A woman from Mexico tells WCCO that she hasn’t left her St. Paul, Minnesota, apartment for the last month. She said it takes courage to even take out the trash.
“We immigrants only want to come to work, to help our families move forward, to support them. Like I said, we didn’t want to come to leave our families,” the woman said.
WCCO agreed not to share her name as she welcomed our crew inside on Sunday. She was receiving a grocery delivery from Bymore Supermercado, which has worked to get food and essential items to immigrants afraid to leave the house for more than two months. The woman said that she is undocumented, first arriving in Minnesota about two years ago in pursuit of a life that she said wasn’t possible to find back home.
“I think we come more out of necessity, and most of us follow all the rules,” she said.
White House border czar Tom Homan announced this past Thursday that Operation Metro Surge was coming to an end, adding that a smaller number of federal agents will stick around to help provide security in the field. He said that day-to-day operations will be transitioning back to the local field office, telling Face the Nation Sunday that about 1,000 agents have left Minnesota. The woman stuck in her apartment in St. Paul says she doesn’t believe any of this is over.
Ramiro Hernandez, the owner of Bymore Supermercado, said that he feels the same way. He felt relieved when he first heard the announcement, but he doesn’t know what it will take to fully believe that life can begin to return to normal for his neighbors. He said that the government has broken any existing trust that it had with people in the community.
“People that is afraid and they don’t want to go outside for different reasons, we go to them,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said that he and his volunteers made more than 30 deliveries on Sunday alone, adding that some of the people staying home have the legal status to be in the United States. Still, he said that means little to people who have seen documented cases of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detaining American citizens during Operation Metro Surge.
Jeff and Charlotte Dische are part of Hernandez’s team. The St. Paul couple said that they have completed about three delivery runs per week for the past month. They said that they didn’t feel comfortable engaging in certain kinds of observation work at their age, but realized that the delivery operation was something they could accomplish.
“It’s not the brave thing that those people are doing out on the streets, but it’s significant. It’s something we can do, and it’s better than sitting around at home and, oh, you know, grinding your teeth and feeling helpless,” Jeff Dische said.
For the woman whose world has become her apartment, she said that she missed the window to be able to apply for asylum. She dreams of one day becoming a teacher and finding a way to own a home.
“We are not criminals. Our only ‘crime’ is not being from the United States. But we are good people,” she said.
Homan said that immigration operations will continue even as additional agents leave the state. A CBS News review of an internal Department of Homeland Security document shows that the vast majority of undocumented immigrants arrested by ICE have not been charged with or convicted of a violent crime. Less than 14% of immigrants arrested by ICE in 2025 had a violent criminal record and 40% had no criminal past at all.
Several people charged in connection with a protest at a Minnesota church whose pastor served as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official are set to be arraigned Friday afternoon in a Minneapolis federal courtroom.
Journalist Don Lemon, who is being represented by former Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy against the right of religious freedom at a place of worship and injuring, intimidating and interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom at a place of worship.
Local activists Chauntyll Allen, Nekima Levy Armstrong and others are also set to give their pleas in Friday’s hearing.
Court documents say the group interrupted services at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, last month. The protesters targeted the church because one of its pastors, David Easterwood, also led the local ICE office.
Legal experts told CBS News they expect the charges against the group to be dismissed. The indictment alleges the disruption violated the FACE Act, which prohibits people from intimidating or interfering with people exercising their constitutional freedom to practice religion. But some former Civil Rights Division lawyers say the charge is constitutionally flawed and has never before been used to prosecute interference in a house of worship.
Before the indictment, a federal magistrate judge in Minnesota refused to sign a complaint charging Lemon in the case.
Several Twin Cities small businesses say Operation Metro Surge has cost them millions of dollars in revenue. Now, they’re asking for the community’s help.
A group of business leaders gathered Friday at Urban Growler in St. Paul, Minnesota, to highlight the dire situation, and make it clear that the time to act is now.
We’re finally getting a look at some of the numbers when it comes to the financial impact of the federal immigration officer influx, with individual businesses losing thousands of dollars a day — while the city of Minneapolis estimates it’s losing $10 million to $20 million in revenue each week.
The city’s Lake Street corridor in particular is down $46 million in revenue between December 2025 and last month, according to city officials.
Community leaders are urging people to use next week as a time to support small businesses, especially shops and restaurants, each day of the week.
They say while this situation is far different from the COVID pandemic, the financial impact is comparable in some ways. But this time, there’s no federal relief money on the way.
“Many of these businesses don’t have months, they have weeks,” said Alex West Steinman, co-founder of The Coven. “If they close, it’s not just bad for business. It’s a devastating blow to Minnesota. It means more people without work, food or community.”
Business leaders Friday say even if federal immigration officers were to leave Minnesota tomorrow, the recovery would take months.
Law enforcement arrested pardoned Jan. 6 insurrectionist and far-right influencer Jake Lang in St. Paul for destroying a sculpture on the front steps of the Capitol on Thursday.
Lang posted a video to social media of him kicking the newly-installed sculpture that reads “prosecute ICE.”
WCCO
A state trooper arrested Lang a short time later near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and University Avenue. He was booked at the Ramsey County Jail for suspicion of criminal damage to property.
In a post to X, Lang claims he is being charged with a felony.
The sculpture had been put up earlier the same day by a group of veterans who were protesting ICE’s ongoing presence in Minnesota.
Jake Lang
Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office
Lang says he plans on holding a rally inside the Minnesota State Capitol on Saturday, but officials say he does not have a permit to do so.
Last month, Lang, who is from Florida, led an anti-Islam rally in Minneapolis, which drew a large crowd of counter-protesters.
Some businesses are struggling amid Operation Metro Surge, but community members in St. Paul are working to keep them afloat.
Margarita Valladares takes the keys and locks the door of El Guanaco as a customer walks out. It’s a routine now, even though the restaurant and bakery in St. Paul is open for business.
“The reason I lock the door is because of the situation we are facing outside,” Valladares said.
Valladares owns the business alongside her husband and says when the immigration crackdown ramped up, sales went down.
“It’s very stressful to write a check to pay a supplier for your basic materials, only to realize you might not have the funds to cover it,” Valladares said.
Valladares says they operate five locations, but right now one is closed. They see far fewer customers and have had to cut hours for their employees.
The Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC) says El Guanaco isn’t the only one impacted by Operation Metro Surge.
“Just hearing their stories… it’s heartbreaking,” said Executive Director Alma Flores. “So the need is urgent, the need is now.”
LEDC is offering $800,000 in grant money to immigrant-owned businesses and says that in a matter of two days, 200 businesses filled out applications. Flores says the money is meant to cover things like rent, payroll and loan payments.
Valladares, originally from El Salvador, says she has been in the country for over 20 years. Her focus now is on keeping her business up and running.
“Our goal is that every difficult situation we face, we have to overcome it—and this is one of them. I tell my husband, ‘We are not going to give up,” Valladares said.
Other groups in the Twin Cities, like The Salt Cure, are also working to support impacted restaurants. The online fund is run through the Minneapolis Foundations and is doling out need-based grants.
Outside the governor’s mansion in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Friday, demonstrators, including many students and teachers, pleaded for Gov. Tim Walz to enact an immediate eviction moratorium to help families impacted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
Students at the protest were standing up for their classmates.
“I’m at the dual language program at the high school I go to, and all of my classmates are home. They’re hiding. They’re afraid. It’s a really noticeable difference to walk into an empty classroom every day,” Josie, a member of the Sunrise Movement, a political organization, said.
