Minnesota Is A Training Ground For What’s To Come
Sources
Aitken, Peter. “Kristi Noem Signals Federal Surge in Minnesota.” Newsweek, January 11, 2026. https://www.newsweek.com/kristi-noem-signals-federal-surge-minnesota-11342319.
Conley, Julia. “Schumer and Jeffries Refuse to Back Growing Democratic Calls to Defund ICE.” Truthout, January 10, 2026. https://truthout.org/articles/schumer-and-jeffries-refuse-to-back-growing-democratic-calls-to-defund-ice/.
Davis, Sarah. “Gov. Tim Walz Issues Warning Order for Minnesota National Guard after ICE Shooting.” The Hill, January 7, 2026. https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5677541-walz-minnesota-national-guard-ice-shooting/.
Han, Daniel, and Shia Kapos. “States Move to Rein in ICE after Fatal Minnesota Shooting.” POLITICO, January 11, 2026. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/11/states-move-to-rein-in-ice-after-fatal-minnesota-shooting-00721208.
Kelly, Robin. “Rep. Kelly Announces Plans to Impeach Secretary Kristi Noem | Congresswoman Robin Kelly.” January 7, 2026. http://robinkelly.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-kelly-announces-plans-impeach-secretary-kristi-noem.
Parks, Miles. “Local Voting Officials Are Preparing for Possible Federal Interference in the Midterms.” NPR, January 11, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/01/11/nx-s1-5648611/local-voting-officials-are-preparing-for-possible-federal-interference-in-the-midterms.
Prager, Stephen. “Hours After US Citizen Shot Dead by ICE, JD Vance Says ‘Door-to-Door’ Operations Are Coming | Common Dreams.” Accessed January 12, 2026. https://www.commondreams.org/news/vance-ice-door-to-door.
Santana, Rebecca, Mike Householder, and MARK VANCLEAVE Associated Press. “Video Captures Minneapolis Immigration Arrest in a City on Edge after Shooting of Renee Good.” KCRA, January 12, 2026. https://www.kcra.com/article/minnesota-ice-enforcement-twin-cities-renee-good/69975029.
Solender, Andrew. “Democrats Warm to Impeaching Kristi Noem after Minneapolis, Portland Shootings.” Axios, January 9, 2026. https://www.axios.com/2026/01/09/kristi-noem-impeachment-minneapolis-portland-ice.
Uren, Adam. “Huge Crowd at Minneapolis Protest against ICE after Killing of Renee Macklin Good.” Bring Me The News, January 10, 2026. https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/huge-crowd-at-minneapolis-protest-against-ice-after-killing-of-renee-macklin-good.
Wiggins, Christopher. “Minneapolis ICE Shooter’s Own Video Contradicts DHS | Advocate.Com.” Accessed January 12, 2026.https://www.advocate.com/news/ice-agent-shooter-video-minneapolis.
Transcript
Hi it’s Monday, JANUARY 12th, 2026, you’re tuned into Why, America? I’m Leeja Miller coming to you from Minneapolis with more updates. Today we’re discussing what’s happened over the weekend as door to door raids and further surges of ICE officers land in Minneapolis, and what this means moving forward both for my hometown as well as all of America. And listen I know last week I promised you a second part breaking down the Venezuela conflict and that is coming I promise. It’s hard to keep up with the barrage of news lately, which I do believe is entirely the point. And also this shit in Minneapolis is happening literally in my back yard. And front yard. It’s comin at me from all sides, so it’s pretty hard to ignore. And I think that, much like LA and DC and Chicago before us, we are a training ground, just as Trump promised, for the regime’s tactics for enforcing total submission of the populace. What’s happening in Minneapolis helps us predict what to come, especially now that the courts have impeded Trump’s ability to use the National Guard to do his bidding. Through process of elimination and experimentation on the streets of American cities, it seems Trump and his goons have discovered that ICE offers the best potential for Trump’s own gestapo force. Oh yeah, we’re gonna talk about Hitler in this one, too. Buck up, buttercup.
