Minneapolis, MN – Despite promises of a “drawdown” from immigration officials, the Twin Cities remain targeted by ICE’s Operation Metro Surge. In perhaps an illuminating recent conversation, a federal agent told legal observers that Minnesota’s status as a Democratic state is linked with the removal of residents.

While the terrain, and the rhetoric, has shifted slightly, people in the metro are still seeing much of the same behavior and tactics from immigration police as they have endured for more than two months.

Continuing our news briefs documenting ICE in Minnesota, below are some updates from day 67 of ICE activity in the state.

Friday, February 6: Day 67

Exclusive: Federal agent in Coon Rapids Wednesday tells observer Democratic status of state tied to undocumented population – In a video provided to Unicorn Riot, a masked federal agent told observers in a bungled string of words that the dominant status of the Democratic Party in the state is tied to the population of undocumented immigrants, implying that ICE is working to flip the state red.

Full story: Federal Agent in Coon Rapids: ‘The more people that you lose in Minnesota, you then lose a voting right to stay blue.’

Protesters rally in front of the Governor’s Residence, demanding the state stand up to the federal government – The rally, which began at 5 p.m. and saw hundreds in attendance, was organized by multiple Twin Cities organizations, including MIRAC and CAIR. The rally finished at 6 p.m., after which attendees slowly trickled out of the area.

UMN students chain themselves to the administrative building to demand a sanctuary campus – In a protest against the university’s accommodation of DHS and ICE, six students chained themselves to Morrill Hall, which houses the campus’s administration and has been the site of large scale protests over the decades, demanding university President Rebecca Cunningham declare the university a sanctuary campus. Three of the chained students left citing the potential for academic retaliation and police arrested the remaining three. 

Far-right agitator Jake Lang makes first court appearance following Thursday arrest – Edward Jacob Lang, who early last year received a presidential pardon for beating police officers with a baseball bat on Jan. 6, 2021, appeared in court Friday afternoon after state troopers arrested him and charged him with criminal damage to property, a felony, the Star Tribune reported. The charges stemmed from his destruction of an ice sculpture placed by a veterans’ advocacy group that read “prosecute ICE.” Lang, who was being held in the Ramsey County jail until Friday afternoon, was slated to hold a follow-up hate rally in the state capitol’s rotunda on Saturday that he falsely claimed to have received a permit for. He switched the venue of his rally to the Whipple Federal Building at the same time Saturday after a condition of his bail was to stay away from the capitol building. Last month Lang was run out of downtown for trying to hold a hate rally. See video from Jan. 17 below.

Minneapolis allocates $1 million for rental assistance to help families impacted by ICE – Minneapolis City Council passed a resolution allocating $1 million to Hennepin County’s emergency rental assistance fund Thursday after an hours-long discussion, MPR news reported. The funding is meant to lighten the economic hardship some in the Twin Cities have felt as a result of ICE’s occupation, which has prevented some from going to work and engaging in day-to-day activities. 

Hennepin County Sheriff Witt suggests cooperation could wind down crackdown – Sheriff Dawanna Witt, who runs the largest jail in the state, told the New York Times she believes opening her jail to some limited form of cooperation with federal immigration authorities could help relax the immigration enforcement surge, but that it could also cost her reelection in November. The interview comes a day after agents arrested two people in the Hennepin County Government Center and as her deputies have been involved in controversial arrests at the Whipple Federal Building where immigration authorities have been operating out of, which has led constituents to flood her inbox with angry messages.

Twin Cities residents see little difference in ICE activity after “drawdown” removal of agents – ICE sightings remain high, raids on homes continue and federal agents continue to violently confront observers in the days after Tom Homan announced the removal of 700 federal immigration agents, the New York Times reports. “Any ‘drawdown’ from 2,700 to 2,000 unaccountable masked federal agents is still a massive occupation,” said an organizer with Defend 612.

Mixture of state and local police crash fourth noise demo at Graduate Hotel – As Friday started, protesters were still being processed and sent to booking at the Hennepin County Jail. University of Minnesota police, along with Minneapolis police and state troopers, abruptly shut down a noise demonstration outside of the Hilton Graduate Hotel Thursday night, arresting at least 12 of the protesters. UMPD used a Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, attached to a Jeep to target both protesters and press. The show of force was notably increased in severity from the third, which was held on Jan. 28, with police almost immediately moving to kettle and arrest protesters after 10 p.m..

Full Story: State and Local Police Make Mass Arrest Again at Fourth Graduate Noise Demo

Related New UR story: Florida paid more than $573 million to Desantis-connected immigrant detention contractors in 2025 – Documents leaked to Unicorn Riot revealed that the state of Florida paid out more the $573 million to private contractors in 2025 to build two immigrant detention centers, including ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ The news comes as the Department of Homeland Security seeks to create new detention centers in a number of different states by repurposing warehouses, including one in Shakopee, Minnesota.

Check out the community-run maps of action in your local area, ICEout.org, defrostmn.net and the dashboard filled with public data.

Previous ICE Blog Update: ICE in Minnesota – Days 65-66: Feds Make Arrests in Government Center as Local Police Advance Collaboration

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