The educators pleaded for Walz to help families that are financially crushed by the ICE raids.
“Rent is due on Sunday, Feb. 1, and a lot of our families have been denied the right to work because of ICE occupation and can’t pay their rent,” Kate Peruoco, an educator, said. “Educators are really concerned about our students and their families in this moment, and the governor is the only one who can call a moratorium on eviction, and so we’re here today to ask him to do that.”
Protesters say many immigrant families are in fear for their lives and can’t go to work, while the breadwinners of some other families have been deported, leaving their loved ones financially strained.
“I had this really heartbreaking conversation. She said, ‘I lost my father, brother and husband overnight,’” Viviana Salazar said. “They all lived together and now she’s left with her three kids in an apartment that was a two-bedroom apartment, and she doesn’t know how she’s going to pay her rent.”
Viviana Salazar is the founder of Nuestra Lucha MN, a nonprofit created to uplift and help those in the Hispanic community. WCCO met her at Colonial Market, a business she often partners with to help provide relief to impacted families.
Through Nuestra Lucha, Salazar is fundraising to help these families.
“Rent is not inexpensive, especially in a city,” Salazar said.
Since launching the fundraising program last week, Salazar says she’s raised more than $25,000 and has received at least 20 applications from those looking for assistance.
Journalist Don Lemon was released from custody Friday after he was arrested and hit with federal civil rights charges over his coverage of an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.Lemon was arrested Thursday while across the country in Los Angeles, while another independent journalist and two protest participants were arrested in Minnesota.The arrests brought sharp criticism from news media advocates and civil rights activists including the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said the Trump administration is taking a “sledgehammer” to “the knees of the First Amendment.”The four were indicted on charges of conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers during the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.In federal court in Los Angeles, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Robbins argued for a $100,000 bond, telling a judge that Lemon “knowingly joined a mob that stormed into a church.” He was released, however, without having to post money and was granted permission to travel to France in June while the case is pending.Defense attorney Marilyn Bednarski said Lemon plans to plead not guilty and fight the charges.Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023 following a bumpy run as a morning host, has said he has no affiliation with the organization that went into the church, and he was there as a solo journalist chronicling protesters.“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”Attorney General Pam Bondi promoted the arrests on social media.“Make no mistake. Under President Trump’s leadership and this administration, you have the right to worship freely and safely,” Bondi said in a video posted online. “And if I haven’t been clear already, if you violate that sacred right, we are coming after you.”‘Keep trying’Since he left CNN, Lemon has joined the legion of journalists who have gone into business for themselves, posting regularly on YouTube. He hasn’t hidden his disdain for President Donald Trump. Yet during his online show from the church, he said repeatedly: “I’m not here as an activist. I’m here as a journalist.” He described the scene before him and interviewed churchgoers and demonstrators.A magistrate judge last week rejected prosecutors’ initial bid to charge the veteran journalist. Shortly after, he predicted on his show that the administration would try again.“And guess what,” he said. “Here I am. Keep trying. That’s not going to stop me from being a journalist. That’s not going to diminish my voice. Go ahead, make me into the new Jimmy Kimmel, if you want. Just do it. Because I’m not going anywhere.”Georgia Fort livestreamed the moments before her arrest, telling viewers that agents were at her door and her First Amendment right as a journalist was being diminished.A judge released Fort, Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy on bond, rejecting the Justice Department’s attempt to keep them in custody. Not guilty pleas were entered. Fort’s supporters in the courtroom clapped and whooped.“It’s a sinister turn of events in this country,” Fort’s attorney, Kevin Riach, said in court.Discouraging scrutinyJane Kirtley, a media law and ethics expert at the University of Minnesota, said the federal laws cited by the government were not intended to apply to reporters gathering news.The charges against Lemon and Fort, she said, are “pure intimidation and government overreach.”Some experts and activists said the charges were not only an attack on press freedoms but also a strike against Black Americans who count on Black journalists to bear witness to injustice and oppression.The National Association of Black Journalists said it was “outraged and deeply alarmed” by Lemon’s arrest. The group called it an effort to “criminalize and threaten press freedom under the guise of law enforcement.”Crews is a leader of Black Lives Matter Minnesota who has led many protests and actions for racial justice, particularly following George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis in 2020.“All the greats have been to jail, MLK, Malcom X — people who stood up for justice get attacked,” Crews told The Associated Press. “We were just practicing our First Amendment rights.”Protesters charged previouslyA prominent civil rights attorney and two other people involved in the protest were arrested last week. Prosecutors have accused them of civil rights violations for disrupting the Cities Church service.The Justice Department launched an investigation after the group interrupted services by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.Lundy, a candidate for state Senate, works for the office of Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and is married to a St. Paul City Council member. Lemon briefly interviewed him as they gathered with protesters preparing to drive to the church on Jan. 18.“I feel like it’s important that if you’re going to be representing people in office that you are out here with the people,” Lundy told Lemon, adding he believed in “direct action, certainly within the lines of the law.”Church leaders praise arrests in protestCities Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention and lists one of its pastors as David Easterwood, who leads ICE’s St. Paul field office.“We are grateful that the Department of Justice acted swiftly to protect Cities Church so that we can continue to faithfully live out the church’s mission to worship Jesus and make him known,” lead pastor Jonathan Parnell said.___Richer and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Dave Bauder and Aaron Morrison in New York; Giovanna Dell’Orto, Tim Sullivan, Steve Karnowski and Jack Brook in Minneapolis; and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed.
LOS ANGELES —
Journalist Don Lemon was released from custody Friday after he was arrested and hit with federal civil rights charges over his coverage of an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.
Lemon was arrested Thursday while across the country in Los Angeles, while another independent journalist and two protest participants were arrested in Minnesota. He struck a confident, defiant tone while speaking to reporters after a court appearance in California.
“I have spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now,” Lemon declared.
The arrests brought sharp criticism from news media advocates and civil rights activists including the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said the Trump administration is taking a “sledgehammer” to “the knees of the First Amendment.”
Lemon and others were indicted on charges of conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers during the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.
In federal court in Los Angeles, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Robbins argued for a $100,000 bond, telling a judge that Lemon “knowingly joined a mob that stormed into a church.” He was released, however, without having to post money and was granted permission to travel to France in June while the case is pending.
Defense attorney Marilyn Bednarski said Lemon plans to plead not guilty and fight the charges.
Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023 following a bumpy run as a morning host, has said he has no affiliation to the organization that went into the church and he was there as a solo journalist chronicling protesters.
“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi promoted the arrests on social media.
“Make no mistake. Under President Trump’s leadership and this administration, you have the right to worship freely and safely,” Bondi said in a video posted online. “And if I haven’t been clear already, if you violate that sacred right, we are coming after you.”
‘Keep trying’
Since he left CNN, Lemon has joined the legion of journalists who have gone into business for themselves, posting regularly on YouTube. He hasn’t hidden his disdain for President Donald Trump. Yet during his online show from the church, he said repeatedly: “I’m not here as an activist. I’m here as a journalist.” He described the scene before him and interviewed churchgoers and demonstrators.
A magistrate judge last week rejected prosecutors’ initial bid to charge the veteran journalist. Shortly after, he predicted on his show that the administration would try again.
“And guess what,” he said. “Here I am. Keep trying. That’s not going to stop me from being a journalist. That’s not going to diminish my voice. Go ahead, make me into the new Jimmy Kimmel, if you want. Just do it. Because I’m not going anywhere.”
Georgia Fort livestreamed the moments before her arrest, telling viewers that agents were at her door and her First Amendment right as a journalist was being diminished.
