Focal Point: Lives In The Balance
ICE and Enforcement and Removal Operations agents attempt a home raid in a St. Paul, Minn., neighborhood while community members gather to observe on Jan. 18, 2026. Agents threatened to deploy pepper spray against legal observers, attempted to intimidate them and stepped on their shoes.

Protests, clashes and home raids

An ICE operations surge and Renee Good’s killing prompt weeks of unrest in Minneapolis.

Story and Photos by Ike Wood

Published on June 15, 2026 | Reported from Minneapolis, Minnesota

Federal agents record the faces of legal observers outside a home in St. Cloud, Minn., where agents had identified a target on Jan. 18, 2026. The agents planned to upload the footage to a facial recognition database upon returning to their base of operations, according to the current administration.
ICE and Enforcement and Removal Operations agents crowd the walkway of a home in St. Paul during an attempted raid on Jan. 18, 2026. Each ERO team includes at least one Spanish-speaking agent. At this location, the target had evacuated their children and left the home approximately 30 minutes before agents arrived.
Minneapolis police officers stand by with a Lenco Bearcat armored vehicle near a protest against far-right activist Jake Lang in Minneapolis on Jan. 17, 2026. Officers asked demonstrators to stay off the roads about an hour after the protest began. Police maintained a largely neutral presence despite several physical altercations during Lang's appearance.

Demonstrations against federal immigration enforcement stretched across the Twin Cities for weeks in January, drawing community members into the streets as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducted raids throughout the region.

A protester sprays a far-right demonstrator with a water gun during subzero temperatures in Minneapolis on Jan. 17, 2026.

The unrest was fueled in part by the death of Renée Nicole Good, who was killed Jan. 7 during what ICE dubbed Operation Metro Surge. Good’s death prompted protesters to brave subzero temperatures outside the Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling.

The building adjacent to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was retrofitted as an immigrant processing center and became a focal point for demonstrations that repeatedly turned confrontational. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers advanced on a line of protesters outside the facility on Jan. 16, resulting in arrests.

Far-right activist Jake Lang is surrounded by counter-protesters outside Minneapolis City Hall on Jan. 17, 2026. The crowd became unruly after a far-right demonstrator pepper-sprayed counter-protesters.

Protests continued to flare in the days that followed. On Jan. 17, far-right activist Jake Lang’s appearance near Minneapolis City Hall drew a few supporters and an even larger crowd of counter-protesters.

A far-right demonstrator who arrived with Jake Lang is shoved into a journalist in Minneapolis on Jan. 17, 2026.

Physical altercations broke out after a far-right demonstrator pepper-sprayed counter-protesters, and Lang was eventually driven from the area. 

Minneapolis police, stationed nearby with an armored vehicle, largely maintained a neutral posture throughout, though officers asked demonstrators to remain on sidewalks as marchers flooded downtown streets.

Minneapolis police, stationed nearby with an armored vehicle, largely maintained a neutral posture throughout, though officers asked demonstrators to remain on sidewalks as marchers flooded downtown streets.

Protesters march through downtown Minneapolis on Jan. 17, 2026, chanting "No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here," after Jake Lang left the area. Minneapolis police asked demonstrators to move to the sidewalks.

As protesters chanted “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here,” ICE and Enforcement and Removal Operations agents were conducting home raids in St. Paul and St. Cloud. At one St. Paul address, a family evacuated their children and left the home before agents arrived. Agents at another location recorded the faces of legal observers, footage that federal officials said would be uploaded to a federal database.

A protester is released from ICE custody outside the Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling, Minn., on Jan. 16, 2026. The building was converted into an immigrant processing center and has been the site of ongoing protests that have frequently escalated into confrontations with federal agents.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers advance toward a line of protesters outside the Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling, Minn., on Jan. 16, 2026. The confrontation resulted in at least one arrest.
Federal agents from Immigration Customs Enforcement, Enforcement Removal Operations and Homeland Security Investigations stand at the entrance into the Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling, Minn., Jan. 16, 2026.
Profanities and messages grieving the killing of Renee Good are vandalized onto barricades in front of the Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling, Minn., Jan. 16, 2026.

A week later, Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse for the Department of Veterans Affairs, would be killed by ICE officers during a confrontation. Anti-ICE protests would flare again and continue into mid-February when ICE formally started to draw down Operation Metro Surge.

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