Anti-ICE demonstrators outnumber backers in Minneapolis protest

As many as a thousand protesters denouncing federal immigration enforcement showed up to where a handful of opponents were demonstrating. No injuries were reported. Bloomberg

Anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis overwhelmed a planned rally in support of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Saturday, pelting the supporters with snowballs and water balloons in sub-freezing weather.

As many as a thousand protesters denouncing federal immigration enforcement showed up to where a handful of opponents were demonstrating. No injuries were reported.

Jake Lang, who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the US Capitol, was among the leaders of the pro-ICE demonstrations outside Minneapolis City Hall. President Donald Trump pardoned Lang and others who rioted at the Capitol to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory in 2020.

The Minneapolis confrontation lasted almost two hours before Lang and other ICE supporters tried to leave but were surrounded by anti-ICE protesters, who followed them to a downtown hotel.

Minneapolis police arrived outside the hotel in an armored vehicle and ordered protesters to remain on the sidewalks and not block traffic. Several helmeted officers briefly stood by before leaving the area in an unmarked van.

A few hundred anti-ICE protesters later left the hotel, marching through downtown Minneapolis, while several hundred remained.

The group led by Lang was apparently the first major Minneapolis demonstration in support of ICE, whose agents have surged in the city in an enforcement action in recent weeks. ICE officer Jonathan Ross shot and killed a motorist, Renee Good, last week, sparking large demonstrations against the presence of immigration agents.