A judge released Fort, Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy on bond, rejecting the Justice Department’s attempt to keep them in custody. Not guilty pleas were entered. Fort’s supporters in the courtroom clapped and whooped.
“It’s a sinister turn of events in this country,” Fort’s attorney, Kevin Riach, said in court.
Discouraging scrutiny
Jane Kirtley, a media law and ethics expert at the University of Minnesota, said the federal laws cited by the government were not intended to apply to reporters gathering news.
The charges against Lemon and Fort, she said, are “pure intimidation and government overreach.”
Some experts and activists said the charges were not only an attack on press freedoms but also a strike against Black Americans who count on Black journalists to bear witness to injustice and oppression.
The National Association of Black Journalists said it was “outraged and deeply alarmed” by Lemon’s arrest. The group called it an effort to “criminalize and threaten press freedom under the guise of law enforcement.”
Crews is a leader of Black Lives Matter Minnesota who has led many protests and actions for racial justice, particularly following George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis in 2020.
“All the greats have been to jail, MLK, Malcom X — people who stood up for justice get attacked,” Crews told The Associated Press. “We were just practicing our First Amendment rights.”
Protesters charged previously
A prominent civil rights attorney and two other people involved in the protest were arrested last week. Prosecutors have accused them of civil rights violations for disrupting the Cities Church service.
The Justice Department launched an investigation after the group interrupted services by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
Lundy, a candidate for state Senate, works for the office of Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and is married to a St. Paul City Council member. Lemon briefly interviewed him as they gathered with protesters preparing to drive to the church on Jan. 18.
“I feel like it’s important that if you’re going to be representing people in office that you are out here with the people,” Lundy told Lemon, adding he believed in “direct action, certainly within the lines of the law.”
Church leaders praise arrests in protest
Cities Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention and lists one of its pastors as David Easterwood, who leads ICE’s St. Paul field office.
“We are grateful that the Department of Justice acted swiftly to protect Cities Church so that we can continue to faithfully live out the church’s mission to worship Jesus and make him known,” lead pastor Jonathan Parnell said.
___
Richer and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Dave Bauder and Aaron Morrison in New York; Giovanna Dell’Orto, Tim Sullivan, Steve Karnowski and Jack Brook in Minneapolis; and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed.
Twenty years ago this week, the Minnesota History Center, in Minneapolis’s twin city, St. Paul, launched an interactive exhibition called “Open House: If These Walls Could Talk.” It was the most elaborate show the museum had ever attempted. Five thousand Minnesotans came out in the frigid January cold on opening weekend to see an actual house that had been reconstructed inside the museum, like a ship in a bottle. Successive generations of Americans—more than fifty families, across more than a century—had lived in the house, at 470 Hopkins Street, wave after wave of newcomers and immigrants, travellers who made Minnesota, and the U.S., their home. The exhibition told their story as the story of America. It won awards, broke records, and changed how museums tell stories. It is also an archive of a lost America.
This weekend, on the streets of Minneapolis, masked agents of the federal government’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency shot and killed another American, a thirty-seven-year-old nurse, Alex Pretti. He, like the poet Renee Good, who was shot and killed by ICE earlier this month, was among thousands of Minnesotans who have taken to the streets, even amid brutally cold temperatures and a howling snowstorm, to protect immigrants in their state from assault, arrest, separation from their families, and deportation. U.S. immigration policy had become a travesty under the Biden Administration. But nothing about repairing that policy justifies the Trump Administration’s savage, vengeful, and unconstitutional “surge” deployment of ICE agents in American cities, their lawless, masked and wanton violence, or their immunity from prosecution. All over the Twin Cities, immigrants, whether they’re in the U.S. legally or not, have been hiding in their houses, afraid to leave, afraid, even, to peer out a window. Is America still home?
“Open House” was spearheaded by the Minnesota History Center curator Benjamin Filene, who is now the deputy director of public history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. “The original idea was that we should do an exhibit about immigration,” Filene says. But he and the design team wanted to put visitors into an actual place and allow them to hear actual voices of actual people. He decided that place should be a house: a container of families and stories and artifacts. He found the house, which is still standing, in a neighborhood called Railroad Island. “No one famous ever slept there,” Filene says. Only ordinary Minnesotans slept there, and sleep there still, if there is still sleep to be had.
Filene and his colleagues tracked down and interviewed everyone they could find who had lived at 470 Hopkins, or who was descended from anyone who lived there, across more than a century. They recorded oral histories; they fabricated period rooms. And then, inside the museum, they built a reimagined version of the house, in which each room featured the furnishings, and the stories, of a different generation of immigrants and newcomers. Two Germans, Albert and Henriette Schumacher, built the house in 1888. You could meet them, and hear their stories, in the sitting room. Then came waves of railroad workers—Scandinavian, Irish, especially—renting rooms in an ever-altering house, subdivided into two units, then three; even the house number changed.. Filene found them in city directories: James Doyle, depot foreman, Northern Pacific Railroad; Frank Appleton, night watchman. Harry and Eva Levey: Mother tongue: Jewish. In the kitchen, if you opened up the oven, you could listen to Michelina Frascone, who immigrated from Naples, in 1931, at the age of eleven, talk about raising seventy-five chickens in the basement. Frascone’s father had worked on the railroad for ten years to save up the money to bring Michelina and her mother to America. Then came the Rust Belt migrants, African Americans who had moved to the Twin Cities from Gary and Chicago and Detroit in the nineteen-eighties, and, finally, the Hmong refugees who had fled postwar Laos, some of whom were still living in the house when its near replica opened in the museum, two miles away.
Every room in the house had interactive features triggered by motion. When you sat down at the dining-room table, Michelina Frascone started telling you the story of her uncle, Filomeno Cocchiarella, who had to go out on Thanksgiving night to repair the railroad tracks. “Please don’t go,” she’d begged him—and he’d got sideswiped, and killed, by a train. In the bedroom, when you sat down on the bed, you heard a man of Scandinavian descent who had married an Italian woman tell the story of how, one night, the bed collapsed—and, as he was telling it, the bed suddenly buckled beneath you. Pang Toua Yang and his wife, Mai Vang, who appeared on a television in the living room, told the story of fleeing Laos with their six children, crossing the Mekong River, and spending years in Thai refugee camps until, four years later, they arrived in Minnesota. Their daughter appeared in the exhibition, too; she became a go-getter realtor, selling homes to more new Americans.
A federal judge said there will be no decision on Monday in Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s bid to end to Operation Metro Surge.
The state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are seeking a temporary restraining order in their lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other Trump administration officials, arguing the influx of thousands of immigration agents to the state has caused “tremendous damage.”
Tricia McLaughlin, U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary, previously called the suit “baseless.”
Judge Kate Menendez, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, said at the end of Monday’s hearing she is going to take the time “to do everything I can to get it right” on whatever final decision she makes.
Menendez was just as skeptical of the rationale of the U.S. Department of Justice and Trump administration for the deployment and the number of federal officers deployed as she was the state’s arguments.
She started off by acknowledging the significance of Monday’s hearing and the weeks-long record of court filings in front of her, but said “most of the complexity … rests on the legal questions” of what Minnesota is asking for in the case and not on the actions of the Trump administration.
Judge Kate Menendez during the hearing in Minneapolis federal court on Jan. 26, 2026.