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Okay first I want to issue a correction to my video from last week about the potential legal consequences for Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who murdered Renee Good. After listening to Mark Joseph Stern on Slate’s Amicus podcast, I realized I was too quick to write off potential legal consequences for Ross and misstated the process. This is why I always consume content from lawyers who are smarter than me, and Stern and Dahlia Lithwick over at Slate do great work both hosting the Amicus podcast and in their writing for Slate. Stern pointed out that any potential prosecution of Jonathan Ross brought in the STATE of Minnesota, by state prosecutors, Ross could argue that it should be removed to federal court since he was acting as a federal employee. I said that last week as well. What I got wrong is that if the case moves to federal court, it would still be prosecuted by Minnesota STATE prosecutors, not by federal prosecutors. So it wouldn’t just move to federal court and die because no federal prosecutors would take it. The same state prosecutors would continue pursuing the case, just in a different court. So that’s gonna go ahead and be my bad on that one. BUT the reality still stands that the feds have taken over the investigation and that will absolutely create a road block to state authorities accessing key evidence. That doesn’t mean a state prosecution won’t happen, it just means it’s going to be a long and bumpy road. But it absolutely is NOT true, as Kristi Noem lied about last week, that Minnesota does not have jurisdiction over the issue. The US constitution firmly places the police power in the hands of the states. That officer can absolutely be charged by Minnesota state authorities for committing a crime on the streets in Minnesota. You enter the state and commit crimes here, the state’s gonna have jurisdiction. Whether or not Ross is immune from prosecution is something they’re gonna have to argue in court but dog killer and non-lawyer Kristi Noem does not get to say categorically that the state has no jurisdiction over the case. And Minnesota AG Keith Ellison, along with MY county attorney Mary Moriarty, have announced they will be separately investigating the case. And I will say the public officials in Minnesota surely are lending credence to the right wing fear mongering about radical liberal cities. A jew, a black man, and a lesbian are fighting tooth and nail for Renee Good’s killer to be brought to justice and for ICE to get the fuck out, as our mayor Jacob Frey said in the hours after her killing. And listen I’m not gonna sing Frey’s praises ok, he’s a Democrat who more often than not sides with the police and big business, we have exchanged DMs in the past because I’ve been critical of him online, we don’t stan Jacob Frey okay. I did not vote for that man. But we can recognize when someone we disagree with is doing good work and I appreciate that he hasn’t been mincing words in his opposition to ICE being on our streets. I cannot say the same for Jeffries and Schumer who are supposed to be leaders of the opposition party, but we’ll get into that.
And the reality is that Minnesota officials may not need evidence from the feds to mount a good case. On Friday, new video surfaced from the perspective of Jonathan Ross, who was himself filming as the incident unfolded. As I pointed out last week, he had his phone out and it never left his hand as he pulled out his gun and shot Renee Good three times. I will not be showing that video because I draw lines for myself about what I watch and that’s not something I want to engage with. The initial videos that surfaced showed a car and a blurry gun and that’s it. This one is so much more graphic. And it does not support a case for Jonathan Ross of self defense. As a reminder, the standard is would an objectively reasonable officer have acted in this way. According to reporting from The Advocate, in the video we see from his perspective Renee Good smiling and saying “I’m not mad at you.” We see her sharply turning the steering wheel away from the agents. We see she’s unarmed. We see Ross to be nearly fully clear of the SUV’s path. We see him shoot her three times and hear him mutter “fucking bitch” afterwards. This was an unarmed woman fleeing. In order to prosecute him for murder, a jury would have to find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Jonathan Ross acted unreasonably. That is still a high bar, like I said last week, but this video makes it just that much more surmountable.
