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Tag: Protest

  • Target’s incoming CEO breaks silence on Minneapolis violence near HQ—read his full statement | Fortune

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    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.

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    Jacqueline Munis

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  • Obamas condemn federal immigration agents’ conduct: ‘This has to stop’

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    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 said Pretti had a license to carry a concealed weapon; gun rights groups have decried some administration rhetoric and called for a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding Pretti’s death.

    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.”

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    Meg James

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  • U.S. appeals court sees probable cause to charge journalist Don Lemon, but declines to order lower court to sign arrest warrants

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    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.

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  • Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has its “finger on the trigger,” leader says, as U.S. warships head toward Middle East

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    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.

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  • 2 activists arrested in protest at St. Paul church released

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    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!!!”

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    Aki Nace

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  • Clergy members arrested at MSP while protesting ICE in Minneapolis

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    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. 

    Union members also said 12 airport workers have been arrested by ICE. 

    WCCO


    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.”

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  • Minnesota magistrate judge rejects charges against Don Lemon over anti-ICE church protest, blocks some charges for 2 protesters

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    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.

    Scott MacFarlane

    contributed to this report.

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  • Anti-Trump protesters join ‘Free America’ walkout in downtown L.A. and across SoCal

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    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.”

    Among the list of accomplishments he touted were his tariffs, his immigration crackdown, the economy and his actions in Gaza and Venezuela.

    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.

    Organizers said that, whereas protests demonstrate collective anger, walkouts demonstrate collective power.

    “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.

    Earlier this month, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Los Angeles as part of the “ICE Out for Good” weekend of action, a national protest movement in response to Good’s killing.

    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.”

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  • 1/19: The Takeout with Major Garrett

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    1/19: The Takeout with Major Garrett – CBS News









































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    Minneapolis ICE protests continue in face of Trump’s Insurrection Act threat; Indiana and Miami students reflect on lead-up to football championship.

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  • 1/19: CBS Evening News

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    Lake effect snow sweeps Eastern U.S.; Trump ties Greenland threat to perceived Nobel Peace Prize snub.

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  • Most Americans say ICE makes communities less safe, CBS News poll finds

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    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.

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  • Alleged assault of anti-ICE protester under investigation by Sacramento PD

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    (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?’”

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  • 1,500 active-duty soldiers placed on standby for possible deployment to Minneapolis

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    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.

    Eleanor Watson

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  • Minnesota officials ask protesters to stay peaceful ahead of weekend demonstrations in the state

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    Another legal expert weighs in on DOJ investigation into Walz, Frey, calls it a “stretch”

    Legal expert Joe Tamburino joined WCCO on Saturday morning and weighed in on the federal investigation into Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. 

    He called the Department of Justice’s investigation a “stretch,” called for calm and talked next steps. 



    Legal expert talks DOJ investigation into Gov. Tim Walz, Mayor Jacob Frey

    05:57

     

    Law expert weighs in on federal investigation into Walz, Frey

    Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey are under federal investigation over an alleged conspiracy to impede federal immigration agents, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.

    One of the sources, a U.S. official, said the investigation stems from statements that Walz and Frey have made about the thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents deployed to the Minneapolis region in recent weeks.  

    Subpoenas are likely to be issued in the probe, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.  

    Professor David Schultz, a First Amendment law expert with Hamline University and University of St. Thomas School of Law, said he doesn’t expect the investigation to hold much water. 

    Schultz explained that public comments from both Walz and Frey fall under protected speech, noting that the bar would be incredibly high if the federal government is attempting to argue that either of them have verbally encouraged a “real overt act of obstruction.” 

    “There’s no case on record, let us say in the modern history of the First Amendment, that has taken mere criticism to be equivalent to obstruction of justice,” Schultz said, adding that it’s no surprise to him that President Trump is using the DOJ to further complicate life for Walz and other Minnesota officials.   

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    Safeguard document helping families prepare in case of ICE arrest

    Families impacted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests are worried about the safety and well-being of those left behind. 

    Scarlett, A 2-year-old girl, is living in a haven in Minnesota thanks to a Delegation of Parental Authority form.

    [Read more]  

     

    Minnesota safety commissioner on weekend protests: “We want to be there to be helpful”

    Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobsen says his agency and other state officials are aware and prepared for the planned protests this weekend. 

    “We want to be there to be helpful. We want to be there to keep the peace and, again, let’s be Minnesotans. Let’s be those who want to do this the right way, to demonstrate, to share your opinions, to share your values, to share your thoughts, but to do it in a way that doesn’t incite violence, that doesn’t bring anymore harm,” Jacobsen said in a news conference on Friday afternoon. 

    That includes one that could come through downtown Minneapolis, as well as a counter protest planned in the same area. 

