Protests were peaceful outside the Whipple building midday Sunday, a week and a half since Renee Good was killed by an ICE agent in south Minneapolis.
Now, 1,500 active-duty soldiers are on standby for possible deployment to the area — so too is the Minnesota National Guard — as President Trump has said he’s considering the insurrection act.
Around midday Sunday, no federal officers were spotted standing guard outside Whipple, but Hennepin County sheriff’s deputies were on scene.
A spokesperson with the sheriff’s office said more deputies will be deployed, if needed, to keep the peace and maintain public safety.
On Friday, a federal judge ordered immigration agents stop using tear gas and detaining peaceful protestors.
Chemical agents are only used when there’s violence being perpetrated, Noem said.
“That judge’s order didn’t change anything for how we’re operating on the ground, because it’s basically telling us to do what we’ve already been doing,” said Noem.
So far, about 3,000 federal agents have been deployed to Minnesota and more than 2,500 people have been arrested.
On Sunday, Noem said 70% of those detained have charges against them, while Brennan said CBS reporting showed that number was only 47%, based on information provided by Noem’s own agency.
As for protestors, like those out on Sunday, Noem suggested they be confined to a peaceful protest zone. Mayor Frey responded.
“First amendment speech is not limited to one park or one section of the city,” said Frey. “You are allowed to protest, so long as you’re doing it peacefully.”
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.
As residents in the Twin Cities protest in the streets against ICE and federal immigration enforcement actions, Minnesota’s battle against the federal surge is also playing out in the federal court system.
The judge’s order says there can be no ICE retaliation against protestors, no detaining people without probable cause unless they are obstructing agents or committing a crime, no using pepper spray on a peaceful protest, and allowing drivers to follow ICE agents’ vehicles at a safe distance. On “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” this Sunday morning, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the order changes nothing about how federal agents are conducting their business in Minnesota.
Appearing on WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy, Attorney General Keith Ellison called this latter investigation “from the playbook.”
“This is the president who is persecuting Jerome Powell of the Fed, who tried to prosecute James Comey of the FBI, and the current attorney general of New York, Letitia James. He uses the criminal justice system to persecute the people he doesn’t like,” Ellison said.
The second federal lawsuit against ICE was filed late last week by the state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. It seeks to stop ICE activity throughout the state. The lawsuit argues the unprecedented surge of an estimated 3,000 federal agents is endangering citizens. It accuses ICE of violating the First and Tenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
“What the federal government needs to do is leave and stop the surge,” Ellison said.
The Tenth Amendment protects states’ sovereignty and limits federal powers to those granted in the U.S. Constitution. It provides autonomy to the states in issues like education, elections and public safety. While Ellison is optimistic, some legal experts think the lawsuit is a long shot because it would be similar to telling the FBI it could not operate in the state.
The state, in this second lawsuit, is seeking an immediate temporary restraining order limiting ICE activities. The judge in the case is Kate Menendez, the same judge who issued that first order favorable to peaceful protestors. The judge said last week she would not issue the temporary restraining order until she heard a response from the federal government. That response is due to be filed at 5 p.m. Monday, which is the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
While many of the headlines have focused on the Twin Cities, greater Minnesota is feeling the impacts of the immigration crackdown, too.
In Willmar, community members say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests have closed restaurants and left a community on edge.
The city has a diverse population of a little over 21,000.
“You have families that are scared for their life. People refusing to come out of their house,” said Abdullahi Mohamed of Willmar.
Streets on Friday appeared to operate as normal, but businesses were not.
A sign that says, in part, “We’re only receiving online/phone call orders,” is posted in front of a Willmar, Minnesota, restaurant on Jan. 16, 2026, after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained employees of an area business.
WCCO
Area establishments have posted signs saying they’re either closed or taking orders differently.
“They detained someone just across the street where I was working,” said Brentt Fees of Willmar.
Mohamed added, “I’ve seen with my two eyes ICE detaining people.”
