MINNEAPOLIS—Activists in Minneapolis are continuing to organize efforts to impede immigration enforcement as the Trump administration surges more agents to the Twin Cities.
Local efforts to disrupt the work of immigration officers in the area began weeks before a deadly shooting brought Minneapolis into the national spotlight on Jan. 7. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fatally shot a protester, Renee Good, in her SUV, which hit him at the same time, as she tried to flee after being asked to exit her vehicle during an ICE operation. Federal officials have said the officer opened fire in self-defense.
The shooting triggered a surge of protests in the area that have led to near-daily clashes between the protesters and federal officers. The activists have targeted hotels where ICE officers are believed to be staying and ramped up their efforts to interfere with the enforcement operations, such as by handing out free whistles used to alert others that officers are in the area.
Hotel Protests
Thousands of protesters have targeted hotels where they suspected that ICE agents were staying since December 2025. Some have played drums outside of hotels where they suspected officials were staying.Minneapolis-based activist group Sunrise Twin Cities circulated weekly lists of hotels.
The group, which describes itself as “resisting authoritarianism and fighting for climate justice,” encouraged protesters to put on “noise demonstrations” outside of the locations as a way to annoy the hotel management enough to capitulate to their demands that they kick out the agents and cancel all future reservations.
Their “No Sleep For ICE” rally at Canopy by Hilton got out of control on Jan. 9 as hundreds of police officers responded to the area, declared an unlawful assembly, and detained 30 people.
They didn’t find visible damage to a building but did find a crowd of angry protesters who yelled slurs and insults at local police.
“Some people threw snow, ice, and rocks at officers, police vehicles and other vehicles in the roadway,” the city of Minneapolis said in a statement.
One officer sustained minor injuries.
“I felt like I was in ‘The Purge,’” a worker at the Canopy Hotel told The Epoch Times on Jan. 10.
The Department of Homeland Security criticized Minnesotans who circulated a list of locations where federal agents were allegedly staying.
“Revealing their locations puts them at enormous risk of retaliation from these monsters,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement to The Epoch Times.
The business has since reopened as the Lakeville Inn and is working to build a website.
“We’re just not under Hilton anymore,” an employee confirmed to The Epoch Times.
‘ICE-Watch’
Activists have formed so-called ICE-watch groups. One group, Longfellow Zing, which covers south Minneapolis, had 3D-printed and distributed thousands of free whistles and taught near-daily classes on how one should act if an ICE agent approaches him or her.Longfellow Zing is not an easily accessible group, as all members must go through onboarding, make attending meetings a priority, and promise to honor “security guidelines” before joining.
A group who identified themselves to The Epoch Times only as “neighbors” surrounded the sidewalks of Roosevelt High School and Partnership Academy on Jan. 12 to “make sure kids get home safe” following recent ICE operations.
Another neighborhood group, MSP Whistles, distributed brochures and whistles across Minneapolis to share how whistles can be used as “codes” to warn the community that agents are nearby.
“People have been carrying their own whistles, like a soccer whistle, whenever an ICE agent or an ICE vehicle is seen—to alert anyone in the area that ICE is nearby,” local resident Francesca Taylor told The Epoch Times on Jan. 8.
According to brochures spread across the Minneapolis area, there are two ways to alert neighbors about ICE activity.
One way to notify neighbors is to use a whistle and “blow in a broken rhythm.” This code alerts the community that ICE agents are nearby.
Another signal is to “blow in a continuous steady rhythm,” which means that ICE is detaining somebody.
Area businesses such as Moon Palace Books and Arbeiter Brewing Company have embraced the neighborhood watch groups.
Moon Palace Books dedicated a section of the checkout counter to offer free anti-ICE items. The giveaways included bumper stickers with adult-themed jokes about federal agents, posters with profanity, examples of what warrants look like, and 3D-printed whistles.
Arbeiter Brewing Company is hosting Longfellow Zing’s near-daily ICE defense classes, selling shirts that read “Tacos not Tanks” and offering pints of a Mango Hazy IPA called Eff Ice.
Other businesses in communities with high immigrant populations, such as Richfield, have decided to close temporarily amid the immigration operations in town.
“Temporarily closed due to lack of staff,” read a sign taped to the door of Michoacana Tasty Ice Cream & Burgers.
Clashes
At least 31 people have been arrested during the clashes with protesters at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, which is being used as a base for ICE during the illegal immigration operation.
Federal agents have used nonlethal deterrents and smoke to disperse crowds when altercations between ICE supporters and anti-ICE activists have taken place.
Sortor and fellow conservative influencer Cam Higby were involved in an altercation with anti-ICE protesters on Jan. 11. As federal agents detonated gas to disperse a crowd of anti-ICE protesters, the two independent journalists jumped into a jeep, which was quickly surrounded by a crowd.
Higby said in a statement to The Epoch Times that protesters had “harassed and assaulted” him and Sortor “all day” on Jan. 11.
Higby said he stayed inside his car most of the time at the federal building and came out only to film if he noticed any altercations with federal agents but was “mobbed” each time.
“Protesters repeatedly threatened to kill us outright,” Higby said.
