding for ICE, according to USA Today. They also demanded that Target stand against unreasonable searches and seizures, and use its influence to ensure that the federal officer who killed Renee Good be prosecuted.
But there was no indication the company would agree to those specific measures in Monday’s message.
“We are doing everything we can to manage what’s in our control, always keeping the safety of our team and guests our top priority,” Fiddelke said.
He starts as CEO on Feb. 1 and currently serves as the company’s chief operating officer. In the video, he said he has been looking forward to starting the new role.
On Sunday, Fiddelke joined more than 60 CEOs in signing an open letter from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce that said businesses were working behind the scenes with government officials, including Gov. Tim Walz, the White House, Vice President JD Vance, and local mayors.
“With yesterday’s tragic news, we are calling for an immediate deescalation of tensions and for state, local and federal officials to work together to find real solutions,” the letter read.
Read the full transcript of Fiddelke’s video here:
Hi team.
In one week I will officially start as CEO.
We’re about to step into a new chapter for Target, and I’ve been looking forward to starting this work with you for some time, but this isn’t the first message I imagined I’d send.
We’ll have time to talk very soon about our plans to move Target forward, but right now, as someone who is raising a family here in the Twin Cities and as a leader of this hometown company, I want to acknowledge where we are.
The violence and loss of life in our community is incredibly painful.
I know it’s weighing heavily on many of you across the country, as it is with me.
What’s happening affects us not just as a company, but as people, as neighbors, friends and family members within Target.
We are doing everything we can to manage what’s in our control, always keeping the safety of our team and guests our top priority.
During my more than 20 years at Target, one of the things I’ve loved is how we are part of the communities where we operate.
Since the beginning, we’ve given 5% of our profits and millions of volunteer hours to make them strong and vibrant places to live and work.
In line with that, I’ve been meeting with a range of leaders and this weekend added my signature to a statement using our collective voice to call for calm, constructive dialogue and deescalation to reduce tension and keep people safe.
As that work continues, looking ahead to next week, I’ll spend my first days in the field listening and learning alongside our teams, and then we’ll come together for an all-team huddle to talk about how we’re moving our business forward.
Our leadership team is activated, HR is equipped, and our resources remain ready to give you the care and support you need.
Thank you for everything you do for each other, our guests, and our communities.
Former President Obama and Michelle Obama called on Americans to recognize the dangers of the increasingly violent Immigration and Customs Enforcement crack-downs in the wake of the deadly shooting of an ICU nurse in Minneapolis.
“The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy,” the Obamas wrote in a lengthy statement posted on social media. “It should also be a wake up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.”
Pretti, a 37-year-old Department of Veterans Affairs nurse, was seen using his cellphone to record ICE members deploying Saturday morning in a snowy Minneapolis neighborhood. Witness videos show federal immigration agents shoving a woman and Pretti coming to her assistance. He was then pushed and doused with a chemical spray, then tackled to the ground. He was shot 10 times.
On Sunday, demonstrations occurred across the country to protest the tactics of federal immigration agents and comments by President Trump and others in his administration. Several administration officials seemed to blame Pretti for his death because he was carrying a weapon during a protest.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara on Sunday almost begged for calm for his city that has witnessed hundreds of ICE agents moving in. O’Hara told CBS News “this is not sustainable,” and that his officers were stretched thin trying to contain “all of this chaos.”
“This has to stop,” the Obamas wrote.
“Federal law enforcement and immigration agents have a tough job,” the Obamas wrote. “But Americans expect them to carry out their duties in a lawful, accountable way, and to work with, rather than against, state and local officials to ensure public safety.
“That’s not what we’re seeing in Minnesota. In fact, we’re seeing the opposite,” the former first couple wrote.
On Sunday, protests grew as people watched cellphone video captured by bystanders of Pretti’s shooting.
Pretti’s parents, Susan and Michael Pretti, in a statement reported by the Associated Press, described their son as “a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital.”
His shooting comes less than three weeks after an ICE agent shot an unarmed mother, Renee Nicole Good, in another Minneapolis neighborhood. The agency said she was attempting to harm an ICE agent although video of the incident appears to show her turning the wheel of her SUV away from the agent when he shot her in the face.
“For weeks now, people across the country have been rightly outraged by the spectacle of masked ICE recruits and other federal agents acting with impunity and engaging in tactics that seem designed to intimidate, harass, provoke and endanger the residents of a major American city,” the Obamas wrote, describing such methods as “unprecedented tactics.”