El Tapatio Mexican Restaurant closed after WCCO confirmed agents visited the spot for lunch and later returned, detaining its owners and a dishwasher nearby after they had closed early due to the federal law enforcement’s previous appearance.
A 20-year-old, who says his parents own the restaurant and are now detained, says the business will reopen on Saturday under his leadership.
A visitor who stopped by El Tapatio to show his support says the liquor store he works at has lost 75% of its business since agents have appeared in Operation Metro Surge.
“I just wanted to make sure everything is okay,” said Fees. “And apparently it’s not because they’re closed now.”
WCCO asked a man who retired from Jennie-O, one of the town’s biggest employers, what he wants for his community right now.
“To get together and vote these people out. We’re not scared, man,” said Willmar resident Abdulcadir Gaal.
Willmar Mayor Doug Reese says he’s urging residents to stay calm and to respect one another to keep the community safe.
WCCO reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on the matter. The Assistant Secretary responded to our inquiry in part:
“On January 14, ICE officers conducted surveillance of a target, an illegal alien from Mexico. Officers observed that the target’s vehicle was outside of a local business and positively identified him as the target while inside the business. Following the positive identification of the target, officers then conducted a vehicle stop later in the day and apprehended the target and two additional illegal aliens who were in the car, including one who had a final order of removal from an immigration judge.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
In a since-deleted tweet, the Department of Homeland Security appeared to blame the family for endangering their six children before later faulting “rioters” instead.
The Jackson family says they’re just grateful for all the community’s support.
“It was horrible. Last night, sleep was horrible,” said Destiny Jackson.
Destiny Jackson says her entire family is having a hard time sleeping.
“They pushed two of their twin-size beds together and all slept together,” said Destiny Jackson.
She says they huddled together for support after experiencing the unthinkable.
Video from Wednesday night shows the family SUV’s airbags deployed after a tear gas container was rolled underneath them.
The vehicle was engulfed in smoke as the kids tried to escape. Neighbors could be seen helping the little ones to safety inside a nearby house.
“We are very appreciative of everything that you guys did for us and forever in debt,” said Destiny Jackson.
“They family now, we locked in, I will definitely call them heroes,” said Shawn Jackson.
Shawn Jackson says help for his child was delayed because Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would not let Minneapolis fire crews and EMS into the scene.
“I told them, it’s an unconscious baby and all, and they still stood there,” said Shawn Jackson.
The couple says it was Minneapolis police officers who ran to their aid.
“They came rushing in to help me with the baby and I was very appreciative of that. They did take him from me and give him to the fire department to make sure that he was OK, and they also helped guide us out the house to be able to get into the ambulance,” Destiny Jackson said.
Once at the hospital, the process of decontamination began.
“It was very uncomfortable. I mean, we were stripped out of all of our clothes into our birthday suits in front of strangers and they were washing out bodies,” DestinyJackson said.
Back home now, they want the community to know how things can change in an instant when ICE agents are around.
“We just want you guys to know that this can happen to anybody, so stay safe,” Destiny Jackson said.
The Homeland Security says it never targeted the Jacksons.
The Jacksons say they’re grateful for everyone who donated to a fund to help them get a new car and cover medical bills.
A new investigative report by 404 Media says ICE agents have a new high-tech way to zero in on neighborhoods to raid. The report says it’s an app called Elite, powered by Palantir. Joseph Cox, an investigative journalist at 404 Media, discusses his reporting on CBS News.
A Liberian Minnesotan is back in custody Friday, his lawyer said, a day after a judge ordered him released because federal agents broke down his door in Minneapolis to arrest him without a judicial warrant.
The dramatic arrest of Garrison Gibson last weekend by armed immigration agents using a battering ram was captured on video. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan ruled the arrest unlawful on Thursday, but Gibson was detained again when he appeared at an immigration office, attorney Marc Prokosch said.
“We were there for a check-in and the original officer said, ‘This looks good, I’ll be right back,’” Prokosch said. “And then there was a lot of chaos, and about five officers came out and then they said, ‘We’re going to be taking him back into custody.’ I was like, ‘Really, you want to do this again?’”
