New — I wrote about ChongLy Scott Thao, the elderly Hmong American wrongly arrested and forced out of his home by ICE in his underwear during the punishing Minnesota winter, what witnesses saw, and DHS's racist claim that he fit the description of another Asian man they were looking for. My story:

The windchill was below-zero when ChongLy Scott Thao, 57 — wearing only boxers and Crocs, with a blanket draped over his shoulders — was handcuffed and ushered outside by federal agents agents who broke open his door.

BREAKING — ChongLy Scott Thao's family has released a statement disputing DHS's outrageous justification for his arrest. "He does not live with, nor has he ever lived with, the individuals DHS claims were targets of this operation...[the family] does not know the individuals DHS references."

Friday afternoon, ABC News ran an interview with one of Mischief Toy Store's owners about the store's practice of giving away free whistles. Hours later, ICE agents showed up at their door. Here's my story (gift link):

Another person taken today from the quarry, leaving a wife and a young baby without support. If you are vulnerable or at risk, please stay away from the quarry. Target and Home Depot parking lots have been staging sites for ICE with lots of activity. Stay safe and stay vigilant.

Opinion: “If he can do this in Minnesota, nothing else will stop him," said Mukhtar Ibrahim. "This is, I think, ground zero. If Minnesota falls, the country will fall.” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/o...

Family members and a lawyer say they have been blocked from access to the bedside of Bonfilia Sanchez Dominguez, while her husband was detained and shipped to Texas within 24 hours.

This is what happened in our neighborhood yesterday. ICE snatched a human being off of our streets, roughed them up badly, and then pepper sprayed legal observers as they documented it all. This is a daily occurrence happening all throughout Minnesota right now.

The DOJ is investigating a group of protesters who disrupted services at a church where a local official with ICE apparently serves as a pastor.

- I don’t remember these exact words but it was quite a moment In Minneapolis, I Glimpsed a Civil War www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/o...

Four attorneys told ABC News they have been denied access to their clients at the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, where they are being held, which they say would violate 5th & 6th Amendment rights to due process & the right to consult with counsel. abcnews.go.com/US/lawyers-a...

ICE ended up returning the man, Saly, after realizing he’s a fucking US citizen with no criminal record, per his sister-in-law. These fucking animals.

Another person taken today in Northeast. ICE left their car out in the road and pepper sprayed legal observers, directly violating a federal judge’s orders from earlier this week.

One of the MOST significant things about this — and an important lesson to highlight, not obscure, for national/international readers — is how widespread local opposition is. I’ve never seen more normal folks involved. The overwhelming broad consensus local support lifts me up when I let it.

Get out today and support businesses on our cultural corridors.

This is the thing. There ARE protests here but the bigger story (and what you see in most of the clips online) is that many people here are just going about their daily lives **but constantly vigilant and running in to help the second it's needed.** (Many others, of course, are hiding for safety)

A third immigrant held at Camp East Montana has died, reportedly by suicide. Victor Manuel Díaz was detained in Minnesota. He is the sixth migrant to die since Jan. 1 in ICE detention. My story: www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/i...

“protesters” are not “clashing” with law enforcement. violent federal agents have waged war on minneapolis and regular people are telling them to get the fuck out. and last time i checked being in a group chat doesn’t mean you’re in a professional organization. it means you have friends.

if someone punches your neighbor and you go to protect them, that does not make you a protester. that makes you someone who protects your neighbor.

Racket wants to hear from you, Minnesota. We want to hear how the ICE occupation has changed your life, and we want the world outside of Minnesota to know as well.

💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯

What good is a free press if we’re confronted with such a situation and we can’t or won’t call it what it is? Why must we pretend there is debate about truths we can see plainly with our own eyes?

The story in Minnesota is not about “clashes” or protests. What is happening here is the clearest example in my life of the government violating every basic principle America is supposedly founded upon. It is lawless, unconstitutional, and un-American.

Because these international grocers need your support now more than ever, especially during these times, here’s a guide to the international grocers of the Twin Cities that I wrote for @racketmn.com: racketmn.com/guide-intern...

