MINNEAPOLIS—Protesters against immigration enforcement took to the streets in cities and towns across the country on Saturday after one federal officer fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis and another shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon.
The demonstrations come as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security pushes forward in the Twin Cities with what it calls its biggest-ever immigration enforcement operation. President Donald Trump’s administration has said both shootings were acts of self-defense against drivers who “weaponized” their vehicles to attack officers.
Indivisible, a social movement organization that formed to resist the Trump administration, said hundreds of protests were scheduled in Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Florida, and other states. Many were dubbed “ICE Out for Good” using the acronym for the federal agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Indivisible and its local chapters organized protests in all 50 states last year.
Protests have so far been largely peaceful, in contrast to the violence that hit Minneapolis in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Near the airport, some confrontations erupted on Thursday and Friday between smaller groups of protesters and officers guarding the federal building used as a base for the Twin Cities crackdown.
On Friday night, a protest outside a Minneapolis hotel that attracted about 1,000 people turned violent as people threw ice, snow, and rocks at officers, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said during a news conference Saturday. One officer suffered minor injuries after being struck with a piece of ice, O’Hara said. Twenty-nine people were cited and released, he said.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stressed that while most protests have been peaceful, those who cause damage to property or put others in danger will be arrested.
U.S. Representatives Ilhan Omar and Angie Craig, both Democrats, were among a small group of protesters who stood outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building on Saturday. After the lawmakers entered the building, authorities directed the protesters to move back, resulting in a torrent of angry words.
The authorities returned to the federal building grounds, but protesters remained shouting “shame” at vehicles emerging from the area.
The Trump administration has been surging thousands of federal officers to Minnesota under a sweeping new crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. More than 2,000 officers were taking part.
By Rebecca Santana
