There has been significant unrest in Minnesota over the past few weeks. After a year of Trump and repeated declarations of opposition, it is in this northern state that the promised resistanceis emerging in a clearer and more structured form. For several weeks now, Trump’s immigration police, whom activists openly compare to the Gestapo, have been carrying out an extremely aggressive operation, leading to widespread violence… and even deaths.
These events are unfolding amid the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge, a large-scale immigration enforcement campaign launched in December 2025. The operation has deployed thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area and across Minnesota.
But Trump’s promises to target illegal immigrants in order to reduce violent crime are at odds with the reality on the ground. Only 5% of the 3000 people arrested in the operation have a record of violent crime, according to ICE itself. And many U.S. citizens who did not appear white, or who spoke with an accent, were detained and in some cases violently arrested without justification.
This is without counting the numerous testimonies from citizens, hardworking fathers and mothers, and even children with cancer who have been deported by ICE since Trump returned to power.
A murder in broad daylight
On 7 January 2026, Renee Nicole Good, also aged 37, was killed by an ICE agent while attempting to drive away from him. Online videos show her trying to move away, and the officer firing several shots after she was clearly no longer a threat. Social media erupted in debate over justification, as the Trump administration labeled the woman a “domestic terrorist”.
This sparked protests and condemnation across the country, particularly in the state, and ignited opposition networks that had been growing for months. People are now monitoring ICE operations near its headquarters almost around the clock. Large online chat rooms let self-described “rapid response teams” document agents’ work and rally neighbours to try to stop the removal of workers and children.
On January 23, 2026 a large-scale economic disruption day was organized, referred to by organizers as a “general strike”. The action saw small business owners close their shops, workers intentionally miss shifts or take time off, students stay away from classes, and many people avoid shopping altogether. Labour unions endorsed the day of action but did not organize it.
But less than three weeks later, a second person suffered the same fate as Good, under circumstances that were even less ambiguous.
On the morning of January 24, federal immigration enforcement agents shot and killed Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse from South Minneapolis. Pretti, a U.S. citizen and longtime Minneapolis resident, was reportedly filming and observing federal agents during an immigration enforcement operation in the city when he was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
Video footage and witness accounts from the January 24 incident show Pretti unarmed and holding a phone when agents subdued him. Federal officials maintain Pretti resisted disarmament and was armed, while bystander videos appear to contradict that narrative.
In the hours after Pretti’s death, Minnesota’s top elected officials issued strong public condemnations of the federal operation and called for an end to the surge of agents in the state, while demanding protestors to remain peaceful.
Insufficient political responses?
Governor Tim Walz decried the incident as senseless and called on President Donald Trump to withdraw federal immigration agents from Minnesota. At a press conference, Walz described the deployment as having crossed a moral line, saying the state has suffered enough and insisting that federal intervention has “become a campaign of brutality” against Minnesotans rather than a lawful enforcement action.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey similarly condemned the shooting, questioning how many more lives must be lost before such operations are halted. He called on federal agents to leave the city, warning that their continued presence undermines public safety and trust in law enforcement.
However, Minneapolis residents were not comforted by these words. A protestor at a vigil for Pretti exclaimed, “Alex was doing the right thing when he was murdered for it, Immigrants are being kidnapped and disappeared… Families are being torn about…Tim Walz and Jacob Frey say its time for us to turn down the temperature. When ICE murders our neighbours, it’s our duty to turn up the temperature.”
Tens of thousands of Minnesotans took part in the protests against federal immigration enforcement operations under “Operation Metro Surge,” calling for a halt to ICE actions and accountability for the earlier killing of Renee Good.
A similar economic disruption day also took place on January 30, though on a smaller scale, with fewer work stoppages.
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