August 22, 2025, DHS arrests a U.S. citizen who assaulted ICE officers and threatened law enforcement, yelling at agents, “I’m going to go after your family,” and “I’m going to stab you.” Photo courtesy of the Department of Homeland Security.

Following the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026, protests erupted across multiple cities. On Friday night, January 9, approximately 30 people were arrested during demonstrations outside a downtown Minneapolis hotel where ICE agents were believed to be staying.

Police reported that protesters threw ice, snow, and rocks at officers and vehicles, injuring one officer with a chunk of ice. Some protesters also caused property damage, including broken hotel windows. City crews later removed makeshift barricades erected near the memorial site.

On January 8, protests also occurred outside an ICE facility in Portland following a separate shooting incident in which CBP agents shot two individuals identified by DHS as suspected Tren de Aragua gang members. Officers used sound trucks to warn protesters to stay off roadways, and two officers were injured. Portland police arrested six people during those protests.

In Minneapolis, additional violence occurred on January 7 near Roosevelt High School. Border Patrol agents were conducting immigration enforcement operations when a U.S. citizen rammed a government vehicle. The incident led to a five-mile vehicle chase that ended near Roosevelt High School around 3:30 p.m., during student dismissal.

According to DHS, agents were attempting to arrest the suspect for interfering with ICE operations when, during the removal of the individual from the vehicle, a person identifying himself as a teacher assaulted a Border Patrol agent. A crowd quickly formed and grew in size. Members of the crowd threw objects, sprayed paint on officers and vehicles, and continued hostilities despite repeated warnings to disperse. Officers ultimately employed targeted crowd-control measures.

The media, democrat lawmakers, and liberal protesters have blamed ICE for the increase in violence and chaos. However, the violence is not originating with ICE. It is being driven by suspects who resist arrest or attempt to flee, and increasingly by activists who interfere with ICE operations or directly attack federal agents.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported a sharp surge in violence against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, citing a more than 1,300 percent increase in assaults, a 3,200 percent rise in vehicular attacks, and an 8,000 percent increase in death threats. According to DHS data, from January 20 to December 31, 2025, there were 275 reported assaults on ICE officers, compared to just 19 during the same period in 2024.

Anti-ICE activism has evolved into coordinated resistance networks that employ surveillance, harassment, and interference tactics. Organizations train activists in resistance methods, track ICE agents’ movements through mobile apps and crowdsourced databases, and conduct campaigns designed to obstruct immigration enforcement operations.

These efforts include doxing ICE agents, issuing threats against their homes and families, and running coordinated online propaganda campaigns that rely on altered or misleading videos. Posts may show ICE breaking a window while omitting that the occupant refused to open it, or claim agents “chased” someone without noting the individual was fleeing to evade arrest.

Videos of agents wrestling with arrestees are circulated without acknowledging that the person resisted arrest, and outrage is expressed when a U.S. citizen is arrested while omitting that the citizen assaulted or interfered with federal officers.

Activists also claim there is no due process, despite the fact that a large percentage of deportees have outstanding final orders of deportation that were never enforced. They argue people are being denied access to courts when, in reality, many individuals are already in the country illegally and are arrested after attempting to bypass U.S. law by legalize their status through a green card application or marriage to a citizen.

Activists then claim the individual “showed up for a regular immigration hearing” or was “trying to do it the right way,” even though once someone is in the country illegally, there is generally no legal path to adjust status.

To further vilify ICE and encourage resistance, media figures, activists, and public officials in sanctuary jurisdictions use loaded language such as “abducted” instead of arrested and “whisked away” instead of detained. Elected officials vow to protect constituents from ICE, despite the fact that ICE arrests and deports illegal aliens, not lawful residents or citizens. ICE poses no threat to citizens or those in the country legally.

Against this backdrop of negative framing and propaganda, several activist organizations are coordinating interference with ICE operations, escalating tensions and increasing the risk of unnecessary violence.

According to federal sources and news reports, Renee Nicole Good moved to Minneapolis from Missouri to become involved with the Minneapolis “ICE Watch” network, a group that monitors and attempts to observe or document federal immigration enforcement operations. ICE Watch Minneapolis trains members to monitor, track, and interfere with ICE operations.

Activists are instructed on when to blow whistles to alert communities and are given strategies for “documenting and resisting” federal actions. Members use mobile apps, Signal group chats, social media, and crowdsourced spreadsheets to track ICE vehicle movements, locations, and enforcement activity across the Twin Cities, often patrolling neighborhoods for hours and reporting license plates and sightings to group chats.

Video and official accounts indicate that Good was present during a large federal immigration enforcement operation and was on camera harassing ICE agents. She was told several times to get out of the vehicle, which she refused to do. She then hit the accelerator, striking an agent with her car. The agent fired in self-defense, killing her. These are all facts that were absent from the initial reports and framing of the incident.

The point activists are missing is that the violence originates from people interfering with ICE and from a general refusal to encourage illegal aliens to self-deport.