DHS said in October that "comparing ICE day-in and day-out to the Nazi gestapo, the Secret Police, and slave patrols has consequences." After I found one of their lawyers for ICE is a racist and a self-described fascist who has praised Hitler, there have been no consequences.

This, too. 💯

Dan is so right on this. And these national newsrooms are also the same ones allowing anonymous federal officials to announce their plans through them. Most journalists rarely use anonymous sources. But for some reason it's common practice in DC reporting, and I think the public is worse for it.

This drives me crazy. Nothing says “i don’t know what the hell I’m talking about” like calling moms protecting their schools agitators and protestors

Yeah, this is really important. In media-speak, “protesters” is coded as people going out looking for trouble. What we are seeing in MN is community protection.

National media: Please stop describing what’s happening in Minneapolis as “protests.” There has been a modest, sustained protest outside the Whipple federal building, about 10 miles from downtown, but... 1/3

wrote about the occupation in minnesota with a closing note on how the white house has exactly one tactic — repression with goons — but no particular strategy for dealing with entrenched resistance. gift link.

The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota, defense officials tell WaPo, after Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act there. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

“One year into his second term, America risks losing a central feature of our democracy: that we are a country ruled by laws, not by one man.” That endangers every one of us. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/17/o...

Videos add new detail to 2nd Minneapolis ICE shooting in a week minnesotareformer.com/2026/01/16/v...

"Not since the British occupation of Boston on the eve of the Revolutionary War has an American city experienced anything like the blockade of Minneapolis and its surrounding areas by the federal government."

“We’re multitasking, we’re running around, we’re doing what we have to do to make it to the other side of this," Homi restaurant owner Miguel Lopez told @shadib.bsky.social

We’re so proud of the way community showed up to protect our neighbors today. Just as a federal judge ruled last night, we know that observing and showing up for each other is not a crime. We need everyone to keep patrolling in the streets as we fight against the hate coming at us.

Minnesotans showed up & showed out today to help our Twin Cities neighbors in need, at our Northeast Minneapolis food drive this morning. Over 800+ community members reached out to help support with purchasing, sorting, organizing, and delivering groceries to ~125 families. My heart is so so full.

Right-wing influencer Jake Lang is stuck in a window recess against Minneapolis City Hall. He’s soaked with freezing water after counterprotesters hurled water balloons at him. bit.ly/4baGhJn

people were so worried about this protest and there’s probably more people waiting for a hot dog at the st. louis park costco right now

HOME FREE: Nasra Ahmed, 23, a St. Paul woman and U.S. citizen who was born in Minnesota, was released to her family without charges on Friday night after being detained by federal immigration enforcement agents and spending more than two days in detention. www.twincities.com/2026/01/17/s...

I talked to four east metro small businesses about how they're fighting back against ICE. Here's my column (gift link). Please share!

Scoop from @samanthamichaels.bsky.social / @motherjones.com: More prosecutors are preparing to bail from US Attys Office in Minnesota, because what lawyer with a conscience wants to carry out the twisted orders of a corrupted Justice Department? Truly a bad situation.

Photo by Pierre Lavie. Yes this is me. And I threw my Leica. It landed on the bass plate with hardly a scratch. Another Photographer grabbed it along with my phone and I was able to track him later. I was held face down tear gas deployed right in front of me and pepper sprayed directly into the eye.

Lots of whistles in the house at Quhwah House on Central Avenue this morning. I’m sipping a piping hot coffee with cardamom, with a little sidecar sample of chai.

Please read and share with anyone who might be planning on counterprotesting in Cedar-Riverside this weekend

Story from the two women detained by ice on Central this week is horrifying and happening every day across the Cities. Also statement from our beloved @elliottpayne.org Imagine what they’re doing to our more vulnerable neighbors. Sickening. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

A federal judge has prohibited federal immigration agents in Minnesota from arresting, detaining, retaliating against or using force and chemical irritants against peaceful protesters and observers.

I spoke to @theintercept.com about what this unprecedented ICE surge looks like in Minn., how national orgs wrongly frame around protests & how people in power have turned constitutional protections upside down to protect government officials rather than citizens. theintercept.com/2026/01/16/t...