Marc Prokosch, Gibson’s attorney, said Thursday was “thrilled” by the judge’s order. He had filed a habeas corpus petition, used by courts to determine if an imprisonment is legal, and called the arrest a “blatant constitutional violation” since the agents did not have a proper warrant.
Gibson’s wife was inside their Minneapolis home with the couple’s 9-year-old child during the raid. Prokosch said she was deeply shaken by the arrest.
Gibson, 37, was being held at an immigration detention center in Albert Lea after being held at a large camp on the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas, according to ICE’s detainee locator.
A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers arrest Garrison Gibson on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis.
John Locher / AP
DHS did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press requesting comment on the order and has not responded to a prior email with follow-up questions about Gibson’s case.
Gibson, who fled the Liberian civil war as a child, had been ordered removed from the U.S., apparently because of a 2008 drug conviction that was later dismissed by the courts. He had remained in the country legally under what’s known as an order of supervision, with the requirement that he meet regularly with immigration authorities.
Only days before his arrest, Gibson had checked in with immigration authorities at regional immigration offices — the same building where agents have been staging enforcement raids in recent weeks.
Bryan said in his Thursday order that he agrees with Gibson’s assertions that since he had already been released on an order of supervision, officials “violated applicable regulations” by not giving him enough notice that it had been revoked and the reasoning, as well as not providing him an interview right after he was detained.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Homeland Security Department, had said that Gibson has “a lengthy rap sheet (that) includes robbery, drug possession with intent to sell, possession of a deadly weapon, malicious destruction and theft.” She did not indicate if those were arrests, charges or convictions.
Court records indicate Gibson’s legal history shows only the one felony in 2008, along with a few traffic violations, minor drug arrests and an arrest for riding public transportation without paying the fare.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot a man Wednesday night in north Minneapolis after allegedly being attacked by men with shovels during an arrest operation, three U.S. officials told CBS News.
A couple and their six children say they were trapped inside their vehicle in the Twin Cities when a tear gas canister exploded underneath them during an interaction with ICE officers.
Shawn and Destiny Jackson have an 11- and 7-year-old, 4-year-old twins, a 2-year-old and a 6-month-old baby boy. They were on their way home from basketball practice when they were caught between protesters and ICE agents.
“They stopped at my car, and they proceeded to yell in and said, ‘Get out of here.’ Well, they used profanity. And my husband screamed and said, ‘We’re trying,’” Destiny Jackson said.
The couple stayed calm, they said, while ICE agents ramped up their demands.
“They said it again, and we said, ‘We’re trying, if you guys will move.’ And of course, everybody saying what happened with Renee, you know, we weren’t going to pull off while they were right there. That’s what we were trying to avoid,” Destiny Jackson said.
She said the agents walked to the back of their vehicle and released a canister of tear gas under their vehicle.
“Within seconds, there was a big boom and our car was up in the air and we slammed down and all of our airbags deployed and all of our doors locked. And tear gas just started forming, a ball of gas just started forming around the car,” Destiny Jackson said.
WCCO has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment about the incident.
When the tear gas was released, Destiny Jackson says panic set in.
“I managed to feel around and open up everybody’s, like, I unlocked everybody’s door and I hopped out, and I just started pulling as many kids as I could out,” she said.
Bystanders stepped up. Destiny Jackson said she was taken inside a house nearby, and total strangers began helping her children out of the smoke-filled vehicle.
“The last person to get out of the car was my infant child,” she said. “And when he came in, he was, like, lifeless. It was like foam or bubbles coming out of his mouth. I had to give him mouth-to-mouth and CPR. I couldn’t even breathe myself, and all I remember is between every breath, I was saying, ‘I’m going to give you every breath I have until you get yours back.’”