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    New details in death of Minneapolis ICE shooting victim; Winter storm wreaks havoc on Northeast

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  • Minnesota officials ask protesters to stay peaceful ahead of weekend demonstrations in the state

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    Law expert weighs in on federal investigation into Walz, Frey

    Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey are under federal investigation over an alleged conspiracy to impede federal immigration agents, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.

    One of the sources, a U.S. official, said the investigation stems from statements that Walz and Frey have made about the thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents deployed to the Minneapolis region in recent weeks.  

    Subpoenas are likely to be issued in the probe, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.  

    Professor David Schultz, a First Amendment law expert with Hamline University and University of St. Thomas School of Law, said he doesn’t expect the investigation to hold much water. 

    Schultz explained that public comments from both Walz and Frey fall under protected speech, noting that the bar would be incredibly high if the federal government is attempting to argue that either of them have verbally encouraged a “real overt act of obstruction.” 

    “There’s no case on record, let us say in the modern history of the First Amendment, that has taken mere criticism to be equivalent to obstruction of justice,” Schultz said, adding that it’s no surprise to him that President Trump is using the DOJ to further complicate life for Walz and other Minnesota officials.   

    [Read more]

     

    Safeguard document helping families prepare in case of ICE arrest

    Families impacted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests are worried about the safety and well-being of those left behind. 

    Scarlett, A 2-year-old girl, is living in a haven in Minnesota thanks to a Delegation of Parental Authority form.

    [Read more]  

     

    Minnesota safety commissioner on weekend protests: “We want to be there to be helpful”

    Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobsen says his agency and other state officials are aware and prepared for the planned protests this weekend. 

    “We want to be there to be helpful. We want to be there to keep the peace and, again, let’s be Minnesotans. Let’s be those who want to do this the right way, to demonstrate, to share your opinions, to share your values, to share your thoughts, but to do it in a way that doesn’t incite violence, that doesn’t bring anymore harm,” Jacobsen said in a news conference on Friday afternoon. 

    That includes one that could come through downtown Minneapolis, as well as a counter protest planned in the same area. 

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  • Judge rules federal agents can’t arrest or use pepper spray on peaceful protesters in Minneapolis

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    A Minnesota federal judge put limits Friday on the tactics that federal law enforcement are permitted to use in their handling of the ongoing protests in Minneapolis over the Trump administration’s surge of immigration resources to the city. 

    In an 83-page order, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez blocked federal agents who are deployed to Minnesota as part of the Trump administration’s immigration operations from using pepper spray or nonlethal munitions on, or arresting, peaceful protesters.

    The order also bars federal law enforcement from stopping or detaining drivers and passengers when there is “no reasonable articulable suspicion” that people driving near protests are forcibly interfering with law enforcement operations.

    Menendez, nominated to the bench by former President Joe Biden in 2021, called some of the allegations against agents “disturbing.” She cited descriptions provided to the court by protesters that law enforcement had threatened to break drivers’ windows, waited for protesters outside their homes, followed protesters to their homes or told the protesters they knew where they lived.

    “There may be ample suspicion to stop cars, and even arrest drivers engaged in dangerous conduct while following immigration enforcement officers, but that does not justify stops of cars not breaking the law,” Menendez wrote, adding she is “mindful” that the ongoing protest activity in the state is “somewhat unique.”

    “There is little discussion in the caselaw about situations like the ones playing out all over the Twin Cities, in which small groups of protesters are mobile and gather wherever immigration officers are attempting to make arrests or otherwise enforce immigration law,” Menendez wrote.

    Menendez’s order will remain in effect until the recent mass surge of federal law enforcement to Minneapolis concludes.

    Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement responding to the ruling that the agency “is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.” She said agents have faced assaults, vandalism and other threats, but have “followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary.”

    “We remind the public that rioting is dangerous—obstructing law enforcement is a federal crime and assaulting law enforcement is a felony,” McLaughlin said.

    The ruling follows a weekslong uptick in immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis. Thousands of federal agents have been deployed to the area to seek out those suspected of being in the U.S. illegally and to investigate allegations of fraud in Minnesota.

    The operations have drawn tense protests that were amplified after Renee Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent last week. In some cases, protesters and agents have clashed, with agents being reported using pepper spray.

    A group of Minnesota protesters sued the Department of Homeland Security last month, alleging federal agents had “violently subdued” demonstrations against the agency’s immigration enforcement actions. The plaintiffs accused the government of engaging in a “campaign of constitutional violations” by infringing on protesters’ First Amendment right to free speech and Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizures.

    Menendez found Friday that several of the protesters were likely to succeed in showing that their First and Fourth Amendment rights were violated after federal law enforcement personnel arrested them or sprayed chemical irritants at them.

    Attorneys for the federal government earlier this month denied any constitutional violations, arguing that federal agents have needed to use pepper spray and arrests to quell “violent, obstructive, dangerous, and often criminal behavior” that has impeded immigration operations. They accused several of the plaintiffs of obstructing, assaulting or attempting to assault federal officers, or following ICE vehicles.

