Thousands rally against ICE in Minneapolis, US

The Trump Administration's immigration crackdown and ICE surge in the Twin Cities drew large protests on Friday. Thousands of people braved bone-chilling temperatures in the afternoon for a rally in downtown Minneapolis, protesting what they call a siege of the Twin Cities by federal agents.Hundreds of businesses in Minnesota shut their doors to oppos to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)."We want ICE out of Minnesota, and we want ICE out of every state, with their extreme overreach," said Bishop Dwayne Royster, whose organisation Faith in Action is supporting local partners in Minneapolis during the strike. "We want Congress to stand up and provide oversight to ICE." Temperatures in Minneapolis were and will remain below zero degrees Fahrenheit on Friday, with a high of minus 9, a low of minus 17 and wind chill values as low as minus 35, according to the National Weather Service.

MASSIVE ANTI-ICE PROTEST IN MINNEAPOLIS https://t.co/krU0KM1A7v pic.twitter.com/eoTIx437y6

— RT (@RT_com) January 23, 2026

The Trump administration has sent more than 3,000 federal immigration personnel to Minneapolis since December, in what the administration has dubbed Operation Metro Surge. Over the past six weeks, officers have apprehended more than 3,000 undocumented immigrants, according to the Department of Homeland Security. A DHS spokesperson criticized Friday’s protests saying, “The fact that those groups want to shut down Minnesota’s economy, which provides law-abiding American citizens an honest living, to fight for illegal alien murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, drug dealers, and terrorists says everything you need to know.”