Over the weekend, thousands gathered in Powderhorn Park a few blocks from where Renee Good was killed. And as ICE presence increases in Minneapolis and across the state, as Kristi Noem promises to send in even more officers, there have been sightings and raids in smaller rural cities like St. Cloud and Alexandria, home to immigrant populations seeking affordable housing and agricultural work. And for just a moment of hopecore, here’s a video my ma sent me from the main street of Alexandria, Minnesota, population 15,000, where she said there have been ICE raids at a local restaurant and construction site. She was there this weekend in the frigid cold along with about 50 protestors, including my aunt and uncle who are liberal farmers, you love to see it. Made my heart grow three sizes. Protests were largely peaceful across the state aside from some mild property damage. Apparently one ICE officer suffered a minor injury after having ice thrown at them. I believe that’s just called poetic justice at that point. Despite Governor Walz’s order to have the National Guard on call in case they are needed, their presence has so far been unnecessary, at least not to protect the state against the violent radical protestors the regime claims have taken over Minnesota. The only violence we saw here over the weekend were the violent arrests carried out, without warrants, by ICE agents. Yesterday, video was released of ICE officers pepper spraying protestors on a residential street before ramming the door of a home and arresting a man inside. A distraught family member came out holding a piece of paper the agents used to justify his arrest. According to reporting from the Associated Press, the piece of paper was a warrant signed by an immigration officer, not a judge. Those warrants allow for the arrest of someone in public, they do not allow for forced entry into a private residence. And JD Vance told Fox News quote “I think we’re going to see those [deportation] numbers ramp up as we get more and more people online and working for ICE, going door to door and making sure that if you’re an illegal alien, you’ve got to get out of this country, and if you want to come back, apply through the proper channels.” Though of course even those who have applied through proper channels are being swept up in the dragnet. Not to mention the fact that going door to door is actually against our constitutional rights. ICE agents need to have warrants and they need to be seeking out a specific individual for apprehension. They don’t get to go door to door Nazi style.
Okay and this is where we’re going to get into what this all means for what’s to come in Minnesota and around the country. We are currently being made an example of, here in Minneapolis, something I knew would happen eventually. But it doesn’t stop here. Trump has vowed to do whatever he can to punish blue states through cutting our federal funding and sending in ICE agents to terrorize our people–because let’s be clear he is not just terrorizing our immigrant populations. They are most at risk and suffer the greatest consequences, but with Renee Good’s killing it has been reinforced that anyone is subject to killing at the hands of the state, and they will do whatever it takes to cover up the murder and laud the killers. As I have been saying since NOVEMBER 2023 when I first covered Project 2025, remember back then, when no one was talking about it, even back then I was saying they will not stop with just criminal illegal immigrants. Their plan is holistic, it is total. Under the state, women are “fucking bitches”, Trump won’t even acknowledge that Renee Good was married to a woman, constantly referring to her wife Becca Good as “her friend.” LGBTQ people are being erased and targeted. Disabled people are being targeted. They will not stop until everyone has complied. It does not end with Renee Good, her killing was not the climax it was just the beginning. And I try really hard to remain factual and levelheaded every day for you guys because I’m not trying to fear monger, I’m not the type to release click baity all caps headlines to scare you into clicking I reject that tactic to get views I want to present the facts because I feel much more calm when presented with all the information. But I would be dishonest if I said I don’t think it’s going to get much worse.
The Big Beautiful Bill, passed last year, remember that thing? I did a whole episode breaking it down, it provided for TRIPLING ICE’s budget in 2026, including the recruitment of 10,000 more officers. According to reporting from Common Dreams, quote “ICE’s budget is expected to triple in 2026 following the passage of Republican budget legislation last year that has allowed it to launch what it calls a “wartime recruitment” strategy, hiring as many as 10,000 new officers with minimal training. Last week, the Washington Post reported that the agency had earmarked $100 million toward online recruitment advertisements, meant to draw in “people who have attended UFC fights, listened to patriotic podcasts, or shown an interest in guns and tactical gear.” Past reporting I’ve read indicates that it will be hard for them to find the 10,000 people they want to recruit. When past presidents have attempted to ramp up ICE hiring, it cost a lot of money and was largely unsuccessful. But this regime is funnelling an unprecedented amount of time and money into the recruitment efforts and signing bonuses, and lowering standards in the process. So now poorly trained heavily militarized idiots will be given free reign to terrorize cities across the country. And they’re only just getting started on those recruitment efforts. 2026 will see a surge of ICE agents across the country, anywhere that tries to put up a fight.
Additionally, courts across the country have, for the last year, been impeding Trump’s ability to take over national guard forces and use them against civilians. He keeps losing that battle in court because it’s illegal. And so he recently announced he would be pulling the Guard from most major cities, all the ones that object to its presence. But we know Trump, he wouldn’t have done so if he really thought it was a defeat. Using the national guard was one tactic they were using because they didn’t have the manpower in ICE yet. Now that that avenue has been largely exhausted, they are turning to ICE. ICE and border patrol and other DHS officers are part of the executive branch, firmly within the federal government. While states have the right to continue to prosecute the ICE agents who commit crimes on the ground in their jurisdiction, states don’t have the right to order ICE to leave. Federal law is the supreme law of the land and Trump’s goons have done everything they can in a VERY short period of time to consolidate as much of that federal power into Trump’s hands as possible. States have been moving to pass legislation to try and regulate ICE agents, such as banning the use of masks and requiring agents identify themselves. But we also have a whole ass constitution that bars a lot of the activity being carried out by ICE and that doesn’t stop them. Individuals are also suing ICE and ICE officials for various violations of their rights through the ACLU and other legal organizations.
