this photo. minneapolis. 💜 📷️ Alex Kormann/Star Tribune

If the admin's strategic goal was to break public resistance to immigration enforcement activities, it was a tactical mistake to go to the Twin Cities.

I wrote this immediately after Good was killed, but it rings even more true today as huge crowds gather downtown despite a "feels like" temp of -25*F. Minneapolis was ready for this fight.

Don’t let the weather report fool you. It’s gorgeous out here.

President Trump's federal agents have been carrying out a brutal retribution campaign in Minnesota that’s violating the most basic freedoms of the United States minnesotareformer.com/2026/01/23/8...

Thesis: ICE is un-American and the Minneapolis protestors are real Americans. Antithesis: Ackshually ICE is operating in a long American tradition of racist terror. Synthesis: Minneapolis is now the epicenter of a clash between two distinct but historically grounded American political traditions.

Lotta people are saying it

I know people keep saying this but it’s hard to communicate the depth of active resistance here. Like, I’m on random cafes and people are checking in for observation shifts. Signs everywhere. Folks in visibility vests on the corners. It’s wild. Absolutely wild.

I am really good at compartmentalizing the horrors but this story about the five year old shipped to detention in Texas is crushing. Fuck.

They just make up bullshit, bad-faith legal theories, do what they want until a court stops them, then lather, rinse, and repeat. In the meantime, they get to terrorize people. And nothing will happen to any of those responsible. Our courts are not equipped to deal with this.

Today in life under competitive authoritarianism

Welcome to the clicktatorship, where everything is content

The last year has just been a continual slide in the Overton window about what kind of country we're living in. A civil war starting in MN? That would have sounded wildly implausible two months ago, but now? It's one of several futures easy to see on the horizon.

hey, y'all. my name is madi and i'm a reporter for the minnesota reformer. i cover the trump administration's impact on minnesotans, which means i've been out on the streets covering ICE in the twin cities. let me walk you through how we got here:

They are sending more armed forces to harass the local PTOs who are just trying to protect kids and other community members from being kidnapped That's the story and it should be on every damn front page in the country

waking up to the Belgian PM quoting Gramsci at Davos re: Trump www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

Deadline on this is extended until Wednesday -- and if you want to write about your experience in a short piece (50-200 words) for this call, but need help, I have a group of volunteer writing coaches and professional editors ready to help Minneapolis folks out with this.

It has been deeply surreal to be trying to fight this occupation while also doing my usual job, parenting, etc. Just describing the basic facts sounds unreal. Really appreciate this clarity about what's happening in Mpls and how much worse it might get from the NYT today.

Two of my faves! @hebagowayed.bsky.social and @victorerikray.bsky.social 👇🏾 "That a white woman can be killed on camera, with impunity, and be demeaned and ridiculed in her death for standing up for her neighbors shows just how far down the road of violence the nation has gone."

I went to Minneapolis last week. What I saw was horrifying and inspiring in equal measure. Gift link to my latest column: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/o...

I am really interested in what federal officers’ daily quotas in Minnesota are www.wsj.com/us-news/the-...

The Minnesota National Guard and other state law enforcement out tonight in Minneapolis near Cedar Riverside. This follows thousands of federal agents and a downtown protest that was attended by maybe a dozen provocateurs but hundreds if not thousands of counter-protesters.

Change in Headline

Cultures of protest

It’s cold comfort right now but, if past is prologue, spectacles of violence committed by the state against sympathetic civilians—especially when captured on camera—were the beginning of the end for Bull Connor and Jim Crow, too.

Literally trying to make the US a place where political opponents aren’t legally allowed to criticize the regime any more.

ICE has kidnapped so many people from their cars that the city had to put out this statement. Let that sink in.

Even if our national organizations don't do something, there are so many things we can do. Rally at our schools at workplaces. Rally at our federal buildings. Lead teach ins about racism, fascism, and police states. Sure seems like a good time otherwise have a day of action in solidarity!

Suddenly feeling grateful for the brutal winter weather we're expecting this weekend in Minneapolis.