“The President and current administration officials seem eager to escalate the situation, while offering public explanations for the shootings of Mr. Pretti and Renee Good that aren’t informed by any serious investigation — and that appear to be directly contradicted by video evidence,” the Obamas wrote.
They called on Trump administration officials to “reconsider their approach” and work constructively with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other state and local authorities “to avert more chaos and achieve legitimate law enforcement goals.”
“In the meantime, every American should support and draw inspiration from the wave of peaceful protests in Minneapolis and other parts of the country,” the Obamas wrote. “They are a timely reminder that ultimately it’s up to each of us as citizens to speak out against injustice, protect our basic freedoms, and hold our government accountable.”
A federal appellate court ruled on Friday that the Justice Department has established probable cause to charge five people, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon, in connection with an anti-ICE protest inside a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, but it refused to order a lower court judge to sign the arrest warrants being sought by prosecutors, according to court filings and multiple sources familiar with the matter.
The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which was unsealed Saturday, came about after the Justice Department asked the appellate court to compel the U.S. District Court in Minnesota to sign five arrest warrants over civil rights charges alleging the defendants were unlawfully interfering with the churchgoers’ constitutionally-protected freedom to practice religion.
The ruling made public on Saturday did not identify the names of the five defendants for whom the Justice Department is seeking arrest warrants, but multiple sources confirmed to CBS that Lemon is one of them.
A spokesperson for Lemon had no immediate comment on the ruling.
CBS News reported on Thursday that Magistrate Judge Doug Micko had refused to sign an arrest warrant for Lemon, who attended the protest at the church and interviewed the pastor.
Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said Thursday that the magistrate’s actions “confirm the nature of Don’s First Amendment protected work this weekend in Minnesota as a reporter,” and slammed the Justice Department for what he called “a stunning and troubling effort to silence and punish a journalist for doing his job.”
Three people so far have been charged in connection with the protest on Sunday, when demonstrators entered St. Paul’s Cities Church after discovering that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official appeared to be one of the pastors at the church.
The criminal compliant shows that several defendants were also charged, but their names are redacted after the magistrate declined to sign the arrest warrants over concerns about a lack of probable cause.
Micko also separately declined to approve some of the charges for the three defendants who were arrested, also citing a lack of probable cause.
In court filings to the Eighth Circuit, Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz for the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota said that Micko only found probable cause on three of the eight arrest warrants presented to him by the department on Jan. 20. When he declined to sign the other five, Minnesota’s U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen personally called the court and demanded that his decision be reviewed by a district court judge.
The matter was ultimately assigned to Schiltz.
“What the U.S. Attorney requested is unheard of in our district,” he wrote. He told the department he needed more time to confer with other judges because it was such an unusual demand, and it would normally be addressed by the Justice Department either re-submitting an improved affidavit with the criminal complaint, or by seeking a grand jury indictment.
Although he told the department he would render a decision by Tuesday, the department claimed that was too late. Citing national security concerns, he said the Justice Department claimed that getting the five warrants signed was an emergency, and if he did not act urgently, then “copycats will invade churches and synagogues” this weekend. He said the department claimed he must accept their national security concerns as true “because they said it, and they are the government.”
He added that he disagrees with their claims, noting that the worst behavior alleged against the protestors is that they were “yelling horrible things.”
“None committed any acts of violence,” he wrote. “There is absolutely no emergency.”
In its opinion, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said that while they believe the department has established probable cause to justify the arrests, they did not believe the Justice Department’s claim that it “has no other adequate means of obtaining the requested relief.”
It is not immediately clear what the Justice Department will do next. It could draft new affidavits in support of the charges and re-present them to a magistrate judge, or it could also potentially seek grand jury indictments instead.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, a force which was key in putting down recent nationwide protests in a crackdown that left thousands dead, is “more ready than ever, finger on the trigger,” its commander said Saturday, as U.S. warships headed toward the Middle East.
Nournews, a news outlet close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported on its Telegram channel that the commander, Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, warned the United States and Israel “to avoid any miscalculation.”
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guards and dear Iran stand more ready than ever, finger on the trigger, to execute the orders and directives of the Commander-in-Chief,” Nournews quoted Pakpour as saying.
Tension remains high between Iran and the U.S. in the wake of a bloody crackdown on protests that began on Dec. 28, triggered by the collapse of Iran’s currency, the rial, and swept the country for about two weeks.
