On January 6, 2026, the Trump Administration sent 2,000 federal ICE agents to the Minneapolis area to carry out the “largest immigration operation ever”.  Minneapolis was chosen as the focal point for the operation because of its large Somali immigrant population, which Trump linked to fraud cases involving federal nutrition, with many defendants having roots in Somalia; Trump’s administration also attributed the focus on Minneapolis to a lack of local cooperation with ICE officials thus far.  By the following week, there were reports of masked agents driving unmarked vehicles, pulling people off the streets or from their workplaces, despite many of these individuals having no criminal record.  One of the more publicized incidents of immigrant detention is that of 6-year old Liam Ramos and his father, who were detained in their driveway in Columbia Heights. Liam Ramos was utilized as a “bait” of sorts, compelled to knock on his family’s door and lure out more of his family members. Now at a detention center in Texas, 6-year-old Liam has fallen ill, said to be feverish and weak. There were also reports of ICE agents stopping to question people, U.S citizens included, about their immigration status; nearly all of the individuals questioned were either Latino or Black, leading to racial profiling concerns.

    White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller assured ICE agents, “Anybody who lays a hand on you or tries to obstruct you is committing a felony. No city official, no state official, no illegal alien, no leftist agitator or domestic insurrectionist can prevent you from fulfilling your legal obligations and duties.” With these reaffirming words, ICE agents cracked down on residents with more aggressive tactics than ever before. One of the more notable incidents in Minneapolis was the shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent. After dropping her 6-year-old child at school, Renee allegedly attempted to run over an ICE agent with her vehicle, leading the agents to shoot in self-defense, though the agent’s claim of self-defense has been heavily disputed by state and local authorities. A second fatal incident occurred on January 24th, when ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot multiple times. After seeing ICE agents in the Minneapolis streets during a protest, Pretti started filming and asked others to join him to observe the agents’ actions. He then shielded a woman whom the agents had pushed to the ground, and was subsequently pepper-sprayed and wrestled to the ground by numerous ICE agents. Upon seeing Alex Pretti’s gun on his waist, ICE agents removed the gun from his person and shot him multiple times. 

Minneapolis residents are up in arms against ICE, and thousands of Minnesotians took to the streets last Friday to protest the racial profiling and undue violence by ICE agents. Far beyond Minneapolis, Philadelphians organized an anti-ICE demonstration on Monday, January 26th, with hundreds of residents gathering at City Hall demanding an end to ICE deployment across the country. In addition to protests in Philly and Minneapolis, cities like Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and New York City have seen wide-scale anti-ICE demonstrations in the past weeks. Now, activists nationwide are calling for a “nationwide day of no school, no work, and no shopping” on Friday, January 30th as a part of a national shutdown protesting ICE’s aggressive and unlawful tactics.