The problem, of course, is that one of our two political parties has organized itself around a world of “alternative facts” in which the meaning of words and independently-verifiable evidence are irrelevant. If J6 can be a “day of love,” then lots of swearing at Bovino can be an Insurrection.

So to be clear we have actually reached the point where NATO states are deploying tripwire forces to deter *another NATO state* from invading *another NATO state.* I struggle to communicate the strategic and just regular insanity of this moment.

So, I know folks are upset with this — and I get it. Let me put you in the judge’s shoes and give what I imagine is happening. This is *not* the National Guard cases, and Judge Menendez will be breaking new ground here. The more facts she can get in the record before ruling, the better.

If you see an abduction keep your wits about you and focus on: -recording it -getting a name The first one I saw I went into a red rage and started screaming “GO HOME.” The second I was better but I didn’t get to the key question fast enough (I had less than 20 seconds). Next time I’ll do better

pow wow grounds, moona moono, briar bar, a bar of their own—i spoke with these folks and many more about their role in this ongoing federal invasion, and about the "overwhelming support" and "massive" scale of donations that are flooding in to support immigrants, organizers, and ICE observers.

I don't think they've reckoned with how much normies hate all this. This week I interviewed an observer in the Florida Keys who's been threatened and harassed twice for following Border Patrol and ICE around. He's a 64-year-old retired air traffic controller.

So, yeah. While my point has been that what’s popular should not dictate what movements fight for it’s also the case that getting rid of this abominable organization is popular. And can be made more so through the consistent rhetorical and organizing efforts already taking place & expanding.

This is Minneapolis: Walk into my neighborhood ACE last night & see the signage on their door notifying fed agents that it’s private property and cannot be used for immigration enforcement. These signs are all over the city. Walk in & the nearest shelf has goggles & whistles.

It's easy enough to dismiss the administration's lies—what's remarkable is the local officials’ directly calling out the authorities. trib.al/bCQDt4w Mayor Jacob Frey described Noem’s claims as “bullshit,” while Minnesota Governor Tim Walz decried the administration’s “propaganda.”

I recently read The Race Beat which argues that brutal images of state violence against Black folks helped the Civil Rights movement and delegimated southern law enforcement. ICE, like Bull Connor, thinks they are displaying masculinity but most people hate this shit. It will undermine their goals.

ICE don't release names or even the number of most people arrested. So we dug into court records to try to get a picture of who and how many ppl were being detained. Most had no serious criminal history. Judges have been very critical of the fed's arguments in court. www.mprnews.org/story/2025/1...

No doubt about it: Trump's new imperialism re Venezuela & its unabashed discourse of aggression is exactly what desperate empires do as they fall, and it is exactly what has led to revived imperialism and world war in the past. It's all so predictable & and also so dangerous 1/7

Its not that the media is not covering what is happening, but it does feel like the military occupation of an American city should be treated as a national crisis.

This is the point. Breaking child care also means breaking working mothers.

Trying to explain what it feels like in the Twin Cities right now to people who aren’t here and haven’t experienced this is genuinely crazy-making.

ICE at Midway Target and seem to possible be leaving. Lots of community members here

👇Hey folks outside of MN, here are some local orgs you can donate to. These three larger groups are also worth supporting: www.miracmn.com (leading organizing) www.ilcm.org (legal info + defense) www.2harvest.org (reputable big food bank)

My kids were climbing in one of those trees right about the time this was taken. Grateful to see so much of Mpls out in the frigid temps and slippery sidewalks. Let's keep each other safe.

More photos from the biggest anti-ICE rally in Minneapolis since an ICE agent shot and killed observer Renee Macklin Good on Wednesday. No police presence but south Minneapolis residents will recognize the familiar sound of helicopters in the air. Demonstrators cleared a path for an ambulance.

Minneapolis from 2020 to now has gotten much better organized when it comes to tracking all the suspicious out of state trucks and SUVs full of far right goons flooding city streets. It's just that now they're federal agents.