Cedric Hohnstadt
The plaintiffs’ arguments
Lindsey Middlecamp, an attorney with Ellison’s office, said Minnesota should not have to deal with this “unchecked invasion and occupation” another day, and asked Menendez to issue an immediate restraining order. Middlecamp argued that Operation Metro Surge, which she described as the largest federal deployment of law enforcement in U.S. history, has brought an “unprecedented force of masked agents” who are “racially profiling and inflicting violence” in their wake.
Ellison’s team also underlined the “pervasive and systematic retaliation against legal observers,” including the “indiscriminate use” of chemical irritants.
“They are finding any way they can to find and punish those who speak up against this misconduct,” Middlecamp said. “Harms are accruing every day.”
Menendez was skeptical of exactly what harms the state is alleging and under what past precedent case law can give her guidance to make a decision, and what exactly the solution is in this case.
Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Brian Carter then alleged that DHS “designed” plans to force Minnesota to expend its resources.
“The difficulty with the case law on this situation is that this situation is unprecedented in the 250-year history of this country,” Carter said. “We have never had a federal government amass an army of 3,000 to 4,000 masked federal agents and sent them into a state to essentially stir the pot with conduct that is pervasive and includes widespread and illegal violent conduct.”
Menendez replied that while Minnesotans are in “shockingly unusual times,” she’s unsure if she has the leverage to stop it as a whole. She added that the “defining principle” of the argument is something that she is “struggling with here,” adding that the federal government has tremendous power in immigration enforcement.
Carter said he has seen a “crystallization” of efforts, citing Bondi’s “shakedown” letter.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and his legal team during the hearing in Minneapolis federal court on Jan. 26, 2026.
Cedric Hohnstadt
“‘You need to do these three things, and if you do it, we’ll get these officers off your streets,’” Carter said. “It’s a particularly damaging flavor of extortion.”
Carter cited the 10th Amendment in the Bill of Rights, which states the “powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
“This administration is not content with the rule of law,” Carter said. “This administration is not content with the courts working this stuff out.”
Carter said instead, the administration is putting “violence on the streets” of Minnesota.
“That has to violate the 10th Amendment,” Carter said.
Menendez said she wants to know the parameters of the ruling if there is one, adding there is “no question” the federal government can enforce immigration laws, but she questioned how she is supposed to be able to delineate between legal response and illegal response by the government.
“I don’t know what the line is,” Menendez said. “Is it the motivation, is it the scope, is it the illegality?”
“That kind of coercion … when Congress legislating that states are required to run background checks, if those violate the 10th Amendment, this has to. It’s beyond debate,” Carter said. “This is so far beyond the pale of legality, this is such an affront on the sovereignty of the state.”
Carter also underlined the unprecedented nature of the Trump administration’s attack on states “based on personal animosity.”
“The president of the United States said, he said, ‘Minnesota, your day of retribution is here.’ That is crazy,” Carter said. “How can that not violate equal sovereignty … If this is the way things go, if this is not stopped, what is going to happen to the next administration?”
Menendez ultimately pushed back on the state’s requests for a temporary restraining order.
“You’re asking me for a TRO. What does it say? What exactly do I do?” Menendez said.
Carter argued that the easiest, most straightforward thing is to end Operation Metro Surge.
“The whole Operation Metro Surge is an illegal means to an illegal ends, so just end it,” Carter said. “End the whole thing, is the appropriate remedy here.”
Menendez replied with a question.
“I can do all that?” she said.
The defense’s arguments
After a brief recess, Menendez asked U.S. Department of Justice attorney Andrew Warden if the explicit goal of Operation Metro Surge was to get Minnesota to change the policies listed out in Bondi’s memo — the contents of which did not sit well with Menendez.
Warden replied that “the goal of the surge is to enforce federal law.” Menendez then pushed again, asking if Minneapolis changed its policies and the state did the same thing, would the surge end?
“I can’t commit to a specific numbers of officers leaving,” Warden said.
Menendez, pushing again, asked: “But it would change? Aside from the fact that policies have been in effect for years, if they changed policies tomorrow, you’d leave?”
“The goal of the surge is to enforce federal law,” Warden said.
Menendez then asked how Bondi’s letter and written statements to the court do not demonstrate that the purpose of the surge is to affect the three changes the U.S. attorney general listed. Warden deflected, adding there was a need for “compensation” to supplement the “vacuum” left by the state and local leaders on immigration enforcement.
“It’s not like you can fix it overnight, let’s say they fix it in a week. If it is true you’re there because those policies had consequences, do you think it’s true that the motivation matters?” Menendez said. “Let’s imagine Bondi said we are here till you change your policies? Does that not violate the anticommandeering principle?”
“If there is a less of a need for federal law enforcement, then our involvement will change,” Warden said, but added it’s “undisputed that federal law enforcement can be here enforcing federal immigration law.”
Menendez then pressed Warden on Mr. Trump’s comments on “retribution.”
“I have not exactly seen that Truth Social recently,” Warden said, referring to posts from the president’s social media platform.
Next, Menendez mentioned Chicago, which had a DHS surge last year, and cited the lower number of federal law enforcement officers who were deployed to a much larger city to deal with potentially a much larger problem. She said there are “vastly more” law enforcement in Minnesota “than was even thought to be necessary in Chicago.”
“Is there a point in which it can no longer be depicted as a rational law enforcement response?” Menendez said.
Warden responded by citing Trump’s Article II powers, and said it would be “difficult to craft a remedy in light of that,” adding that he doesn’t “see how a court can say this amount of officers is the right amount” if requested by DHS.
Menendez said Bondi’s letter “concerns” her in describing the DOJ’s goals, because all three points are already being litigated in federal court in the state.
Brantley Mayers, a U.S. Department of Justice attorney, addresses federal Judge Kate Menendez as Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and his team looks on during the hearing on Jan. 26, 2025, in Minneapolis.
Cedric Hohnstadt
“Is the executive trying to achieve a goal through force that it cannot achieve through courts?” Menendez said.
“No, your honor,” Warden said, adding that “when there’s a vacuum in law enforcement” the federal government has gone in historically. Warden said he “doesn’t see how” operating on one front in Minnesota stops the law enforcement there from enforcing other laws.
Warden and his justice department team finished their arguments by telling Menendez they do not see the grounds for an injunction of any type and that there would be an “administrability problem” with pausing Operation Metro Surge in any respect, adding it would be “very difficult to implement.”
The plaintiffs got the final word before recess on Monday, with Minneapolis city attorney Sarah Lathrop saying relief is needed because it’s “clear that the intense situation on the ground” is not getting better.
“The court in its exercise can say ‘we’re stopping, we’re pausing,’” Lathrop said, adding there’s a chance of proceeding the case over the long term.
“You don’t have to draw the lines now,” Lathrop said.
The plaintiffs asked for Menendez’s order to return the federal law enforcement back to the status quo in the state to Nov. 30, the day before Operation Metro Surge began.
Lathrop said an order needs to come now to “take down the temperature.”
“Not all crises have a fix from a district court injunction,” Menendez said. “There are other things that are supposed to reign in this kind of conduct. It must be that work is being done elsewhere to bring an end to what is described here, not just counting on a single district court writing a single preliminary injunction.”
