Amid surging ICE raids, Twin Cities protesters mobilize to document arrests

By now, it’s become a familiar scene across the Twin Cities. Federal agents descend on a home or stop a car to apprehend someone who appears to be a Latino or Somali immigrant.

Within minutes, activists surround the agents; blowing whistles, shouting down law enforcement and gathering vital bits of information that could help document the suspect and the agents.

Sometimes the confrontations escalate. Protesters have blocked cars and thrown objects at law enforcement, and agents have used force, firing pepper spray or shoving protesters to the ground.

These types of standoffs have occurred regularly elsewhere since President Donald Trump took office in January, but they became more frequent in Minnesota this month after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched a broader initiative known as “Operation Metro Surge.”

Federal agents try to keep enforcement measures secret but a patchwork of protesters, legal observers and neighborhood groups have developed a coordinated response to rush to scenes to document the agents making arrests, and sometimes try to prevent the arrest from happening.

“It’s evolved into quick snatch-and-grabs,” said Miguel Hernandez, an organizer for the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC). “So how do we grab that information now in a rapid way where it’s still factual? Because all that information does a lot of things.”

The information — ranging from immigrant names to license plate numbers and vehicle information to agent locations — is shared through numerous encrypted group chats. The chats, some restarted daily, involve hundreds of people from across Minnesota.

Protesters and observers say their work is important to keep tabs on what they describe as harmful activity by agents who sometimes resort to using pepper spray, rubber-coated bullets or Tasers. But ICE says protesters are crossing the legal line by interfering, blocking their vehicles and at times throwing snowballs or other objects at personnel.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment on this story. But federal officials have repeatedly posted on social media that protesters are to blame for escalation at raids.

“Obstructing law enforcement is not protesting, it is a crime,” DHS said in a Dec. 12 post on X. “Our officers are facing a more than 1050% increase in assaults and a 8000% increase in death threats.”

The confrontations have also sparked debate about which side is in the wrong.

Protesters and federal officials disagree over the arrest of Susan Tincher, a 55-year-old Minneapolis resident who was detained while filming ICE agents arresting someone from a nearby house.

ICE officials pushed back on those allegations on Monday, saying Tincher was arrested for allegedly assaulting an agent, trying to “break through a security perimeter,” ignoring lawful commands and becoming violent.

Another post on Tuesday emphasized that DHS will arrest anyone who attacks an agent.

“To those who assault federal agents: we will hunt you down, we will find you, and justice will be served,” the post read.

The department recently said it has arrested more than 400 undocumented immigrants in Minnesota and aims to target the “worst of the worst” criminals. But officials have not released a full accounting of the people it has arrested, along with the crimes they are alleged to have committed.

Advocates, however, say the operation is unfairly targeting Somali, Latino and Hmong Minnesotans, including citizens, based on their ethnicity, stirring fear in the community.

“There is a huge explosion of interest now. But I think we were already ready,” Hernandez said. “We saw the writing on the wall.”

When protesters arrive at a scene, they often blow whistles to alert neighbors who may be undocumented, and demand to know if the agents have a warrant to enter a house.

“I’m filming because this is not OK,” said one protester in an interview, who asked not to be named out of fear of retaliation. “I’m observing. I’m witnessing because this injustice is happening.”

MIRAC is one of the organizations training people to become rapid response “legal observers” — people who go to an in-progress ICE operation and video what happens. Each session has been packed, Hernandez said, with at least 1,200 people trained since the spring.

Edwin Torres de Santiago, a network manager for the group Immigrant Defense Network, said there are now “thousands” of observers including some trained outside of the Twin Cities metro.

Filming the interactions can help detainees’ family members as they try to track down their loved ones, Hernandez said.

In each training, Hernandez said, attendees are taught about topics such as how ICE agents tend to operate and look, and what information is most useful to gather for neighborhood watch chat groups.

“We’re trying to find out all this information so you can make decisions based on facts, to say, ‘Hey, there’s a viable threat here to the community and we need people here’ or ‘Hey, this is already done,’” he said.

On Monday near Karmel Mall in Minneapolis, protesters blew whistles and yelled as they filmed and watched an agent kneel on the back of a woman reported to be pregnant with her stomach facing the ground, later dragging her by the arm across the pavement. The Minnesota Star Tribune could not independently confirm whether she is pregnant. Videos showed agents using Tasers and pepper spray on protesters, and protesters throwing snowballs and at least one water bottle at agents.

Protesters are also trying to disrupt agents’ sleep.

Megan Newcomb, an organizer for Sunrise Movement, said she later spoke with the hotel staff, who told her the agents had left. Hilton did not return requests for confirmation on whether the noise protest led to ICE agents relocating.

A spokesperson for DHS issued a statement saying it would be absurd for it to confirm where law enforcement is staying.

“Secretary [Kristi] Noem has been clear,” the statement said. “Rioters will not deter ICE from carrying out the American people’s mandate to arrest and deport the worst of the worst including gang members, pedophiles, terrorists, rapists, and murderers.”

DHS did not immediately return a request for comment on the allegations Thursday afternoon or answer a detailed list of questions for this story.

Hailey Lovgren, a 27-year-old veterinarian student, said she witnessed federal agents questioning a Somali man outside of an Roseville apartment building around 1 p.m. on Dec. 14. She started filming the interaction, until the agents eventually let the man go, she said.

After calling 911, she said, the agents drove away and left her alone after allegedly following her car for about 2 miles. She said the experience made her more interested in documenting agents in the future.