Minnesota Marches Defy Trump's Immigration Crackdown

Thousands of protesters filled the streets of Minneapolis on Friday, braving temperatures as low as -29°C, to oppose an intensified immigration enforcement campaign under U.S. President Donald Trump. The demonstrations, organized under the banner “ICE OUT!” marked the largest coordinated pushback yet against the deployment of federal immigration agents in Minnesota. Organizers claimed turnout reached as high as 50,000, a figure that have not yet been independently verified.

Organizers framed the protests as a de facto general strike. Dozens of businesses across Minnesota closed for the day, and workers from multiple sectors joined marches and rallies to deliver a single message: ICE should leave the city, despite the day being “the coldest on record since 2019”

Demonstrations followed weeks of confrontations between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and local activists, some of which turned violent.

Faith Leaders and Civil Disobedience

One of the most visible actions unfolded at Minneapolis Saint Paul International Airport, where about 100 clergy members were arrested after kneeling on a roadway, singing hymns and praying. Local police zip-tied and detained the group after they refused orders to disperse. Faith in Minnesota, a nonprofit advocacy group involved in organizing the protest, said the clergy were highlighting ICE detentions of airport and airline workers. The group urged airlines to “stand with Minnesotans” and demand an end to the enforcement surge.

Trump defended the ICE operation, saying the agency was “removing some of the most violent criminals in the world from the country.” He accused Minnesota leaders of shielding criminals and claimed protesters included “highly paid professional agitators and anarchists.”

His comments followed a visit by Vice President JD Vance to Minneapolis a day before the protests, where Vance publicly backed ICE officers and urged local leaders to lower tensions.

The protests were also fueled by the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a U.S. citizen killed earlier this month by an ICE agent while sitting in her car monitoring enforcement activity. Organizers called for legal accountability for the agent involved, making Good’s death a rallying point that tied immigration enforcement to broader concerns about the use of federal force.

Escalation & The Army

Federal concern about escalation was evident earlier in the week. On Jan. 18, The Washington Post reported that about 1,500 active duty U.S. Army soldiers from Alaska’s 11th Airborne Division had been placed on standby after Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act. Officials stressed the move was precautionary and that no deployment orders had been issued.

Polarization and Economic Silence

Minnesota is home to numerous Fortune 500 companies, yet major corporations remained publicly silent as protests spread and businesses shut down. Indigenous, labor, and community leaders used the demonstrations to criticize what they described as a “federal occupation” of unceded Dakota land, framing immigration enforcement as both a civil rights and sovereignty issue.

Trump was elected in 2024 on a platform centered on stricter immigration enforcement, arguing that his predecessor, Joe Biden, had been too lax on border security.

However, the scale of federal action in Democratic-led cities like Minneapolis, combined with civilian casualties, detentions of U.S. citizens, and the presence of federal law enforcement, has intensified domestic polarization.

The Minneapolis protests illustrate how immigration enforcement has become not only a legal and security issue, but a flashpoint testing the balance between federal authority and local resistance.