A federal judge will hear arguments Monday on whether she should at least temporarily halt the immigration crackdown in Minnesota that has led to the fatal shootings of two people by government officers.The state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month, five days after Renee Good was shot by an Immigration and Customs officer. Saturday’s shooting by a Border Patrol officer of Alex Pretti has only added urgency to the case.Since the original filing, the state and cities have substantially added to their original request. They’re trying to restore the state of affairs that existed before the Trump administration launched Operation Metro Surge on Dec. 1.The hearing is set for Monday morning in federal court in Minneapolis. Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he plans to personally attend.They’re asking that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Menendez order federal law enforcement agencies to reduce the numbers of officers and agents in Minnesota to levels before the surge, while allowing them to continue to enforce immigration laws within a long list of proposed limits.Justice Department attorneys have called the lawsuit “legally frivolous” and said “Minnesota wants a veto over federal law enforcement.” They asked the judge to reject the request or at least stay her order pending an anticipated appeal.Ellison said at a news conference Sunday that he and the cities filed their lawsuit because of “the unprecedented nature of this surge. It is a novel abuse of the Constitution that we’re looking at right now. No one can remember a time when we’ve seen something like this.”It wasn’t clear ahead of the hearing when the judge might rule.The case also has implications for other states that have been or could be targets of intensive federal immigration enforcement operations. Attorneys general from 19 states plus the District of Columbia, led by California, filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Minnesota.”If left unchecked, the federal government will no doubt be emboldened to continue its unlawful conduct in Minnesota and to repeat it elsewhere,” the attorneys general wrote.Menendez is the same judge who ruled in a separate case on Jan. 16 that federal officers in Minnesota can’t detain or tear gas peaceful protesters who aren’t obstructing authorities, including people who are following and observing agents.An appeals court temporarily suspended that ruling three days before Saturday’s shooting. But the plaintiffs in that case, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, asked the appeals court late Saturday for an emergency order lifting the stay in light of Pretti’s killing. The Justice Department argued in a reply filed Sunday that the stay should remain in place, calling the injunction unworkable and overly broad.In yet another case, a different federal judge, Eric Tostrud, late Saturday issued an order blocking the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to Saturday’s shooting. Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty asked for the order to try to preserve evidence collected by federal officials that state authorities have not yet been able to inspect. A hearing in that case is scheduled for Monday afternoon in federal court in St. Paul.“The fact that anyone would ever think that an agent of the federal government might even think about doing such a thing was completely unforeseeable only a few weeks ago,” Ellison told reporters. “But now, this is what we have to do.”
MINNEAPOLIS —
A federal judge will hear arguments Monday on whether she should at least temporarily halt the immigration crackdown in Minnesota that has led to the fatal shootings of two people by government officers.
The state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month, five days after Renee Good was shot by an Immigration and Customs officer. Saturday’s shooting by a Border Patrol officer of Alex Pretti has only added urgency to the case.
Since the original filing, the state and cities have substantially added to their original request. They’re trying to restore the state of affairs that existed before the Trump administration launched Operation Metro Surge on Dec. 1.
The hearing is set for Monday morning in federal court in Minneapolis. Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he plans to personally attend.
They’re asking that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Menendez order federal law enforcement agencies to reduce the numbers of officers and agents in Minnesota to levels before the surge, while allowing them to continue to enforce immigration laws within a long list of proposed limits.
Justice Department attorneys have called the lawsuit “legally frivolous” and said “Minnesota wants a veto over federal law enforcement.” They asked the judge to reject the request or at least stay her order pending an anticipated appeal.
Ellison said at a news conference Sunday that he and the cities filed their lawsuit because of “the unprecedented nature of this surge. It is a novel abuse of the Constitution that we’re looking at right now. No one can remember a time when we’ve seen something like this.”
It wasn’t clear ahead of the hearing when the judge might rule.
The case also has implications for other states that have been or could be targets of intensive federal immigration enforcement operations. Attorneys general from 19 states plus the District of Columbia, led by California, filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Minnesota.
“If left unchecked, the federal government will no doubt be emboldened to continue its unlawful conduct in Minnesota and to repeat it elsewhere,” the attorneys general wrote.
Menendez is the same judge who ruled in a separate case on Jan. 16 that federal officers in Minnesota can’t detain or tear gas peaceful protesters who aren’t obstructing authorities, including people who are following and observing agents.
An appeals court temporarily suspended that ruling three days before Saturday’s shooting. But the plaintiffs in that case, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, asked the appeals court late Saturday for an emergency order lifting the stay in light of Pretti’s killing. The Justice Department argued in a reply filed Sunday that the stay should remain in place, calling the injunction unworkable and overly broad.
In yet another case, a different federal judge, Eric Tostrud, late Saturday issued an order blocking the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to Saturday’s shooting. Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty asked for the order to try to preserve evidence collected by federal officials that state authorities have not yet been able to inspect. A hearing in that case is scheduled for Monday afternoon in federal court in St. Paul.
“The fact that anyone would ever think that an agent of the federal government might even think about doing such a thing was completely unforeseeable only a few weeks ago,” Ellison told reporters. “But now, this is what we have to do.”
U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino held a new conference Tuesday afternoon in Minneapolis where he defended the work and actions of federal agents in Minnesota in Operation Metro Surge.
Bovino also accused Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats, of “collusion and corruption” with what he calls “anarchist protestors.”
“Let me be clear from the start that public safety in Minneapolis is not negotiable,” Bovino said. “Our operations are lawful, they’re targeted and they’re focused on individuals who pose a serious threat to this community. They’re not random, and they are not political. They are about removing criminals who are actively harming Minneapolis neighborhoods.”
Bovino shared photos of three men he said were arrested in the past day — respectively from Honduras, Guatemala and Laos — whom he called “repeat offenders with serious criminal histories.” All three men, he said, have been charged or arrested sexual abuse-related crimes. The commander also accused the news media of underreporting on “the worst of the worst.”
“It’s very interesting that I haven’t seen this individual or many others like him reported on very much by the local news media or the state news media. That’s, that’s, that’s interesting,” he said.
Bovino said recent actions by the Trump administration, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, have led to the arrests of 10,000 people in Minneapolis and Minnesota, and have halted illegal border crossings. (WCCO is working to verify the number of arrests.)
“Illegal crossings have dropped to record lows. Catch and release has ended. Consequences have been restored,” Bovino said. “Because the border is now secure, law enforcement can do its job more effectively. Agents are no longer tied up processing and releasing, releasing individuals into the interior, individuals that we just talked about. They can focus on who is coming into this country and just as importantly identifying and removing those who should not be here — and that shift matters.”
Also on hand for Tuesday’s conference was Marcos Charles, executive associate director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who said federal officers have arrested “113 illegal aliens” in the state over the past holiday weekend. Charles also claimed Minnesota has “released nearly 500 criminal aliens” instead of “turning them over to ICE” since Mr. Trump took office exactly one year ago Tuesday.
Cmdr. Greg Bovino
WCCO
“ICE currently has more than 1,360 immigration detainers on illegal aliens in Minnesota jails and prisons, and we’re calling on Gov. [Tim] Walz and Mayor [Jacob] Frey to turn these criminal illegal aliens directly over to ICE to keep Minnesota residents in our community safe,” Charles said. “If local officials, including those in the Twin Cities, don’t want to arrest, don’t want ICE to arrest criminal aliens that are at large in their communities, the best solution is to turn them over to us in a safe, controlled setting like a jail or prison instead of releasing them back onto the street to victimize our neighborhoods.”
Bovino compared the current operation and Operation Catahoula Crunch, recently carried out in Louisiana, by the number of federal law enforcement members who said have been victims of violence by protesters. He said one attack occurred in Louisiana, while he’s “lost count” of the attacks in Minnesota.
“These anarchists that are intent on creating violence for law enforcement, you know, I see a lot of this, that mirrors what happened in 2020 here, right here in this city, when they decided to try to burn the city down,” Bovino said, referencing the unrest in the Twin Cities following the murder of George Floyd. “It’s that same type of rhetoric, that same type of support by these elected officials, so that’s very different than what I just witnessed in Louisiana.”
