What we're covering
• New wave of protests: Hundreds of Minnesota businesses are expected to close and a rally is planned in Minneapolis as organizers urge people to protest the Trump administration’s latest surge in its aggressive, nationwide immigration crackdown.
• Preschooler taken by ICE: A 5-year-old is one of the latest children caught up in the mass deportation campaign after he and his father were taken by federal agents outside their Minneapolis-area home. They were pursuing an asylum claim, their lawyer says.
• Church protest in focus: Three people who denounced federal immigration agents in a protest at a St. Paul church have been arrested – and more arrests could be coming. Minneapolis’ Democratic mayor condemned one of the arrests, while the White House welcomed it.
Minneapolis anti-ICE march to take place amid bitter cold
Organizers of a march protesting the surge of ICE agents to Minnesota will face a particularly challenging opponent this afternoon: the weather.
“We will walk in below-zero degrees in one of the coldest days in Minnesota,” Emilia González Avalos with UNIDOS Minnesota, one of the groups behind the event, told CNN’s Sara Sidner.
The wind chill in Minneapolis is not expected to rise above -20 today. The march that was originally scheduled to begin and end at the city’s Commons Park will instead conclude with an indoor rally at Target Center.
“We’re asking people to march,” said González. “We’re asking people boycott today. We’re asking people to get trained as legal observers.”
The event is part of a broader Friday strike activists have called for, encouraging people to stay home from school and work and for businesses to close.
DHS calls on Minnesota officials to turn "child predator" over to ICE
The Department of Homeland Security is calling for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey to turn over a convicted sex offender they said federal agents were searching for when they dragged a US citizen from his St. Paul home on Sunday.
“This is exactly what we have been saying: We need state and local law enforcement engagement and information so we don’t have to have such a presence on the streets,” reads a post on X from the agency.
Paul Schnell, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Corrections, told CNN yesterday he had notified DHS that the offender was in state custody.
Some context: ICE agents bashed open ChongLy “Scott” Thao’s door before detaining him and leading him outside in his underwear in frigid conditions, according to the Associated Press. The episode, captured on video, provoked anger and criticism of the ICE agents’ tactics.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin accused Thao of living with two convicted sex offenders, the targets of the operation, and said both were still at large.
But Schnell said that one of those sex offenders is already in prison.
“He is, in fact, in prison and subject to a detainer,” Schnell told CNN yesterday. “They should know, because we did notify them that they were in our custody.”
Trump administration targets 14 blue states with sweeping federal funding review
The Trump administration has ordered a review of federal funding sent to more than a dozen Democratic-led states, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
The sweeping scale of the review is outlined in a budget data request that was sent Tuesday to all federal departments and agencies except for the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Office of Management and Budget memo, which was reviewed by CNN, requests detailed spending information to “facilitate efforts to reduce the improper and fraudulent use of those funds.” Notably, the effort “does not involve withholding funds,” the memo says and is part of a “data-gathering exercise.”
The request signals a dramatic escalation of the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive strategy to target federal funding in blue states — an unprecedented policy approach triggered during last year’s government shutdown that has rapidly accelerated in the wake of sweeping fraud allegations in Minnesota.
How a Minneapolis federal building’s namesake is inspiring resistance to the ICE actions happening inside
Federal officers in tactical gear line up at the driveway of a large block-shaped building wedged between the city limits of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Across from them, a crowd of protesters yell at the officers and sometimes try to block cars driving in and out.
The Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building has served as the backdrop for the ongoing tense dance in the Twin Cities since federal agents shot and killed Minneapolis resident Renee Good earlier this month. Its stark brick structure is home base for the immigration proceedings at the heart of the crackdown in the state, prompting fear, anger and confusion.
The man behind the name — Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple — would be standing outside with protesters if he were still alive, one historian and scholar said.
Whipple, Minnesota’s first Protestant Episcopal bishop, was known for advocating for the welfare of Native Americans throughout the mid-to-late 1800s, according to historians. While his legacy reflects his advocacy, it falls short of altruism and the building bearing his name perches on sacred land also known for its traumatic and violent history toward Indigenous peoples.
Now, the Whipple building is where many people are temporarily detained after being swept up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Minneapolis mayor says immigration operation in city is "political retribution"
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey — now facing a subpoena from the Trump administration in an investigation of possible obstruction of justice — says the dramatic increase in federal immigration agents is not making his city safer.
President Donald Trump has called Frey “a fool” for his support of the city’s Somali community and posted on Truth Social earlier this month, “FEAR NOT, GREAT PEOPLE OF MINNESOTA, THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!”
“You don’t need to take my word for it,” Frey said. “You can listen to exactly what Donald Trump is saying.”
UN Human Rights Chief condemns US immigration enforcement policies "that are tearing families apart," he says
The United Nations Human Rights Chief is calling on the Trump administration to ensure immigration and enforcement practices “respect the human dignity and due process rights” and to end practices that he says are tearing apart families.
