Minneapolis Is an “Insurrection” of Trump’s Own Making
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Activism
/ January 25, 2026
Minneapolis Is an “Insurrection” of Trump’s Own Making
The city has become ground zero for the Trump administration’s war on immigrants and the growing resistance to it.
Alyssa Oursler
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Protesters clash with law enforcement in Minneapolis on January 24, 2026, after federal agents shot and killed a man—the second time one has shot dead Minnesotan this month.
(Arthur Maiorella / Anadolu via Getty Images)
Minneapolis—On Saturday morning, I followed the sound of whistles to the sound of flash-bangs. A man on the corner wiped his eyes while holding a gas mask. “You OK?” I asked. He shook his head. “I should have put my mask on sooner,” he told me. I pulled on my own as I approached the mass of protesters just beginning to gather. The eye shield crystallized like a windshield in the cold. When the sun hit, I could see nothing. I pulled the mask back off. Riot cops were moving in alongside the federal agents already in formation behind yellow crime-scene tape. Metal scraped on cement as protesters began to form a barricade from dumpsters, a mattress, a car. The makeshift fortress was meant to shield the swelling crowd from less-than-lethal weapons. But it also exemplified the persistence of community members in the face of escalating state violence.
On Saturday, three months to the day after Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s opening salvo in Minneapolis, federal agents were filmed shooting a legal observer multiple times at point blank range, including after his body went limp. Alex Pretti—a 37-year-old lawful gun owner, per police chief Brian O’Hara—was declared dead at the scene. The assembly of protesters was declared unlawful shortly after.
The shooting, which took place on the immediate heels of a citywide strike, has further solidified Minneapolis as ground zero for the Trump administration’s war on immigrants and the growing resistance to it. The afternoon prior, tens of thousands descended upon downtown Minneapolis, armed with cardboard signs and snow goggles, as part of the nation’s first general strike in eight decades. Since January 7, when ICE officer Jonathan Ross was filmed shooting 37-year-old Renee Good in the face, residents have called for ICE to leave the city. Ross has not been arrested or charged.
Current Issue
February 2026 Issue
On the light rail to US Bank Stadium, where an afternoon march celebrating the strike began, a woman with a yellow stole around her neck told me she was part of a clergy delegation, the largest since Standing Rock, 100 of whom were arrested at the airport earlier that morning. As we funneled into the …
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Minneapolis Is an “Insurrection” of Trump’s Own Making
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Current Issue
Activism
/ January 25, 2026
Minneapolis Is an “Insurrection” of Trump’s Own Making
The city has become ground zero for the Trump administration’s war on immigrants and the growing resistance to it.
Alyssa Oursler
Share
Copy Link
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Ad Policy
Protesters clash with law enforcement in Minneapolis on January 24, 2026, after federal agents shot and killed a man—the second time one has shot dead Minnesotan this month.
(Arthur Maiorella / Anadolu via Getty Images)
Minneapolis—On Saturday morning, I followed the sound of whistles to the sound of flash-bangs. A man on the corner wiped his eyes while holding a gas mask. “You OK?” I asked. He shook his head. “I should have put my mask on sooner,” he told me. I pulled on my own as I approached the mass of protesters just beginning to gather. The eye shield crystallized like a windshield in the cold. When the sun hit, I could see nothing. I pulled the mask back off. Riot cops were moving in alongside the federal agents already in formation behind yellow crime-scene tape. Metal scraped on cement as protesters began to form a barricade from dumpsters, a mattress, a car. The makeshift fortress was meant to shield the swelling crowd from less-than-lethal weapons. But it also exemplified the persistence of community members in the face of escalating state violence.
On Saturday, three months to the day after Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s opening salvo in Minneapolis, federal agents were filmed shooting a legal observer multiple times at point blank range, including after his body went limp. Alex Pretti—a 37-year-old lawful gun owner, per police chief Brian O’Hara—was declared dead at the scene. The assembly of protesters was declared unlawful shortly after.
The shooting, which took place on the immediate heels of a citywide strike, has further solidified Minneapolis as ground zero for the Trump administration’s war on immigrants and the growing resistance to it. The afternoon prior, tens of thousands descended upon downtown Minneapolis, armed with cardboard signs and snow goggles, as part of the nation’s first general strike in eight decades. Since January 7, when ICE officer Jonathan Ross was filmed shooting 37-year-old Renee Good in the face, residents have called for ICE to leave the city. Ross has not been arrested or charged.
Current Issue
February 2026 Issue
On the light rail to US Bank Stadium, where an afternoon march celebrating the strike began, a woman with a yellow stole around her neck told me she was part of a clergy delegation, the largest since Standing Rock, 100 of whom were arrested at the airport earlier that morning. As we funneled into the …
Minneapolis Is an “Insurrection” of Trump’s Own Making
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Minneapolis Is an “Insurrection” of Trump’s Own Making
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Current Issue
Activism
/ January 25, 2026
Minneapolis Is an “Insurrection” of Trump’s Own Making
The city has become ground zero for the Trump administration’s war on immigrants and the growing resistance to it.
Alyssa Oursler
Share
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Email
Ad Policy
Protesters clash with law enforcement in Minneapolis on January 24, 2026, after federal agents shot and killed a man—the second time one has shot dead Minnesotan this month.
(Arthur Maiorella / Anadolu via Getty Images)
Minneapolis—On Saturday morning, I followed the sound of whistles to the sound of flash-bangs. A man on the corner wiped his eyes while holding a gas mask. “You OK?” I asked. He shook his head. “I should have put my mask on sooner,” he told me. I pulled on my own as I approached the mass of protesters just beginning to gather. The eye shield crystallized like a windshield in the cold. When the sun hit, I could see nothing. I pulled the mask back off. Riot cops were moving in alongside the federal agents already in formation behind yellow crime-scene tape. Metal scraped on cement as protesters began to form a barricade from dumpsters, a mattress, a car. The makeshift fortress was meant to shield the swelling crowd from less-than-lethal weapons. But it also exemplified the persistence of community members in the face of escalating state violence.
On Saturday, three months to the day after Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s opening salvo in Minneapolis, federal agents were filmed shooting a legal observer multiple times at point blank range, including after his body went limp. Alex Pretti—a 37-year-old lawful gun owner, per police chief Brian O’Hara—was declared dead at the scene. The assembly of protesters was declared unlawful shortly after.
The shooting, which took place on the immediate heels of a citywide strike, has further solidified Minneapolis as ground zero for the Trump administration’s war on immigrants and the growing resistance to it. The afternoon prior, tens of thousands descended upon downtown Minneapolis, armed with cardboard signs and snow goggles, as part of the nation’s first general strike in eight decades. Since January 7, when ICE officer Jonathan Ross was filmed shooting 37-year-old Renee Good in the face, residents have called for ICE to leave the city. Ross has not been arrested or charged.
Current Issue
February 2026 Issue
On the light rail to US Bank Stadium, where an afternoon march celebrating the strike began, a woman with a yellow stole around her neck told me she was part of a clergy delegation, the largest since Standing Rock, 100 of whom were arrested at the airport earlier that morning. As we funneled into the …