The couple has been together since their days at North High School. Shawn Jackson, who was coached by Minneapolis and Metro Transit police officers, says he has respect for law enforcement. Now, their lives are forever changed by ICE agents and a canister of tear gas.
“It was like they didn’t have a care in the world for us,” Shawn Jackson said.
“The windows were down. You could see my kids in the car, the lights were on in the car,” Destiny Jackson added.
The parents say their children are traumatized and are not sleeping, but are physically OK. A fund has been set up to help the family with medical bills and to replace the family vehicle.
Minneapolis — Two versions have emerged of Wednesday night’s shooting in north Minneapolis in which a Venezuelan migrant was shot in the leg by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer while allegedly trying to flee. The migrant and two others were arrested.
Cell phone footage shared on social media by Democratic state Sen. Erin Maye Quade appears to show the moments after Wednesday’s shooting took place, in which a woman calls 911 and can be heard pleading for help.
The caller says her husband was chased by ICE agents before he reached his home, and was shot in front of his family.
But according to the Department of Homeland Security, the man who was shot, identified by the DHS as Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, fled from federal officers, crashed into a parked car and then resisted arrest.
According to DHS, two other men then came out of a nearby apartment and allegedly attacked one of the officers with a snow shovel and broom handle. Fearing for his life, DHS says, the ICE officer fired a defensive shot, hitting Sosa-Celis in the leg.
The ICE officer was injured during the incident, DHS said, and both the officer and Sosa-Celis remained hospitalized Thursday.
It marks the second Minneapolis shooting in a week involving an ICE officer. The fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer in a residential neighborhood in south Minneapolis on Jan. 7 has become a flashpoint in the ongoing unrest in the Twin Cities.
Tensions flare in Minneapolis after latest shooting
Wednesday’s shooting has ignited some of the fiercest clashes since the federal government deployed nearly 3,000 ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents to the Twin Cities over the last few weeks.
During one protest Thursday, federal agents deployed chemical agents on a crowd without warning.
One video appeared to show vandals breaking into a federal official’s car, carting off a crate, and then spray painting it.
The FBI on Thursday released a flyer offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of stolen government property from the vandalized vehicle.
In follow-up social media posts Thursday evening, both FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said one person accused of stealing property out of the vandalized car had been taken into custody. They did not name the suspect, but alleged the person had a “known violent criminal history” and was a member of the Latin Kings, a street gang. Bondi said the suspect had stolen FBI “body armor and weaponry.” It was unclear if the stolen items were recovered.
The suspect was arrested in a raid carried out by agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Patel and Bondi said, along with other Justice Department agencies.
“There will be more arrests,” Patel wrote.
Amid the protests, and that spasm of vandalism, President Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act.
“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota 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, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Mr. Trump said.
In a social media post, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called on Mr. Trump “to turn the temperature down.”
He also called on protesters to demonstrate “peacefully.”
“We cannot fan the flames of chaos,” Walz said. “That’s what he wants.”
The American Civil Liberties Union is filing a new class action lawsuit against the federal government on behalf of three Minnesotans – two Somali men and one Latino man – “whose constitutional rights were violated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and other federal agents,” the ACLU of Minnesota announced Thursday morning.
The announcement comes just hours after President Trump threatened to use the Insurrection Act to send U.S. troops into Minnesota to “put an end” to protests. There are currently 3,000 federal agents in Minnesota amid Operation Metro Surge, in which officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security say has so far yielded 2,500 arrests since it began last month.
Federal government officials tell CBS News the migrant and two others allegedly attacked the officer with a snow shovel and a broom handle as the officer tried to make an arrest.
Within an hour before the shooting, Gov. Tim Walz gave a rare primetime address to Minnesotans where he urged Mr. Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to “end this occupation.” He also called on Minnesotans to protest peacefully and record ICE activity to aid in future prosecutions.
The Minneapolis Delegation of the Minnesota House of Representatives says the Trump administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status for Somalis is “a significant departure from decades of bipartisan humanitarian policy.”