President Trump has repeatedly warned Tehran, setting two red lines for the use of military force: the killing of peaceful demonstrators and the mass execution of people arrested in the protests.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly said Iran halted the execution of 800 people detained in the protests. He has not elaborated on the source of the claim — which Iran’s top prosecutor, Mohammad Movahedi, strongly denied Friday in comments carried by the judiciary’s Mizan news agency.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump said aboard Air Force One that the U.S. was moving warships toward Iran “just in case” he wants to take action.
“We have a massive fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it,” Mr. Trump said.
A U.S. Navy official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said Thursday that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships traveling with it were in the Indian Ocean.
Mr. Trump also mentioned the multiple rounds of talks American officials had with Iran over its nuclear program before Israel launched a 12-day war against the Islamic Republic in June, which also saw U.S. warplanes bomb Iranian nuclear sites. He threatened Iran with military action that would make earlier U.S. strikes against Iranian uranium enrichment sites “look like peanuts.”
“They should have made a deal before we hit them,” Mr. Trump said.
The tension has led at least two European airlines to suspend some flights to the wider region.
U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in San Diego Bay.
Kevin Carter/Getty Images
Air France canceled two return flights from Paris to Dubai over the weekend. The airline said it was “closely following developments in the Middle East in real time and continuously monitors the geopolitical situation in the territories served and overflown by its aircraft in order to ensure the highest level of flight safety and security.” It said it would resume its service to Dubai later Saturday.
Luxair said it had postponed its Saturday flight from Luxembourg to Dubai by 24 hours “in light of ongoing tensions and insecurity affecting the region’s airspace, and in line with measures taken by several other airlines.”
It told the AP it was closely monitoring the situation “and a decision on whether the flight will operate tomorrow will be taken based on the ongoing assessment.”
Arrivals information at Dubai’s international airport also showed the cancellation of Saturday flights from Amsterdam by Dutch carriers KLM and Transavia. The airlines did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Some KLM flights to Tel Aviv in Israel were also canceled on Friday and Saturday, according to online flight trackers.
Although there have been no further demonstrations in Iran for days, the death toll reported by activists has continued to rise as information trickles out despite the most comprehensive internet blackout in Iran’s history, which has now lasted more than two weeks.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency on Saturday put the death toll at 5,137, with the number expected to increase. More than 27,700 people have been arrested, it said.
The group’s figures have been accurate in previous unrest and rely on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths. That death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest there in decades, and recalls the chaos surrounding Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran’s government offered its first death toll on Wednesday, saying 3,117 people were killed. It said 2,427 were civilians and security forces, and labeled the rest as “terrorists.” In the past, Iran’s theocracy has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest.
Two activists arrested in connection with a protest at a church where the leader of a local Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office serves as a pastor were released from custody on Friday afternoon.
The protest happened Sunday, as a group joined the Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, before chanting “ICE out” and “justice for Renee Good.”
Former Twin Cities NAACP president Nekima Levy Armstrong, St. Paul School Board member Chauntyll Louisa Allen and William Kelly were arrested Thursday, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
CBS News learned that Levy Armstrong and Allen were released from law enforcement custody at the Sherburne County Jail in Elk River, Minnesota, on Friday.
The Racial Justice Network, a grassroots organization led by Levy Armstrong, said in a social media post that federal judges ordered the “immediate release” of her and Allen. The group also posted a seven-minute video of Levy Armstrong’s arrest.
It’s unknown whether officials have ordered Kelly’s release.
Bondi cited 18 U.S. Code § 241 in her announcement, and said it pertained to when “two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States.”
“I surrendered myself peacefully, deliberately, and with intention,” Levy Armstrong said in a written statement about her arrest. “I demanded dignity, humanity, and respect, not just for myself, but for every person who has ever been brutalized, silenced, or disappeared by unchecked government power. We stood in protest because families are being torn apart, communities terrorized, and constitutional rights trampled. And we will not be intimidated into silence.”
Cities Church is seen in St. Paul, Minn. where activists shut down a service claiming the pastor was also working as an ICE agent, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026 in St. Paul, Minn.
Angelina Katsanis / AP
Levy Armstrong, who is also an ordained minister, wrote about the protest on Facebook, saying, “It’s time for judgement to begin and it will begin in the House of God!!!”
Dozens of faith leaders were arrested while protesting at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Friday, organizers say, as part of an effort to call for an end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in the area.
The protesters were calling on airlines, particularly Delta and Signature Aviation, to “stand with Minnesotans in calling for ICE to immediately end its surge in the state.”
They say an estimated 2,000 people have been deported through the airport. Metropolitan Airports Commission leaders say they cannot legally restrict access to the airport for public or private aircraft operations.
