Despite arctic temperatures, several thousand protesters gathered in downtown Minneapolis to protest the immigration crackdown by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
The protests are part of a broader movement against Trump’s increased immigration enforcement across the state.
Unions, progressive organizations and clergy urged Minnesotans to stay away from work, school and even stores.
Clergy members and community activists gather at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, to protest deportation flights and urge airlines to call for an end to the Department of Homeland Security operation Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)(AP)
According to the Associated Press, about 100 clergy demonstrated against immigration enforcement at Minnesota’s largest airport, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, were arrested by the police.
Faith leaders gathered at the airport to protest the deportation flights and call on airlines to end the largest immigration operation to date, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The clergymen were charged with trespassing and contempt of a peace officer and then released, Jeff Lea, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, told the AP.
Demonstrators take part in a General Strike Day rally to protest US President Donald Trump’s deployment of thousands of immigration officials on the streets of Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. January 23, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein(REUTERS)
They were allegedly arrested for exceeding their permit to demonstrate and disrupt airline operations, Lea said.
Police ordered them to leave, but the Rev. Mariah Furness Tollgaard of Hamline Church in St. Paul said she and others chose to stay and be arrested to show support for migrants, including members of her congregation, who are afraid to leave their homes.
After the brief detention, she planned to return to her church to hold a prayer vigil. “We cannot live under this federal occupation of Minnesota,” Tollgaard said.
Read also | ICE detains 4 children from Minnesota school districtMINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – JANUARY 23: Protesters take part in a rally and march during the “ICE Out�’ day of protest on January 23, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. against immigration operations in the region Brandon Bell/Getty Images/AFP (Photo: Brandon Bell / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)(Getty Images via AFP)
“What’s going on here is clearly immoral,” said the Rev. Elizabeth Barish Browne, who traveled from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to attend the rally in downtown Minneapolis.
A Unitarian Universalist minister said, “It is certainly cold, but the kind of ice that is dangerous to us is not the weather.”
A protester holds an ‘ICE Out MSP’ sign in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA on Friday, January 23, 2026. Minneapolis and St. Paul has challenged the surge of thousands of ICE officials in the region as unconstitutional, as local residents blame federal officials and their methods for making them feel less safe outside and afraid. Photographer: Jack Califano/Bloomberg(Bloomberg)
Protesters have gathered in the Twin Cities daily since Jan. 7, when Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.
Federal law enforcement officers have repeatedly clashed with community members and activists who monitor their movements.
Read also | Vance defends himself as ICE detains 4 Minnesota children, accuses protesters of ‘extreme left’ Protesters march through downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. Minneapolis and St. Paul questioned the increase in thousands of ICE agents in the region, accusing them of being seen as unconstitutional by their local residents and of making them less safe. go out Photographer: Jack Califano/Bloomberg(Bloomberg)
Organizers said more than 700 businesses across the state closed in solidarity with the movement, from a bookstore in tiny Grand Marais near the Canadian border to the landmark Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis.
“We’re achieving something historic,” said Kate Havelin of the Indivisible Twin Cities, one of more than 100 groups involved.
Protesters hold signs during a rally at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. Minneapolis and St. Paul has challenged the surge of thousands of ICE officials in the region as unconstitutional, as local residents blame federal officials and their methods for making them feel less safe outside and afraid. Photographer: Jack Califano/Bloomberg(Bloomberg)
The 2-year-old girl was reunited with her mother Friday, a day after she was detained with her father outside their home in South Minneapolis, attorney Irina Vaynerman told The Associated Press.
Vaynerman said they quickly challenged the family’s detention in federal court. The petition states that the child, a citizen of Ecuador, was brought to the U.S. as a newborn. Both the child and her father, Elvis Tipan Echeverria, have pending asylum applications and neither is subject to final removal orders.
Read also | Who is Nekima Levy Armstrong? A woman detained during an anti-ICE protest at a church Federal law enforcement agents fire tear gas into a crowd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. Minneapolis and St. Paul has challenged the surge of thousands of ICE officials in the region as unconstitutional, as local residents accuse federal officials of being afraid to make them feel less safe outside of their methods. Photographer: Jack Califano/Bloomberg(Bloomberg)
Sam Nelson, a former Minneapolis high school student, said he skipped work to attend the march. Federal agents arrested someone at the school after class earlier this month. This arrest led to altercations between federal officers and bystanders.
“It’s my community,” Nelson said. “Like everyone else, I don’t want ICE on our streets.