    The Trump administration has also accused local officials who have strongly criticized the immigration operations of stoking chaos. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey are both under federal investigation for an alleged conspiracy to impede immigration agents, CBS News reported earlier Friday. 

    Both officials have denounced the probe, with Walz accusing the administration of “threatening political opponents” and Frey calling it an “obvious attempt to intimidate me.” 

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    Tensions flare in Minneapolis after second shooting involving ICE agent; U.S. seizes sixth oil tanker linked to Venezuela

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  • What is the Insurrection Act and how could Trump use it to stop protesters in Minneapolis?

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    President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minneapolis to stop protesters with military force. “The Daily Report” explores what this would allow the president to do, and CBS News’ Jessica Levinson has more legal analysis.

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  • Kurdish Iranian opposition in Iraq ready to take on regime, but says not yet, as Trump steps back from threats

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    In the mountains of northern Iraq, just 30 miles from the Iranian border, CBS News met Thursday morning with fighters — many of them women — from an armed Kurdish Iranian opposition group who say they’re poised to take on and help topple the Islamic Republic’s hardline clerical rulers.

    The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) is banned as a terror group inside Iran and based in exile across the border in Iraq. For years it has trained for the day the Iranian regime can be ousted from power. But as President Trump appears to step back from threats of a U.S. military intervention on behalf of Iran’s protesters, the Kurdish group’s leader told CBS News that time has not yet come.

    President Trump said Wednesday that he’d heard on “good authority” that the “killing in Iran is stopping” and that there was “no plan for executions” in the country following a brutal crackdown to end two weeks of widespread protests. Sources inside Iran have told CBS News the Iranian authorities’ crackdown may have killed upwards of 12,000 people, and possibly many more.

    People gather during an anti-government protest in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 8, 2026.

    Anonymous/Getty


    His remarks appeared to signal a step back from repeated warnings of an unspecified U.S. intervention to protect protesters, and then a threat on Tuesday to order “very strong actions” if Iran hanged protesters.

    That may not have been the signal from Washington that the PDKI forces training across the border in Iraq were hoping for.

    Commander Sayran Gargoli told CBS News the protests had given them hope that the oppressive regime that came to power with the 1979 Islamic Revolution might finally be toppled, but only “if the people who are demonstrating on the street get international help.”

    PDKI leader Mustafa Hijri has lived in exile for more than four decades, and he’s watched as Iran’s rulers quash several rounds of major unrest. As the latest protests seem to suffer the same fate, he said he couldn’t say for sure whether this uprising might prove pivotal.

    “It depends on if the widespread killing will continue or not. If it continues, for sure the demonstrators will not be able to continue. On the other hand, there are other possible scenarios, like America gets into negotiations with the regime of mullahs and forces them to accept its conditions. In this case, the regime will manage to extend its existence for some time.”

    iranian-kurdish-mustafa-hijri-kdpi.png

    Mustafa Hijri, leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) armed Iranian opposition group, speaks with CBS News in northern Iraq, where the group is based in exile, Jan. 15, 2026. 

    CBS News/Rob Taylor


    He said he hoped for a U.S. intervention, and specifically, strikes on Iran that “hit the centers of suppressing forces who are shooting people on the streets, and their so-called ‘justice’ institutions that serve the government. We want to see those institutions gone.”

    “The majority of the people in Iran are unhappy with this regime, and they stand against it,” Hijri said.

    But in the absence of such help from abroad, Hijri told CBS News that sending PDKI forces across the border — and calling into action the thousands of forces he says the group has lying in wait inside the country — could backfire dramatically.

    “I believe that it is not in the benefit of the demonstrators at the moment to have armed forces move back in the country, because it becomes a convenient excuse to the regime to kill the people,” he said. “This is why we haven’t reached the moment to make such a decision. But when the day comes, and we come to a conclusion that the return of our peshmerga [Kurdish] forces will not become additional reason to suppress the demonstrators, then we might do that.”

    iranian-kurdish-kdpi-iraq.png

    Members of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), an armed Iranian opposition group based in exile, are seen during an exercise in the mountains of northern Iraq, Jan. 15, 2026.

    CBS News/Rob Taylor


    Hijri said the PDKI wants Kurds, who form about 10% of Iran’s population, and other ethnic minorities to be allowed to live “under democratic law, and that their children are allowed to learn in their own languages, and that the government officially recognizes” their right to do so.

    The opposition fighters, Hijri said, “have been trained, and they are there, ready for when the party needs them.”

    But as Iran’s hardline leaders increasingly appear to have survived yet another significant challenge to their grip on power, at least for now, the PKDI, and millions of Iranians still inside the country, can only keep waiting.

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