Protesters sang and prayed together while sharing the stories of people who have been detained by ICE. During the protest, roughly 100 clergy members were arrested, organizers said.
The Metropolitan Airports Commission said it worked in advance with event organizers and provided a permit that determined a maximum number of protesters who could attend. The number of people in attendance “went beyond the agreed-upon terms,” MAC said.
Airport police arrested approximately 100 people, MAC said, who were issued misdemeanor citations for trespassing and failing to comply with an officer.
Rev. Mariah Tollgaard, senior pastor of Hamline Church United Methodist in St. Paul, Minnesota, was one of the people arrested. She said that she felt it was her religious duty as a Christian to stand up for her neighbors amidst what she described as a federal occupation of her state.
“This is an extreme moment in Minnesota, Tollgaard said. “The [Trump] administration would like us just to comply and let them do what they say they need to do, but we have seen time and time again they are arresting U.S. citizens, they are arresting people who have permission to be here.”
A Minnesota federal magistrate judge refused to sign a complaint charging independent journalist Don Lemon in connection with a protest inside a church in St. Paul on Sunday, multiple sources familiar with the proceedings told CBS News.
“The attorney general is enraged at the magistrate’s decision,” said a source familiar with the matter. Attorney General Pam Bondi has been in Minnesota for two days, as the Justice Department has sought to surge prosecutorial and law enforcement resources there.
A different source stressed that the process is not over, and the Justice Department could find other avenues to charge Lemon.
The magistrate judge who declined to approve charges for Lemon was Douglas Micko, sources told CBS News. Micko previously worked as a federal public defender.
Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement Thursday that the magistrate’s actions “confirm the nature of Don’s First Amendment protected work this weekend in Minnesota as a reporter.”
“Should the Department of Justice continue with a stunning and troubling effort to silence and punish a journalist for doing his job, Don will call out their latest attack on the rule of law and fight any charges vigorously and thoroughly in court,” Lowell said.
The government had hoped to charge Lemon along with a raft of other people who participated in the protest at the church.
On Thursday morning, Bondi announced two arrests connected to the church protests — Chauntyll Louisa Allen, who serves on the St. Paul School Board, and Nekima Levy Armstrong. Bondi alleged that Armstrong was involved in organizing the protest. Bondi later said a third person, William Kelly, was arrested.
Allen and Armstrong both appeared in federal court in St. Paul on Thursday, where they were each charged with violating a civil rights law that prohibits two or more people from conspiring to interfere with constitutionally protected rights, like the free practice of religion.
Micko, who presided over Thursday’s hearing, declined to approve a second criminal charge against the two local activists that accused them of violating a provision in the FACE Act which makes it a crime to use force, threats, or physical obstruction to injure, intimidate, or interfere with a person who is exercising their First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of worship.
In a copy of an arrest warrant against Allen obtained by CBS News, the second charge was physically crossed off, with “NO PROBABLE CAUSE” written in the margin. An attorney for Armstrong said that the magistrate judge also crossed off a charge on her arrest warrant.
Tension was evident during Thursday’s hearing to review the arrests. Just minutes after Micko began the hearing, federal prosecutors conceded they had yet to provide copies of the arrest warrants to the two women arrested and their attorneys.
“We can get them,” Robert Keenan, an attorney in the Civil Rights Division, told the judge.
Micko then ordered a recess and vowed not to proceed until that happened, prompting audible gasps and some cheers from those in attendance watching in overflow rooms.
When proceedings restarted, the Justice Department’s request for Armstrong and Allen to be detained was swiftly denied, as were their requests for detention hearings.
Keenan argued that the allegations involved “crimes of violence,” but Micko shot back that he didn’t see “any threat or use of force.”
Ultimately, both Armstrong and Allen were ordered to be released on condition they remain in Minnesota, stay off the church’s property and avoid contact with any witness or victim.
But later Thursday, defense attorneys told CBS News that both Armstrong and Allen would not be released pending the Justice Department’s plan to appeal and seek their detention.
“This is the due process for the prosecution that doesn’t seem to happen to folks we try to get out of Whipple [Federal Building] or any other f***ing jail in this city,” lamented attorney James Cook, who represents Allen.
A judge is expected to make a ruling on the Justice Department’s appeal on Friday.
Prosecutors also asked that the criminal complaints remain sealed despite the very public nature of the case — a motion that was approved for 24 hours.
The two federal prosecutors who appeared in the courtroom are not from Minnesota.