“Individuals are being surveilled and detained, sometimes violently, … often solely on mere suspicion of being undocumented migrants,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a news release as he questioned the administration’s concern for dignity and humanity.
The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies “are resulting in arbitrary and unlawful arrests and detentions, as well as flawed removal decisions,” Türk said highlighting “that many arrests, detentions, and expulsions occur without effort to assess and maintain family unity.”
The high commissioner also said he is worried these policies are often enforced without carefully assessing each person’s situation. He expressed concern “about the harmful and dehumanising narratives frequently used to describe migrants and refugees.”
He called for “an independent and transparent investigation” into what he said is a concerning rise in the number of detainee deaths while in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
Federal agents detain corrections officer recruit in Portland, Maine
A Cumberland County, Maine correctional officer recruit was detained by federal agents in Portland’s Bayside neighborhood, according to the sheriff. CNN has reached out to DHS for comment but has not yet received a response.
A Cumberland County, Maine correctional officer recruit was detained by federal agents in Portland’s Bayside neighborhood, according to the sheriff. CNN has reached out to DHS for comment but has not yet received a response.
Jury finds Chicago man not guilty of circulating $10,000 bounty on life of Border Patrol chief
A Chicago-area man accused of offering a $10,000 bounty for the life of Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino over Snapchat was found not guilty Thursday, the Associated Press reported.
Juan Espinoza Martinez, 37, faced up to 10 years in prison on a murder-for-hire charge.
Prosecutors cited Snapchat messages from Espinoza Martinez to his brother and a friend who turned out to be a government informant, including one that read, “10k if u take him down,” with a photo of Bovino.
Defense attorneys told jurors the government didn’t present any evidence against Espinoza Martinez, who they said didn’t follow up on the messages and had only a few dollars in his bank account. Espinoza Martinez did not testify.
His defense attorney Dena Singer did not respond to the AP on its request for comment on the verdict. Neither did the US attorney’s office in Chicago nor the Department of Homeland Security.
Born in Mexico, Espinoza Martinez has lived in the US for more than 30 years. He does not have legal permission to stay in the United States.
Minnesota businesses are joining an "economic blackout" to protest ICE. Here's what else we know
Hundreds of Minnesota businesses are expected to close on Friday as part of a protest against immigration enforcement in the state.
The strike, organized by local faith leaders and unions, urges Minnesotans to avoid shopping and stay home from work or school, according to CNN affiliate KARE. There is also a rally planned in downtown Minneapolis uniting under the slogan “ICE out of Minnesota.”
The statewide strike comes a day after Vice President JD Vance, who visited Minneapolis, blamed a lack of cooperation from local authorities for some of the problems in the city, and suggested that is why ICE needs such a robust presence in Minneapolis.
Here’s a look at the latest:
- A 5-year-old has become one of the latest children caught up in the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, after he and his father were taken by federal agents outside their Minneapolis home. The family’s attorney said they are in the US legally after applying for asylum. The father and son are being held together at a detention facility in Texas, while the boy’s pregnant mother remains in Minneapolis.
- More arrests are expected in connection with a church protest in St. Paul, Minnesota, according to acting ICE director Todd Lyons. Federal authorities have arrested three people since the protest interrupted a church service to object to a pastor who appears to serve as a top ICE official.
- Vance, while in Minneapolis, acknowledged the need for investigations into the fatal shooting of Renee Good and other instances where agents have been accused of wrongdoing.
- Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino said agents are encountering protesters who are “stalking” them at public places and local police and elected officials have not intervened. He cited an instance where a “violent” group tried to stop ICE officers from using a gas station restroom.
- ICE has arrested more than 100 people in Maine since it launched “Operation Catch of the Day” in the Democrat-led state Tuesday. The presence of ICE agents has elevated the level of anxiety in communities, a US Senator warned, as he called for more information about the 1,400 people DHS is targeting.
Lawyer for 5-year-old taken by ICE pushes back on Vance’s “illegal alien” comment
The attorney for 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, who were taken by federal agents this week, said the two were “not eluding ICE in any way.” He also pushed back on Vice President JD Vance’s comment that agents were arresting an “illegal alien.”
The attorney for 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, who were taken by federal agents earlier this week, said the two were “not eluding ICE in any way.” He also pushed back on Vice President JD Vance’s comment that ICE agents were arresting an “illegal alien.”
ICE agents can now enter homes without judge’s warrant. Here's what that means
A new memo obtained by the Associated Press says ICE agents can enter people’s homes without a warrant signed by a judge, allowing agents to exercise sweeping new powers. It’s a move, CNN’s Josh Campbell reports, that can potentially ramp up already tense interactions between the public and immigration officers.
A new memo obtained by the Associated Press says ICE agents can enter people’s homes without a warrant signed by a judge, allowing agents to exercise sweeping new powers. It’s a move, CNN’s Josh Campbell reports, that can potentially ramp up already tense interactions between the public and immigration officers.