Bovino said that “everything” federal officers do in Minnesota “every day is legal, ethical, moral, well-grounded in law.”
“I would impugn upon these police chiefs and anyone else elected representatives, and you have to remember many of these police chiefs do work for the Mayor Freys of the world that, turn over those illegal aliens, those criminal illegal aliens,” Bovino said.
When pressed by a journalist about “ordinary citizens … getting swept up” in Operation Metro Surge, as opposed to criminals, Bovino described those arrestees as “agitators,” “rioters” and “anarchists.”
“There’s no need for that violence that we see against law enforcement, and again it seems that the only end of it, the only people that are really dialing down that rhetoric is the federal law enforcement entities that just want to conduct legal, ethical and lawful law enforcement missions in this city to take out those violent criminals, bad people and bad things,” he said.
When asked if ICE officer Jonathan Ross — who fatally shot Renee Good earlier this month in south Minneapolis — is on administrative leave, Bovino would only say the agent is at home recovering.
Both Bovino and Charles indicated there is no end date for this operation.
Organizers say the day’s aim is to “call for an immediate end to ICE operations” in the state.
“As leaders in their community, clergy are bearing witness to the constitutional and human rights violations happening on a daily basis in our state and communities as a result of DHS operations,” wrote a spokesperson with the St. Paul-based nonprofit Isaiah.
The Day of Truth and Freedom will also include a march and rally in downtown Minneapolis on Friday, starting at 2 p.m.
Several Twin Cities businesses and co-ops will also close Friday in solidarity, and organizers say several unions are also on board, including the St. Paul Federation of Educators, the Minneapolis Federation of Educators, Unite Here Local 17, SEIU Local 26, and the transit union ATU.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
NOTE: The original airdate of the video attached to this article is Jan. 13, 2026.
Minneapolis — The Department of Justice said Sunday it is investigating a group of protesters in Minnesota who disrupted services at a church where a local official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement apparently serves as a pastor.
A livestreamed video posted on the Facebook page of Black Lives Matter Minnesota, one of the protest’s organizers, shows a group of people interrupting services at the Cities Church in St. Paul by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good.” The 37-year-old mother of three was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis earlier this month amid a surge in federal immigration enforcement activities.
The protesters allege that one of the church’s pastors, David Easterwood, also leads the local ICE field office overseeing the operations that have involved violent tactics and illegal arrests.
Justice Department Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said her agency is investigating federal civil rights violations “by these people desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshippers.”
“A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws!” she said on social media.
Attorney General Pam Bondi also weighed in on social media, saying she’s “been in constant communication with (Dhillon) today over these events which @TheJusticeDept is investigating at my direction. Any violation of federal law will be prosecuted.”
Bondi added that she “just spoke to the Pastor in Minnesota whose church was targeted. Attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law. If state leaders refuse to act responsibly to prevent lawlessness, this Department of Justice will remain mobilized to prosecute federal crimes and ensure that the rule of law prevails.”
Nekima Levy Armstrong, who participated in the protest and leads the local grassroots civil rights organization Racial Justice Network, dismissed the potential DOJ investigation as a sham and a distraction from federal agents’ actions in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
“When you think about the federal government unleashing barbaric ICE agents upon our community and all the harm that they have caused, to have someone serving as a pastor who oversees these ICE agents, is almost unfathomable to me,” said Armstrong, who added she is an ordained reverend. “If people are more concerned about someone coming to a church on a Sunday and disrupting business as usual than they are about the atrocities that we are experiencing in our community, then they need to check their theology and the need to check their hearts.”
The website of St. Paul-based Cities Church lists David Easterwood as a pastor, and his personal information appears to match that of the David Easterwood identified in court filings as the acting director of the ICE St. Paul field office. Easterwood appeared alongside DHS Secretary Kristi Noem at a Minneapolis press conference last October.
Cities Church did not respond to a phone call or emailed request for comment Sunday evening, and Easterwood’s personal contact information could not immediately be located.
Easterwood did not lead the part of the service that was livestreamed, and it was unclear if he was present at the church Sunday.
In a Jan. 5 court filing, Easterwood defended ICE’s tactics in Minnesota such as swapping license plates and spraying protesters with chemical irritants. He wrote that federal agents were experiencing increased threats and aggression and crowd control devices like flash-bang grenades were important to protect against violent attacks. He testified that he was unaware of agents “knowingly targeting or retaliating against peaceful protesters or legal observers with less lethal munitions and/or crowd control devices.”
“Agitators aren’t just targeting our officers. Now they’re targeting churches, too,” the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency stated. “They’re going from hotel to hotel, church to church, hunting for federal law enforcement who are risking their lives to protect Americans.”
Black Lives Matter Minnesota co-founder Monique Cullars-Doty said that the DOJ’s prosecution was misguided.
“If you got a head — a leader in a church — that is leading and orchestrating ICE raids, my God, what has the world come to?” Cullars-Doty said. “We can’t sit back idly and watch people go and be led astray.”
In a rare primetime address Wednesday evening, Gov. Tim Walz gave a six-minute-long address to Minnesotans where he called on President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to “end this occupation.”
“What’s happening in Minnesota right now defies belief,” Walz said. “News reports simply don’t do justice to the level of chaos and disruption and trauma the federal government is raining down upon our communities.”
On Tuesday, Homeland Security officials told CBS News there are now 800 U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in the Minneapolis area. That’s in addition to 2,000 other ICE and federal agents already in the state in what officials call the “largest DHS operation in history.”
“Donald Trump intends for it to get worse. This week, he went online to promise that quote, ‘the day of retribution and reckoning is coming,’” Walz said in his addresss. “That’s a direct threat against the people of this state who dared to vote against him three times and who continue to stand up for freedom with courage and empathy and profound grace.”
The governor went on to urge Minnesotans to “protest loudly, urgently, but also peacefully.” He also called on residents to “peacefully film ICE agents.”
“If you see these ICE agents in your neighborhood, take out that phone and hit record,” Walz said. “Help us create a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans, not just to establish a record for posterity, but to bank evidence for future prosecution.”
Walz also expressed pride for his fellow Minnesotans, calling the state “an island of decency in a country being driven towards cruelty.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz
WCCO
“We will remain an island of decency, of justice, of community, of peace, and tonight I come before you simply to ask, don’t let anyone take that away from us,” he said.
Walz gives a constitutionally-required annual address before the Legislature, known as the “State of the State.” But other statewide addresses that the governor has planned happen infrequently.
His staff notes that he addressed residents during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder.
Menendez said she would not issue that restraining order until after the federal government filed its response and the state made additional filings.
The hearing is part of a larger federal lawsuit by the state and cities attempting to get the federal government to halt all law enforcement operations in Minnesota.
What’s happening in Minnesota right now defies belief. News reports simply don’t do justice to the level of chaos and disruption and trauma the federal government is raining down upon our communities.
Two-thousand to 3,000 armed agents of the federal government have been deployed to Minnesota. Armed, masked, undertrained ICE agents are going door to door, ordering people to point out where their neighbors of color live.
Let’s be very, very clear: this long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement. Instead, it’s a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government.
Last week, that campaign claimed the life of Renee Nicole Good. We’ve all watched the video. We’ve all seen what happened, and yet instead of conducting an impartial investigation so we can hold accountable the officer responsible for Renee’s death, the Trump administration is devoting the full power of the federal government to finding an excuse to attack the victim and her family.