Before joining the Civil Rights Division, Keenan previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, where he argued that a local deputy sheriff convicted of civil rights violations should have his conviction on the felony counts struck and should not serve prison time. The efforts to strike the felony conviction led several prosecutors on the case to resign in protest.
Most recently, he was dispatched to Louisville to handle the sentencing for a former Louisville police officer who was convicted of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights, where he asked the judge to impose a sentence of just one day.
Orlando Sonza, a former congressional candidate from Ohio, was tapped by Mr. Trump to work in the Civil Rights Division last summer.
Protesters against ICE enter St. Paul church service
Protesters said they entered St. Paul’s Cities Church on Sunday, after discovering that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official appeared to be one of the pastors at the church.
Protests and clashes between some residents and federal immigration officers in the Twin Cities have been occurring daily since the Trump administration deployed thousands of ICE and Border Patrol agents to the area. Among other demands, protesters have called for accountability in the death of Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and Minneapolis resident who was fatally shot by an ICE officer on Jan. 7.
Lemon, a former CNN anchor, attended the protest, which interrupted the Sunday service,prompting congregants and their families to leave.
In an interview with the pastor, Lemon said, “There’s a Constitution and a First Amendment, and freedom of speech and freedom to assemble and protest.”
Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, has publicly hinted that Lemon could potentially face charges for his role in disrupting the service.
Being a journalist “is not a badge or a shield that protects you from criminal consequences,” she said during an appearance on the “Benny Show,” hosted by far-right podcaster Benny Johnson.
Dhillon declined to comment when reached by CBS News.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., faced similar hurdles last year, after President Trump flooded the streets with federal agents as part of an initiative to crack down on violent crime.
Prosecutors in U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office were ordered to pursue every case as a federal offense when possible – a plan that backfired as the Justice Department began to see grand juries reject charges and magistrate judges push back on cases they viewed as flimsy or that contained constitutional defects.
In an Oct. 8, 2025, opinion, Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia revealed that over the course of eight weeks since the crime surge began in August, the government moved to dismiss 21% of all cases that were charged by criminal complaint.
That statistic is “shocking,” he wrote, compared with the 0.5% of cases charged by criminal complaint that the government dismissed in the district over the past decade.
On Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of protesters walked out of school and off the job to march in downtown Los Angeles and decry President Trump’s actions during his first year back in office.
The “Free America Walkout” at Los Angeles City Hall was among dozens of rallies taking place across Southern California and the nation. The event was coordinated by the Women’s March and intended to demonstrate opposition to violent ICE raids, the increased presence of military personnel in cities, families harmed by Trump’s immigration policies and escalating attacks on transgender rights.
Hundreds of protesters marched along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. Among the slogans on their signs: “Democracy doesn’t fear protest, dictators do” and “We choose freedom over facism.” Meanwhile, similar marches took place in Burbank, Long Beach and Santa Monica. Scores of students at Garfield and Roosevelt high schools in East L.A. ditched class to join the downtown rally.
“I just don’t know if he’s [Trump] actually done anything that is positive,” downtown protester Mario Noguera told ABC7 News. “Everything’s been about depleting everything: resources, rights. I just don’t feel like we’re getting anywhere.”
The walkout took place on the anniversary of Trump’s inauguration, an event he commemorated with a nearly two-hour news conference in which he called his first year in office “an amazing period of time” where his administration accomplished more than any other in history.
“We have a book that I’m not going to read to you, but these are the accomplishments of what we’ve produced, page after page after page of individual things,” Trump said, holding up a thick stack of papers. “I could sit here, read it for a week, and we wouldn’t be finished.”
The Free America Walkout began at 2 p.m. local time in cities across the U.S. and was designed to differ from mass weekend actions such as the No Kings protests by deliberately taking place during the workday.
“A walkout interrupts business as usual,” stated organizers. “It makes visible how much our labor, participation, and cooperation are taken for granted — and what happens when we withdraw them together.”
In downtown L.A., protesters condemned the effects of ICE raids locally as well as in Minneapolis, where a federal agent recently shot and killed wife and mother Renee Good.
Roxanne Hoge, chairman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, criticized the stream of local anti-Trump protests on Tuesday.
“Their boring, predictable tantrums are now part of the L.A. landscape, much like the dilapidated RVs and dangerous encampments that their policies result in,” Hoge told the LA Daily News. “We are interested in good governance and public safety, and wish our Democrat friends would join us in advocating for both.”