“These decisions place long-standing Minnesota residents—who have lived, worked, and raised families here legally—at immediate risk of losing their lawful status and being forced into uncertainty,” the delegation said in a written statement. “TPS exists because conditions in designated countries meet clear statutory standards related to conflict and instability. Ending these protections does not change the realities on the ground abroad, but it does create fear, disrupt families, and destabilize communities here at home.”
The Minneapolis Delegation added that they stand with Somali Minnesotans and all communities impacted by the termination of TPS.
“Immigrant and refugee communities are an essential part of Minneapolis and Minnesota,” the delegation said. “They are our neighbors, coworkers, healthcare workers, educators, small-business owners, and civic leaders. Our state is stronger because of their contributions, and we will continue to advocate for policies that protect the safety, dignity, and stability of every community impacted by these decisions.”
The Minneapolis Delegation in the House includes Reps. Michael Howard, Fue Lee, Esther Agbaje, Sydney Jordan, Mohamud Noor, Katie Jones, Jamie Long, Aisha Gomez, Anquam Mahamoud, Samantha Sencer-Mura and Emma Greenman.
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.
Federal agents have been spotted all across Minnesota, giving the ones who resided here first an on-edge feeling.
The Native American community in south Minneapolis says they’re working together to protect each other from fears of being detained. On Thursday, the president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe said four of its members had been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Just south of downtown Minneapolis, Rachel Dionne Thunder is one of many members of the Indigenous community turning their wheel and pushing the peddle on patrol.
“These are community members, neighbors, people that live here that are in a live dispatch call to have active, legal observers” said Dionne Thunder, an Indigenous woman who lives in Minneapolis with her family.
Dionne Thunder says the group is operating 24/7, with the goal of documenting federal agent activity on their blocks.
“When you have a live report come in, go there, confirm it is ICE and report back whether it is or not” she said while describing what the dispatch system looks like.
“If it’s not [accurate], deescalate the situation, if it is, remain to be there as an observer” said Dionne Thunder.
WCCO witnessed what the groups strategy looked like firsthand when Dionne Thunder recieved a report of potential federal agents near the Minneapolis American Indian Center.
“This area that we’re on, this land, is unseeded Dakota territory. And that is backed by treaties signed by the federal government” she said, adding that this makes Operation Metro Surge hit a deeper wound.
“It’s not a surprise to me. Rights have always been violated for us as Native people” Dionne Thunder told WCCO.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara says following federal agents isn’t unlawful unless you are tailgating, speeding or running red lights.
A shooting occurred Wednesday night in north Minneapolis after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were attacked by men with shovels during an arrest operation amid Operation Metro Surge, three U.S. officials told CBS News.
One of the men, a Venezuelan migrant, was shot in the leg but is expected to be OK, two of the officials told CBS News.
WCCO
An ICE officer was also en route to a local hospital, two officials said. That officer’s condition and the nature of their injuries were not confirmed.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good last week in Minneapolis, Jonathan Ross, suffered internal bleeding to the torso following the incident, according to two U.S. officials briefed on his medical condition.
It was unclear how extensive the bleeding was. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed Ross’ injury, but has not yet responded to CBS News’ requests for more information. This story will be updated as we learn more.
Videos from the scene showed Ross walking away after the incident.
Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, previously acknowledged that Ross was taken to the hospital after the shooting and was released the same day. She said he was recovering from his injuries, describing him as an experienced law enforcement officer who believed he was defending himself and fellow agents.
“The officer was hit by the vehicle. She hit him. He went to the hospital. A doctor did treat him. He has been released,” Noem told reporters on Jan. 7.
Ross, a 10-year law enforcement veteran with ICE, was seriously injured in June in a separate incident in the Minneapolis area when he was dragged by a car during an attempted arrest, requiring 33 stitches and hospital care, court records show.
U.S. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino told CBS News in an interview Sunday that Ross “has had several threats against his life,” adding, “he’s in a safe location. He’s recovering from those injuries, and we’re thankful that he’s recovering.”
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.