Protest movement grows nationwide against expanded immigration operations

Protests that began as a local outcry over deadly immigration raids have rapidly turned into a nationwide challenge to the latest expansion of federal enforcement operations. From student walkouts to coordinated work stoppages, organizers are testing how far they can push public disruption to force changes in immigration tactics and accountability.

At the center of the unrest are heavily criticized raids, controversial new authorities for home entries, and a rising death toll linked to Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions. Opponents say those developments have pushed communities to a breaking point.

From Minneapolis flashpoint to national revolt

The current wave of demonstrations traces back to Minneapolis, where a series of aggressive raids under a federal surge operation set off local anger that quickly spread. There, the shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis, a 37-year-old woman killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, became a rallying cry for those who say ICE has operated with impunity for far too long.

Nationwide anti-ICE protests soon followed, with people taking to the streets in dozens of cities to demand accountability after Renee Good’s death and to call for limits on Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics. Demonstrators tied her killing to a broader pattern that also includes an ICE shooting of two other people in Portland, Ore, incidents that helped ignite massive anti-ICE and anti-Trump protests in more than 1,000 cities nationwide.

The unrest intensified after On January 24, 2026, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old American intensive care nurse, was shot multiple times and killed by two Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent during an operation that protesters describe as reckless and opaque. Vigils for Alex Jeffrey Pretti quickly merged with marches against the wider immigration crackdown, turning grief into a sustained campaign against the agency’s presence in neighborhoods and workplaces.

Operation Metro Surge and the limits of force

In Minnesota, the federal government had launched a month-long escalation known as Operation Metro Surge, which concentrated immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs. The ICE operation in Minnesota, known as Operation Metro Surge, brought a spike in arrests and visible raids that residents say felt like an occupation rather than routine law enforcement.

As residents in the Twin Cities protested in the streets against ICE and federal immigration enforcement actions, Minnesota’s battle against the federal surge also moved into the courts. One lawsuit by the ACLU led federal judge Kate Menendez to issue an order that restricts what ICE agents can do when confronting peaceful protestors, a rare legal boundary on how the agency interacts with demonstrations.

On the ground, the pressure campaign had measurable effects. The number of ICE arrests per day in Minnesota fell to around 20, compared with peak arrests that had sat around 150 per day earlier in the surge. Nationwide, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested roughly 11 percent fewer people per day in February than they had the previous month, and those arrests dropped to their lowest levels since September, a sign that the agency had at least partially retreated on some of its most aggressive tactics after Minneapolis.

Nationwide demonstrations erupted in response to the shootings and the surge, followed by a change in Operation Metro Surge’s leadership and the eventual wind-down of the immigration enforcement operation in mid February. Even after the official end of the surge, however, some ICE units were expected to remain in the state, keeping tensions high between local officials, activists, and federal agents.

“No work, no school, no commerce”

Outrage over the raids and killings has now evolved into coordinated shutdown actions that reach far beyond Minnesota. Organizers, led by several student groups at the University of Minnesota, have called for a national shutdown under the banner of an “ICE Out” strike that urges people to skip work, school, and shopping for a day as a show of resistance to ICE operations and policy decisions.

Protesters across the U.S. have already staged test runs of that strategy, shutting down traffic and commerce in several cities while chanting against the administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. They held “no work, no school, no commerce” signs outside government buildings, workplaces, and churches across the country, turning routine weekday mornings into rolling street blockades.

Some schools in Arizona, Colorado and other states preemptively canceled classes in anticipation of mass absences as the strike call grew. Administrators acknowledged that they expected significant walkouts by students and staff who wanted to join protests against President Trump’s immigration policies.

On the streets, Thousands have been taking to the streets in cities such as Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles. Activists are using familiar tactics like marches and sit-ins, but they are also experimenting with new forms of disruption, including coordinated sick-outs and consumer boycotts that target companies seen as collaborating with ICE.

Major cities, new tactics

The protests have been especially visible in large metropolitan areas that already have long histories of immigrant organizing. Thousands of protesters demonstrated in cities across the U.S., including Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and New York, as part of a nationwide action against the White House’s immigration policies and tactics.

In Los Angeles Saturday, Protesters gathered outside a strip of federal buildings to denounce immigration crackdowns and the recent shootings. Video from those events showed heavily armed officers guarding entrances while crowds chanted and held signs with the names of Renee Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti.

Protesters mobilized in Los Angeles and other major cities as part of a nationwide shutdown, urging Americans to skip work, school, and commerce in protest. Organizers framed the action as a test of whether everyday people were willing to absorb economic inconvenience in order to send a message about immigration enforcement.

Earlier waves of protests had already primed large cities for this moment. Thousands of people marched throughout the streets of Manhattan Tuesday night against President Trump’s immigration sweeps, filling major avenues with families, faith groups, and labor unions who said they feared mass deportation policies would tear communities apart.

In the Chicago area, protesters in early September began targeting hotels where they believed federal immigration agents were staying, a tactic that aimed to disrupt operations by depriving agents of rest and privacy. That campaign, often described as “no sleep for ICE,” showed how local activists were willing to confront the agency not only at courthouses and detention centers but at the places where agents slept and planned raids.

Backlash to expanded powers

Underlying much of the anger is a sense that ICE has been given too much latitude to enter homes and public spaces without clear checks. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo surfaced that allows officers to forcibly enter homes to make arrests without a judicial warrant, a policy that civil rights groups argue violates constitutional protections and invites abuse.

BBC Verify found ICE and other agencies had ramped up their use of tactics such as masked and plain clothes agents, unmarked vehicles, and surprise home entries, which critics say blur the line between law enforcement and intimidation. Those methods have drawn comparisons to secret police operations and have become a central talking point at rallies that denounce ICE as unaccountable.

In state capitals, the protests are also reshaping policy debates. These demonstrators are urging the state legislature to increase its separation from ICE, with demands that range from rental assistance protections for undocumented tenants to formal agreements that prevent local agencies from sharing data or facilities with federal immigration officers.

Some faith communities have stepped into the conflict as well. A high-profile protest at Cities Church in St. Paul led to dozens of arrests and, later, indictments against 30 more people, which in turn helped spark Nationwide demonstrations and contributed to the leadership shakeup inside Operation Metro Surge.

Movement momentum and political stakes

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*This article was developed with AI-powered tools and has been carefully reviewed by our editors.