Trump Says Minnesota Officials Will Face ‘Day of Reckoning’ Amid Protests

Minneapolis has faced protests and riots after an ICE agent fatally shot a woman last week.

Protestors face off with federal officers in front of the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis on Jan. 9, 2026. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned that state officials in Minnesota would face a “DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION” and said that Democrats have weaponized the shooting of a woman for political gain.

“Do the people of Minnesota really want to live in a community in which there are thousands of already convicted murderers, drug dealers and addicts, rapists, violent released and escaped prisoners, dangerous people from foreign mental institutions and insane asylums, and other deadly criminals too dangerous to even mention,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

He added, “FEAR NOT, GREAT PEOPLE OF MINNESOTA, THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING,” while also blaming state Democratic officials for recent unrest in the state. The president did not provide more details in this post.

Over the past several days, Minneapolis has faced protests and riots after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot Renee Good, who federal officials said weaponized her SUV against the agent. Video footage of the incident showed the woman apparently lurching her vehicle toward the agent, who then opened fire.

White House officials have said the ICE agent was acting in self-defense, while local Democratic officials have said the incident shows that ICE has gone too far in their citywide operation.

Responding to Trump’s Truth Social post, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz accused the president of political retribution.

“Minnesota voted against him three times and now he’s punishing us—putting lives at risk and wasting enormous resources in the process,” he claimed.

The states of Minnesota and Illinois sued Trump’s administration on Monday and are now seeking to block a surge of immigration-enforcement officers into their states, naming Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other U.S. immigration officials in the lawsuit.

The Department of Homeland Security has accused Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison of prioritizing politics over public safety, saying he was part of a sanctuary state after the Justice Department placed Minnesota on a list of jurisdictions that it says impede enforcement of federal immigration laws.

“For years, these corrupt, activist politicians have refused to protect Minnesotans and are now proposing illegal actions to keep their stranglehold on control and continue stealing from American citizens. We will root out this rampant fraud, we will arrest the criminal illegal aliens hurting Americans with impunity, and we will hold those who aid and abetted this criminality accountable,” wrote Noem in a post on X on Monday.

The Trump administration has deployed federal law enforcement officers into several cities and states largely governed by Democrats in what the administration has said are operations targeting illegal immigration and criminals. Last week, Noem said that 2,000 federal agents would be sent to Minnesota to carry out deportation operations.

In an interview Sunday, Noem said that additional agents would be sent to Minnesota this week.

“We’re sending more officers today and tomorrow, they’ll arrive, there’ll be hundreds more, in order to allow our ICE and our Border Patrol individuals that are working in Minneapolis to do so safely,” she told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”

Reuters contributed to this report.