– The Washington Times
An anti-ICE activist group in Minnesota called on protesters a few weeks ago to aggressively step up efforts to obstruct immigration enforcement officers by physically attacking them.
On the Instagram account @Iceoutoftwinports, a December post called for doing more than just observing and filming U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arresting illegal immigrants.
“Every time a cop attempts to make an arrest, they are required to do so with fists and legs and bats and rocks hitting them until either they give up or until a full-scale riot breaks out. Either way, they will pay for every single person they put their hand on,” the organizer posted on Instagram under the headline, “Don’t film, act. A call for confrontation.”
The battle cry was a reprint of a 2023 “zine” calling on the public to take action in response to police shootings rather than recording on their phones.
It was reposted on the anti-ICE account in December amid a surge in ICE activity and arrests in the Duluth area.
The post called for activists to “break the illusion of civil society” by engaging in cursing and verbally berating officers whenever they show up. Slashing the tires of law enforcement vehicles also was recommended.
“Allow yourself to experiment, remain nimble. Be willing to get kicked in the teeth (either metaphorically or unfortunately literally) and still do whatever you can to claw your way back to verticality. Fight for your life. Fight for life writ large,” the account advised its nearly 10,000 followers.
In response, one follower said, “Now might be a good time for people to stop recording violence and start disrupting it.”
The post is one of many social media messages denouncing ICE agents and endorsing violence.
The social media account operated by Minnesota ICE Watch on Thursday celebrated a crowd in Minneapolis who raided and vandalized ICE vehicles Wednesday night after an angry mob forced agents to retreat.
The clash began after an ICE agent shot an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who allegedly ambushed and beat him with a snow shovel while trying to flee.
Minnesota Ice Watch is run by the anti-ICE activist group that reportedly trained Renee Good, who was fatally shot while using her car to interfere with an ICE raid on Jan. 7.
Its social media account reposted reports boasting that activists who plundered the ICE vehicle walked away with “IDs paperwork, license plate, gear and operational plans” from the vehicle, as well as “challenge coins” that they said ICE agents are awarded when they “kidnap people.”
The account posted an image of the ICE vehicle, spray-painted with the message, “Hang Kristi Noem,” referring to the homeland security secretary, who oversees ICE.
The platform reposted a message from the Instagram handle @crimethincredux that provided the photos from the scene: “ICE mercenaries serve king death. They are evil incarnate.”
A video provided close-ups of each page of the documents stolen from the ICE vehicle.
A woman who said she broke into the car claimed the papers include “a list with FBI operation info,” including the full names of FBI agents, their emails, phone numbers, hotels where they are staying, “operational posture,” a map showing where they are taking “immigration targets,” and instructions on how to book them. The video provided a close-up of each page.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced last month that he would deploy “personnel and investigative resources” to Minnesota to investigate “large-scale fraud schemes” that have allegedly bilked billions of dollars in taxpayer funds.
Followers on social media who viewed the video of the abandoned cars and stolen papers egged on activists.
“Finally the people are doing something. Intensify!” posted a user with the handle @kazel1213.
One follower of @Iceoutoftwinports, who read the “Don’t film, act” social media post from Duluth, contemplated going further when encountering an ICE agent.
“If I confront them I’m probably going to get a baseball bat and give them a big whack,” the person said, with a laughing/crying emoji. “If I see one directly next to me I will fight them.”
The Instagram accounts that published the incendiary posts did not respond to an inquiry from The Washington Times.
In the incident that led to Ms. Good’s death, she was shot by an ICE agent after she appeared to run into him with her SUV. The Homeland Security Department said the agents confronted Ms. Good because she was blocking the road with her car, a tactic encouraged by Minnesota Ice Watch.
Minnesota Ice Watch in June posted a “de-arrest primer” on how to interfere with law enforcement.
The manual provides tactics to free an arrestee, such as “pulling and pushing an officer off of an arrestee and/or breaking their grip on an arrestee,” according to a copy reviewed by The Times.
The manual advises that this tactic is “probably the most risky,” but warns that doing nothing at all “can lead to greater harm than not taking the risk and acting decisively when you see repression take place.”
The primer also called for preventing ICE arrests by “blocking them and/or their vehicle.”
Minnesota Ice Watch did not respond to an inquiry from The Times.
Ms. Good’s involvement in Minnesota Ice Watch was first reported by the New York Post.
President Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, an 1807 law that would allow him to deploy the military to local jurisdictions, if protesters in Minnesota continue to attack federal agents carrying out immigration raids.
“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrections from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to their job, I will institute the Insurrection Act, which many presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great state,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, on Wednesday called ICE enforcement “a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