Just yesterday, six federal prosecutors, including the longtime career prosecutor leading the charge to investigate and eliminate fraud in our state’s programs, quit their jobs rather than go along with this assault on the United States Constitution.
But as bad as it’s been, Donald Trump intends for it to get worse. This week, he went online to promise that quote, the day of retribution and reckoning is coming.
That’s a direct threat against the people of this state who dared to vote against him three times and who continue to stand up for freedom with courage and empathy and profound grace.
All across Minnesota people are stepping up to help their neighbors who are being unjustly and unlawfully targeted. They’re distributing care packages and walking kids to school and raising their voices in peaceful protest, even though doing so has made many of our fellow Minnesotans targets for violent retribution.
Folks, I know it’s scary, and I know it’s absurd that we all have to defend law and order, justice and humanity while also caring for our families and trying to do our jobs.
So tonight, let me say once again to Donald Trump and Kristi Noem: End this occupation. You’ve done enough.
Let me say four critical things to the people of Minnesota, four things I want you to hear as you watch the news and look out for your neighbors:
First, Donald Trump wants this chaos. He wants confusion, and yes, he wants more violence on our streets. We cannot give him what he wants.
We can, we must protest loudly, urgently, but also peacefully. Indeed, as hard as we will fight in the courts and at the ballot box, we cannot and will not let violence prevail.
You’re angry. I’m angry. Angry is not a strong enough word, but we must remain peaceful.
Second, you are not powerless, you are not helpless, and you are certainly not alone. All across Minnesota, people are learning about opportunities not just to resist, but to help people who are in danger.
Thousands upon thousands of our fellow Minnesotans are going to be relying on mutual aid in the days and weeks to come, and they need our support.
Tonight I wanna share another way you can help: witness. Help us establish a record of exactly what’s happening in our communities.
You have an absolute right to peacefully film ICE agents as they conduct these activities, so carry your phone with you at all times, and if you see these ICE agents in your neighborhood, take out that phone and hit record.
Help us create a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans, not just to establish a record for posterity, but to bank evidence for future prosecution.
The third thing I want to say to you tonight is we will not have to live like this forever. Accountability is coming at the voting booth and in court.
We will reclaim our communities from Donald Trump. We will reestablish a sense of safety for our neighbors, and we will bring an end to this moment of chaos, confusion and trauma.
We will find a way to move forward and we’ll do it together. And will not be alone. Every day we are working with business leaders, faith leaders, legal experts and elected officials from across this country. They’ve all seen what Donald Trump is trying to do to our state, and they know their states could be next.
And that brings me to the fourth thing I wanna say tonight Minnesota, how incredibly proud I am of the way that you’ve risen to meet this unbearable moment. But I’m not at all surprised because this, this is who we are.
Minnesotans believe in the rule of law, and Minnesotans believe in the dignity of all people. We’re a place where there’s room for everybody, no matter who you are or who you love or where you came from. A place where we feed our kids, we take care of our neighbors and we look out for those in the shadows of life.
We’re an island of decency in a country being driven towards cruelty. We will remain an island of decency, of justice, of community, of peace, and tonight I come before you simply to ask, don’t let anyone take that away from us.
Thank you. Protect each other, and may God bless the people of Minnesota.
At a small toy shop on Grand Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota, customers aren’t just buying board games and plushies. They’re grabbing handfuls of tiny plastic whistles and walking out without paying a cent.
Mischief Toys has become one of the most visible hubs in a growing Twin Cities effort to hand out free 3D printed whistles that activists say can alert neighbors when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are nearby.
“We’ve been giving away thousands of 3D printed whistles,” said co-owner Abigail Adelsheim-Marshall. “We started doing it after Thanksgiving when ICE really started cracking down in Chicago and the whistle strategy first started showing signs of success and we were kind of giving away a trickle. Then ever since ICE has been hitting the Twin Cities and Minnesota really hard, we’ve been giving away upwards of a thousand a week.”
The whistles are small, often brightly colored and come in all kinds of shapes. Some are double-barreled. Some are barely bigger than a paper clip. Others are printed with a phone number that connects callers to volunteers tracking enforcement activity.
“One of our employees owns a 3D printer and she used to make all of them for us. She’s still making many, but she is at capacity, so we are now crowdsourcing them from around the Twin Cities,” Adelsheim-Marshall said. “So many 3D printers are donating, which is why we have a million different designs on the whistles right now.”
Adelsheim-Marshall said the store is currently limiting people to 20 whistles per person so they can stretch their supply as far as possible. She would like to be able to equip community organizations with larger batches or reach a day when they’re no longer needed.
“Hopefully someday we won’t need them anymore, which would be great,” she said.
For now, demand is outpacing supply. At the other end of the effort is Kaleb Lutterman, a self-described “maker” who has turned his hobby into a kind of production line in his Minneapolis home.
“For a little over a month now, I’ve been 3D printing emergency whistles,” he said. “So these are really small loud whistles specifically to help with you know alerting locals to ICE presence. You probably heard them in any sort of coverage videos of what’s happening here in the cities, people blowing them. So that’s really what it is just to just something to say, you know, ‘Hey there’s some activity over here.’ You know, let the neighbors come out of their houses and see what’s going on.”
Lutterman prints on a Bambu Labs P1S and says he can fit 100 whistles on a single plate. Each run takes about seven and a half hours. He estimates he can make roughly 800 whistles for around $15 worth of filament, depending on what he buys and in what quantity.
“It’s hard to keep up with demand,” he said. “There’s a group of us in the cities. We’re all kind of in a group chat together, and anytime we find somebody that’s printing more themselves, we try to add them to this group chat.”
That informal network is how Mischief Toys gets restocked.
“They reached out to me and said I need 1,000 and this is after I just went through 800 of them this last weekend,” Lutterman said. “So I said, you know, I don’t have 1,000, but I have 300 and then I reached out to the group, and they were all able to pitch in about 100 each or so, so we got Mischief restocked.”
Lutterman says he isn’t accepting money for the whistles at this point.
“This is something I can pocket and do for the community with my own money,” he said, adding that it could change if requests for large orders keep coming in.
Organizers and volunteers say the whistles are meant to be an attention grabber and a way to quickly draw witnesses and cameras when enforcement activity happens in neighborhoods.
“I think people are feeling helpless and this is something you can do,” Adelsheim-Marshall said. “It helps alert neighbors and get a crowd going, which helps document the illegal activity that ICE is doing and gives anyone who’s in danger from ICE a chance to hide or shelter in place. So, it is, I wish we could be doing more, but it is the best strategy that we have found so far.”
Critics of the tactic, including federal officials, argue the whistles won’t stop ICE from making arrests and say the agency is targeting people they describe as threats.
Lutterman recently saw that criticism firsthand in a social media post he says came from the Department of Homeland Security.
“It says your whistles won’t stop or hinder ICE from arresting criminal, illegal alien sex abusers, murderers, gang members and more off the Minneapolis street,” he read aloud.
Lutterman says he doesn’t see himself as someone trying to interfere with law enforcement.
“I feel like they want me to be intimidated, but you know a whistle is not going to do anything to them, just like they can’t do much to me,” he said. “It’s not going to stop me from supporting my community. They’re not from here, I am, so they can be as mad as they want about it.”
He says his concern is about how immigration enforcement is playing out on the ground.
“Even if you’re someone that thinks that there should be immigration enforcement, I can agree to tha,t but what they’re doing here is harmful to the community,” Lutterman said. “If they’re supposed to be making this city safe, I don’t feel safe. My neighbors don’t feel safe. So if a whistle can help with that, that’s the least I can do.”