CBS News polling shows the majority of Americans think ICE is making communities less safe. The new data comes in the wake of the deadly shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer and the mass protests in Minneapolis that have followed. CBS News executive director of elections and surveys Anthony Salvanto unpacks the findings.
(FOX40.COM) — Police are investigating after a man said he was assaulted while protesting ICE in downtown Sacramento.
Scott Stauffer told FOX40 that a group of “MAGA” supporters showed up around 3 p.m. Saturday when he was protesting alongside a few others outside the John E. Moss Federal Building, which houses the Sacramento Immigration Court and has faced criticism from local leaders over its use as an ICE detention facility.
“They show up [with] 20 trucks, take up this whole road,” Stauffer said. “I don’t know what they got upset over.”
At first, a few people broke Stauffer’s car windshield, he said. When he fought back, Stauffer said the group then beat him with baseball bats and metal implements, wrestled him to the ground and “bear sprayed” him. A video(warning: graphic content and language) posted to social media by 916 Today shows Stauffer being beaten by a group of at least six people while the street is blocked by a large number of vehicles, many of which flew American flags.
“I got hit with the bat a couple times in the ribs,” Stauffer said. “Other than that, I’m sore from wrestling… No busted mouth; I didn’t go to the hospital. Just the ribs [are] sore.”
Stauffer believes there was “intent” behind the alleged assault: “You don’t come out that deep and just cruise around.”
The Sacramento Police Department told FOX40 that officers responded to the alleged assault on the 500 block of N St just before 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, but the suspects had already fled. The department said officers have investigated and are “actively conducting follow-up.”
“The Sacramento Police Department continues to monitor demonstrations and responds to them as necessary,” the department said in a statement. “While we support and protect individuals’ First Amendment rights to lawfully protest, the safety of everyone involved remains our priority. Acts of physical assault will not be tolerated.”
Stauffer told FOX40 he grew up in Los Angeles and has traveled to various cities for protests and rallies. He’s been in Sacramento for the past month, he said, to support friends and family and show his opposition to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — “we want to get ICE out.”
“We’re tired of people being separated from families,” Stauffer said. “We’re tired of all the horrible stuff that’s going on.”
A GoFundMe has already raised nearly $6,000 to help Stauffer, who called the community support “overwhelming.”
Despite what happened, Stauffer returned to the Moss Federal Building on Monday — despite fear that incidents like the alleged assault will continue.
“This is where we are. It’s happening. People are being attacked daily in different cities, all the time,” he said. “It’s not a fear of, ‘Is it going to happen?’ It’s the fear of, ‘How far are they willing to take it?’”
Some 1,500 active-duty soldiers have been placed on standby for possible deployment to Minneapolis, a defense official confirmed to CBS News, as tensions in the city have mounted after a woman was fatally shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
Deploying the soldiers, from the 11th Airborne Division at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska, is one option for which the military is planning in case President Trump decides to use active-duty military personnel to respond to the ongoing demonstrations, the official said. No decision has been made on whether to deploy the soldiers.
Asked about the preparations, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said, “The Department of War is always prepared to execute the orders of the Commander-in-Chief if called upon.”
ABC News was first to report that the soldiers were on standby.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz also mobilized the state’s National Guard on Saturday, although guard members had not yet been deployed to city streets, CBS News Minnesota reported. Walz had issued a warning order earlier this month to prepare guard members for mobilization, after an ICE officer shot and killed Renee Good on Jan. 7.
“We are doing the work to keep people safe in our city, and, specifically, it is our local police officers, it is the state of Minnesota and our governor,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday. “We are doing everything possible to keep the peace, notwithstanding this occupying force that has quite literally invaded our city.”
In addition to the recent surge of immigration agents, Mr. Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, a law dating back to the 1790s that would allow him to send federal troops into Minneapolis. The president said he would invoke the act if Minnesota politicians “don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job.”
That move could catalyze a major escalation in the tensions between Minnesota officials and the federal government, which had already sent thousands of federal law enforcement agents to the state in recent weeks as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Mr. Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act before, during his first term and previously during his current one, but he has never actually used it.
The Minneapolis Police Department said Saturday that demonstrators had remained peaceful and lawful in the presence of federal immigration agents, CBS Minnesota reported.
“Today, when crowds blocked roadways, vehicles were used to block roadways, MPD deployed resources and made public announcements for people move to the sidewalk or out of the area. This occurred several times. In general, crowds were responsive to those directives,” the department said in a statement, urging community members involved in the protests to continue to demonstrate peacefully.