Minneapolis’ icy ICE rally sees 100 clergy arrested as thousands protest ‘federal occupation’

The protests are part of a broader movement against president Donald Trump’s increased immigration enforcement actions across the state, with labor unions, progressive organizations and clergy urging Minnesotans to stay away from work, schools and even stores.

Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesman Jeff Lea said the clergy were issued tickets for trespassing and failure to comply with a peace officer and then released. They were arrested outside the main station on Minneapolis-St. He said Paul International Airport because they exceeded the scope of their permit to demonstrate and disrupt airline operations.

The Rev. Maria Viernes Tollgaard, of Hamline Church in St. Paul, said police ordered them to leave, but she and others decided to stay and arrest to show support for the migrants, including members of her congregation who are afraid to leave their homes. She planned to return to her church after her short detention to hold a prayer service.

“We cannot afford to live under this federal occupation of Minnesota,” Tollgaard said.

Protesters demand ICE leave Minnesota

The Rev. Elizabeth Parrish Brown traveled from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to participate in the march in downtown Minneapolis, where the high temperature reached minus 9 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 degrees Celsius) despite the bright sun.

The Almohad international minister said: “It is clear that what is happening here is immoral.” “It’s definitely cold, but the type of ice that’s dangerous for us isn’t the weather.”

Protesters have been gathering daily in the Twin Cities since Jan. 7, when Renee Goode, a 37-year-old mother of three, was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Federal law enforcement officers have repeatedly clashed with community members and activists tracking their movements.

Sam Nelson said he quit work so he could join the march. He said he is a former student at a Minneapolis high school where federal agents arrested someone after class earlier this month. This arrest led to altercations between federal officers and bystanders.

“It’s communal,” Nelson said. “Like everyone else, I don’t want ICE on our streets.”

More than 700 businesses statewide closed their doors in solidarity with the movement, from a bookstore in tiny Grand Marais near the Canadian border to the historic Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis, organizers said Friday morning.

“We are accomplishing something historic,” said Kate Havelin of Indivisible Twin Cities, one of more than 100 groups participating.

The Department of Homeland Security confirms the arrest of two 2-year-olds and a 5-year-old

A 2-year-old girl named Chloe was arrested with her father as they returned home from a grocery store in south Minneapolis on Thursday, according to a GoFundMe page set up by Minneapolis City Councilman Jason Chavez.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the Border Patrol arrested Elvis Tepan Echeverría from Ecuador, and that the child’s mother refused to take her so she was reunited with her father in a federal detention facility.

According to an emergency petition filed in federal court, a district judge issued an emergency injunction ordering Chloe’s release into the custody of her attorney. The child, an Ecuadorian citizen who was brought to Minneapolis as a newborn, has a pending asylum claim and is not subject to a final order of removal.

The Department of Homeland Security repeated its claims on Friday that the father of 5-year-old Liam Ramos abandoned him during his arrest by immigration officers in Columbia Heights on Tuesday, leading to the child being detained as well.

Department spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said Liam was arrested because his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, “fled the scene.” The two are being held together at the Dilley Detention Center in Texas, which is designated for family detention. Officers tried to convince Liam’s mother to take him in, but she refused to accept custody, McLaughlin said.

Family attorney Mark Prokosch said he believes the mother refused to open the door to ICE officers because she feared she would be detained. Liam was “used as bait,” Columbia Heights District Supervisor Zina Stenvik said.

Prokosch found nothing in state records that indicated Liam’s father had a criminal history.

On Friday, Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino sought to shift the narrative away from Liam’s detention by attacking the media for, in his view, inadequate coverage of children who have lost parents to violence committed by people in the country illegally. After briefly mentioning the 5-year-old during a press conference, he spoke about the mother of five who was murdered in August 2023.

Details from Judd’s autopsy

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner posted the preliminary autopsy report online to Good that classified her death as a homicide and determined that she died of “multiple gunshot wounds.”

A more detailed independent autopsy commissioned by Judd’s family said a bullet entered the left side of her head and exited the right side. The autopsy, released Wednesday through the law firm Romanucci & Blandin, said the bullets also struck her in the arm and chest, although those injuries were not immediately life-threatening.

The family is still awaiting the full report from the coroner and “we hope they will reach out to Rene’s family and share their report before releasing any further information to the public,” Antonio Romanucci, the family’s attorney, said in a statement.

A company spokesperson said there are no funeral plans to share yet.

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Associated Press journalists Tiffany Stanley in Washington and Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, contributed.