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ICE Melts in the Minneapolis Winter

Now it’s time to abolish the agency and impeach Kristi Noem.

Protesters march during a “Nationwide Shutdown” demonstration against ICE enforcement on January 30, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The people of Minneapolis raised their voices in glorious opposition to the federal occupation of their city with such energy, and such beauty, that the whole world heard their cry for justice. And they never let up. Just days before Donald Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan formally announced that the Department of Homeland Security’s deadly surge of thousands of armed and masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents into their city would end, 1,600 Minnesotans had filled the cavernous Central Lutheran Church in downtown Minneapolis with the chorus of their singing resistance:

Hold onHold onMy dear oneHere comes the dawn…

When the dawn came on Thursday, after more than two months of violence and cruelty—which included thousands of arrests, detentions and deportations, and the killing of poet and mother of three Renee Good and intensive care nurse Alex Pretti—Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey came as close as a Minnesotan can to declaring victory.

“They thought they could break us, but a love for our neighbors and a resolve to endure can outlast an occupation. These patriots of Minneapolis are showing that it’s not just about resistance—standing with our neighbors is deeply American,” said the mayor, who in January announced, “To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis!”

“This operation has been catastrophic for our neighbors and businesses, and now it’s time for a great comeback,” said Frey. “We will show the same commitment to our immigrant residents and endurance in this reopening, and I’m hopeful the whole country will stand with us as we move forward.”

Frey added, “The people that deserve the credit for this operation ending is the 435,000 residents that call Minneapolis home.” He’s right. The peaceful resistance to the Department of Homeland Security’s surge of 3,000 ill-trained and irresponsible ICE and Customs and Border Patrol agents into the city—with mass marches, neighborhood watches, and mutual aid networks to support threatened neighbors—was as resilient as it was beautiful. And it forms a model for resistance in the cities that may next be targeted.

Yet Frey was also correct to describe........

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