MINNEAPOLIS â Thousands of people marched Saturday in Minneapolis to protest the fatal shooting of a woman by a federal immigration officer there and the shooting of two people in Portland, Oregon, as Minnesota leaders urged demonstrators to remain peaceful.
The Minneapolis gathering was one of hundreds of protests planned in towns and cities across the country over the weekend. It came in a city on edge since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer killed Renee Good on Wednesday.
"We're all living in fear right now," said Meghan Moore, a mother of two from Minneapolis who joined Saturday's protest. "ICE is creating an environment where nobody feels safe and that's unacceptable."
On Friday night, a protest outside a Minneapolis hotel that attracted about 1,000 people turned violent as demonstrators threw ice, snow and rocks at officers, Minneapolis police Chief Brian O'Hara said Saturday. One officer suffered minor injuries after being struck with a piece of ice, he said, and 29 people were cited and released.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stressed that while most protests were peaceful, those who cause damage to property or put others in danger will be arrested. He faulted "agitators that are trying to rile up large crowds."
"This is what Donald Trump wants," Frey said of the president who demanded massive immigration enforcement efforts in several U.S. cities. "He wants us to take the bait."
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz echoed the call for peace.
"Trump sent thousands of armed federal officers into our state, and it took just one day for them to kill someone," Walz posted on social media. "Now he wants nothing more than to see chaos distract from that horrific action. Don't give him what he wants."
âWe will fight with peaceful expression, in court, through public debate, and at the ballot box. Keep the peace. And keep the faith,â Walz said in a later post.
Communities unite in frustration
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says its deployment of immigration officers in the Twin Cities is its biggest ever immigration enforcement operation. Trump's administration says both shootings were acts of self-defense against drivers who "weaponized" their vehicles to attack officers.
Connor Maloney said he attended the Minneapolis protest to support his community and because he's frustrated with the immigration crackdown. âAlmost daily I see them harassing people,â he said. âItâs just sickening that itâs happening in our community around us.â
He was among thousands of protesters, including children, who braved sub-freezing temperatures and a light dusting of snow, carrying handmade signs declaring, âDe-ICE Minnesota!â and âICE melts in Minnesota.â They marched down a street that is home to restaurants and stores where various nationalities and cultures are celebrated in colorful murals.
Steven Eubanks, 51, said he felt compelled to attend a protest in Durham, North Carolina, on Saturday because of the âhorrifyingâ killing in Minneapolis. âWe canât allow it,â Eubanks said. âWe have to stand up.â
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.
ICE activity across Minneapolis
In Minneapolis, a coalition of migrant rights groups organized the demonstration that began in a park about half a mile from the residential neighborhood where 37-year-old Good was shot Wednesday. Marchers carried signs calling for ICE to leave and voiced support for Good and immigrants.
A couple of miles away, just as the demonstration began, an Associated Press photographer witnessed heavily armed officers â at least one in Border Patrol uniform â approach a person following them. Two of the agents had long guns out when they ordered the person to stop following them, telling him it was his "first and final warning."
The agents eventually drove onto the interstate without detaining the driver.
Protests held in the neighborhood were largely peaceful, in contrast to the violence that hit Minneapolis in the aftermath of the police killing of an unarmed Black man named George Floyd in 2020.
Near the airport, some confrontations erupted Thursday and Friday between smaller groups of protesters and officers guarding the federal building used as a base for the Twin Cities crackdown.
O'Hara said immigration enforcement activities are happening "all over the city" and 911 callers alerted authorities to ICE activity, arrests and vehicles abandoned because their drivers were apprehended by immigration enforcement. In one case, the car was left in park and in another case a dog was left in a vehicle.
The Trump administration deployed 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.
Lawmakers snubbed
Three congresswomen from Minnesota attempted to tour the ICE facility in the Minneapolis federal building on Saturday morning and initially were allowed to enter but then told they had to leave about 10 minutes later.
U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar, Kelly Morrison and Angie Craig accused ICE agents of obstructing members of Congress from fulfilling their duty to oversee operations there.
"They do not care that they are violating federal law," Craig said after being turned away.
A federal judge last month temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing policies that limit congressional visits to immigration facilities. The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by 12 members of Congress who sued in Washington, D.C., to challenge ICE's amended visitor policies after they were denied entry to detention facilities.