Back at Mischief Toys, the whistles sit in small bins near the counter, free for anyone who walks in and asks. Adelsheim-Marshall says they’re not interested in how loud the debate gets online, just in getting a simple tool into people’s hands.
“Whether or not you think it is legitimate for ICE to track people down and deport them, what they are doing now is blatantly illegal,” she said, describing her view of current enforcement tactics. “Immigrants, documented or otherwise, are people and we should treat them like people.”
For the people printing and passing them out, a piece of plastic that costs pennies has become a way to feel a little less helpless and a little more connected when the sound of a whistle cuts through a Twin Cities street.
The state of Minnesota, along with the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, are suing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other federal officials in an effort to stop the surge of federal law enforcement officials coming into the state.
State officials said the lawsuit, filed on Monday, is asking the federal court to “end the unprecedented surge of DHS agents into the state and declare it unconstitutional and unlawful.”
The lawsuit, according to officials, also asks the court for a temporary restraining order, citing the immediate harm the state and cities are facing.
“We allege that the surge, reckless impact on our schools, on our local law enforcement, is a violation of the 10th Amendment and the sovereign laws and powers of the Constitution,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said while discussing the lawsuit on Monday afternoon.
The Trump administration initiated a massive deployment of approximately 2,000 federal agents to the Twin Cities amid a widening fraud scandal on Jan. 5. The influx involves agents from ICE and Homeland Security Investigations overseeing a 30-day operation. Agents from DHS are expected to probe alleged cases of fraud.
Homeland Security Investigations on Dec. 29 conducted a “massive investigation on child care and other rampant fraud” in the Twin Cities, according to Noem. Two DHS officials told CBS News that federal agents were expected to inspect over 30 sites. Many of their targets were day care centers referenced in a viral video posted by conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley.
CBS News conducted its own analysis of nearly 12 day care centers mentioned by Shirley: all but two have active licenses, according to state records, and all active locations were visited by state regulators within the last six months.
Homeland Security’s Operation Metro Surge, which has targeted Somali immigrants in Minnesota, started at the beginning of December. The operation has led to more than 2,000 arrests, according to DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. Federal agents have also been detaining severalprotesters and observers.
Illinois on Monday filed a lawsuit against DHS over what state officials called “unlawful and dangerous tactics” used by Customs and Border Protection and ICE agents in the state.
The court document, which also names other federal officials, alleges federal agents arrested people without warrants or probable cause and “implemented an illegal policy of deploying Border Patrol” to Chicago and other parts of Illinois.
Educators from across Minnesota on Friday demanded that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stay away from school property.
Many shared what they’ve witnessed on or near Minnesota’s schools.
“We have seen ICE agents in Roseville circling school property just waiting for families to pick up their children,” said Monica Byron, president of Education Minnesota. “Every moment ICE remains near our schools endangers children, educators and families.”
In St. Paul, members of Education Minnesota talked about how ICE activity near schools has incited anxiety and fear.
“Grown men use pepper spray on terrified high school students on school property,” said Catina Taylor with the Minneapolis Federation of Educators.
Chris Erickson, President of the St. Cloud Education Association, said the presence of ICE has been felt beyond the Twin Cities. He says it’s changed how St. Cloud teachers approach each day.
“The fear as they load their students onto the bus at the end of the day, not knowing whether that child will return to their family or to an empty house,” said Erickson.
Miles from St. Paul, Minneapolis parents and teachers gathered at Hiawatha Park with a similar message.
“While on school property, they deployed chemical irritants and detained an educator and MFE member who was doing their job at dismissal,” said Natasha Dockter with the Minneapolis Federation of Educators.
Clara, who has kids in Minneapolis schools, said her daughter has observed federal agents outside her elementary classroom.
“Meanwhile, many agents and vehicles were circling the perimeter of the school,” said Clara.
Minneapolis educators discussed organizing networks of care and protection to give students of immigrant families rides to school, and delivering groceries to those too scared to leave their homes.
“Let me be very clear, immigration enforcement should never, under any circumstances, be on school grounds,” said Dockter.
A statement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on that incident at Roosevelt High says officers used targeted crowd control for the safety of law enforcement and the public. They also said no tear gas was deployed.
Minneapolis Public Schools said it’s offering optional online learning for students and families until Feb. 12. In-person learning is scheduled to resume on Monday at all sites.
Police in St. Paul, Minnesota, are investigating after a man was shot in the upper thigh late Sunday night outside of a bar.
Officers were called to Skarda’s Bar off West Seventh Street and Armstrong Avenue West around 10:30 p.m. The victim was at the scene but the shooter had fled the area, police say.
The victim was treated at Regions Hospital for what police call “non-life-threatening” injuries. The suspect is still at large.
This is the capital city’s second shooting of 2026. The first occurred overnight Saturday in the city’s North End neighborhood, with the victim in that case also suffering a gunshot wound to the leg. The suspected shooter was arrested inside a nearby apartment complex.
Police in St. Paul, Minnesota, say a man is hospitalized and another is in custody in connection to a shooting overnight Saturday in the city’s North End neighborhood.
Officers were called at about 1:45 a.m. to an apartment complex off Maryland Avenue West and Cumberland Street, where they found a man on the ground suffering from a bullet wound to the leg.
Police soon learned the man had been shot by another man amid “an argument,” with the shooter fleeing into an apartment after the attack.
Officers arrested the suspect, and the victim was taken to Regions Hospital for treatment.
Kaohly Her, a former state representative, who after a short campaign defeated a well-known incumbent in an upset last fall, took the oath of office Friday to become the first woman and Asian American to lead St. Paul, Minnesota, as its mayor.
She had a private ceremony alongside family early in the day before a larger celebration at St. Catherine’s University with state lawmakers across the political aisle, city officials, friends and other community members.
The backdrop was not lost on Her, who chose the school, an institution that has taught women for decades, to commemorate her barrier-breaking ascent to the city’s top job.
“It is important for us to know that when we do big things and shatter glass ceilings, that we break them open for generations to come,” Her said in her inaugural address. “Across our city, young women, my Hmong family and refugee immigrant communities will know that no office is too high for them to dream up or reach. I may be the first in some of these categories, but I will not be the last.”
Her vowed to work with the St. Paul City Council to push back on “incursions” into the city by the Trump administration, which has escalated U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement actions in St. Paul in recent months.
She also promised to steer the city’s budget on a sustainable path as residents face higher property taxes and a languishing downtown. She estimated the city has an estimated $1 billion in deferred maintenance to public facilities.
“Finances and getting our government back to doing the basics right may not be flashy, but it is important for every facet of our city, from renters to business owners to visitors to homeowners,” she said.
Before she took the oath of office, administered by a longtime family friend and pastor, three artists read a poem, and friends and former colleagues shared remarks about the new mayor, giving insight into her leadership style.
“I have witnessed in our seven years together at the legislature her tenacity, her compassion, her vision to make lives better, her desire to empower each and every person in this city to achieve their dreams,” said Rep. Ginny Klevorn, a Democrat who served with Her in the Minnesota House.
In a tearful tribute, Her also honored her mentor and friend Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, who were assassinated in a politically-motivated attack last June. She shared how the former Minnesota House speaker informed her own leadership style, saying that Hortman made her a better lawmaker because she expected members of the DFL caucus to fight for their seats and the right to represent their constituents.
“Her legacy and words wrapped themselves around my heart after her death, and it was her mentorship and example that led me to run for this office,” Her said. “She was an in-the-weeds, hard-working, putting people first kind of leader.”
