MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Hundreds of counter-protesters drowned out a far-right activist’s attempt to hold a small rally in support of the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown in Minneapolis on Saturday, as the governor’s office said National Guard troops were mobilized and ready to help law enforcement in the city, although they had not yet been deployed.
There have been protests every day since the Department of Homeland Security stepped up immigration enforcement in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, by bringing over 2,000 federal officers.
Conservative influencer Jake Lang organized an anti-Islam, anti-Somalia and pro-ICE demonstration, saying beforehand on social media that he planned to “burn a Koran” on the steps of City Hall. But it was unclear whether he carried out that plan.
Only a small number of people showed up for Lang’s demonstration, while hundreds of counter-protesters gathered at the scene, yelling at his attempts to speak and chasing away the pro-ICE group. They forced at least one person to remove a shirt they found objectionable.
Lang appeared to be injured as he left the scene, with bruises and scratches on his head.
Lang was previously charged with assaulting an officer with a baseball bat, civil disorder and other offenses before being granted clemency as part of President Donald Trump’s clemency act for defendants on January 6 last year. Lang recently announced that he is running for the US Senate in Florida.
In Minneapolis, snowballs and water balloons were also thrown before an armored police van and heavily armed city police arrived.
“We’re here to show the Nazis and ICE and DHS and MAGA that you’re not welcome in Minneapolis,” protester Luke Rimington said. “Stay out of our town, stay out of our state. Go home.”
National Guard “staged and ready”
The State Guard said in a statement that it was “mobilized” by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz to support the Minnesota State Patrol “to help provide traffic support to protect life, preserve property and support the rights of all Minnesotans to peaceably assemble.”
Maj. Andrea Tsuchiya, a guard spokesman, said it was “staged and ready” but had not yet been deployed.
The announcement came more than a week after Walz, a frequent critic and target of Trump, told the guard to be ready to support law enforcement in the state.
During the daily protests, demonstrators railed against masked immigration officers removing people from homes and cars and other aggressive tactics. The operation in the deeply liberal Twin Cities claimed at least one life: Renee Good, a US citizen and mother of three, was shot by an ICE officer during a confrontation on January 7.
A federal judge ruled Friday that immigration officers cannot detain or tear gas peaceful protesters who do not obstruct authorities, including while observing officers during the crackdown in Minnesota.
Living in fear
During a news conference Saturday, a man who fled Liberia’s civil war as a child said he has been afraid to leave his home in Minneapolis since he was released from an immigration detention center following his arrest last weekend.
Video of federal officers smashing in Garrison Gibson’s front door with a battering ram on Jan. 11 has become another rallying point for protesters who oppose the crackdown.
Gibson, 38, was ordered deported, reportedly because of a 2008 drug conviction that was later dismissed. He remained in the country legally under what is called a supervision order. After his recent arrest, a judge ruled that federal officials did not give him enough notice that his supervisory status had been revoked.
Gibson was then taken into custody again for several hours on Friday when he did a routine check-in with immigration officials. Gibson’s cousin, Abena Abraham, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told her that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller ordered the second arrest.
The White House denied the report of the arrest again and that Miller had anything to do with it.
Gibson was flown to an immigration detention center in Texas, but returned home following the judge’s ruling. His family used a dumbbell to hold their damaged front door shut in sub-freezing temperatures before spending $700 to repair it.
“I’m not leaving the house,” Gibson said at a news conference.
DHS said an “activist judge” is again trying to stop the deportation of “criminal illegal aliens.”
“We will continue to fight to arrest, detain and remove aliens who have no right to be in this country,” said Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
Gibson said he did what he had to do: “If I was a violent person, I wouldn’t have come out for the last 17 years, to register.”
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Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis, Josh Boak in West Palm Beach, Florida and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina contributed.