According to Politico “In Illinois, a Democratic state senator has filed legislation that would bar anyone hired by ICE under Trump from obtaining employment in state or local law enforcement.
In conservative Tennessee, a lawmaker has filed legislation that would prohibit federal immigration enforcement actions on school property. And in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul signaled she’ll support legislation that would allow residents to bring civil lawsuits against federal immigration officials for constitutional violations.”
And listen I know this is a David and Goliath situation, not to get biblical on you, and lawsuits aren’t going to stop ICE in its tracks, but it certainly gives the feds a headache. And much like the poetic justice of pelting an ICE officer with ice in the frozen tundra they are attempting to terrorize, pelting the federal government with pesky lawsuit after lawsuit does slow them down and make their work that much harder, and that is important.
But the reality is that Trump is now going to be doubling down on ICE as his personal military, the same way Hitler did with the SS as he gained power in pre-World War II Germany. The nature of the gestapo was that they were a secondary army, one in plainclothes, one loyal to the leader not to the people, one that didn’t have the control and oversight that had been established through years of laws and precedent for the existing armed forces. They existed in a legal gray zone that was just permissive enough for them to enact the worst of his initiatives while anyone attempting to stop them scrambled to pull the correct legal levers to do so. By arguing that the president has unitary executive authority under the constitution which means he is the ultimate purveyor of “the will of the people” and therefore gets to have complete control with no say from the other branches of government, Trump’s goons are arguing that that includes ICE. This is made painfully obvious in the way they are in lockstep in the narrative surrounding Renee Good’s murder, how they are willing to look at the same videos we’re all seeing and tell us she deserved it. ICE can do whatever it wants and is above the law because they are an arm of the President, who has absolute immunity. And they will continue to argue this as atrocities continue to pile up. And, much like in pre-war Nazi Germany, the so-called “opposition party” is offering very little by way of opposition. Both Jeffries and Schumer have refused to announce any measures to curb ICE, including through the appropriations bills they both say they’re too busy working on to focus on ICE, despite increasing calls from inside and outside Congress to defund the organization now that it is clear they are committing illegal acts far outside their intended role in civil immigration enforcement. According to reporting from Truthout, quote “Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are among the progressive lawmakers calling on the Democrats to demand reduced funding for ICE — even if it means another government shutdown.” Jeffries and Schumer have made clear they are not cut out to run an opposition party pretty much every day for the last year and even before that, and their refusal to use the little leverage they do have to push for cutting ICE funding, something Americans increasingly are in favor of, is just the latest proof of their inability to meet this moment.
Separately, there have been increasing calls by democratic lawmakers to impeach Kristi Noem for obstructing Congress, violating the public trust, and self-dealing. The reality is that with Republicans controlling both the house and the senate and being completely unwilling to assert their authority in any way against the Trump regime, any attempt at impeachment at this juncture of Kristi Noem or anyone else would fail. Period. But the problem is that Trump is very aware of this. Last week he publicly stated that if Democrats take back Congress in the 2026 midterms then he would very probably be impeached. When you take this together: a dramatically increased ICE presence and use of ICE as the president’s personal military combined with an acute awareness on the part of the President and all his goons that they are violating the constitution and committing clearly impeachable offenses, that spells trouble for the 2026 midterms. Given the results of the elections held this past November that saw overwhelming Democratic victories as well as slumping approval numbers for Trump and his administration, many are predicting that we’ll see a sweep of Democratic victories in the 2026 midterms. Republicans hold a paper thin majority in Congress, so the elections in November could very plausibly hand control back over to the Democrats. This has election officials across the country on edge and preparing for the worst. Given the difficult time Trump has had with using the National Guard at his own whim, I think it will be ICE that he turns to in order to intimidate voters and suppress the vote especially in blue states and cities. Reporter Miles Parks recently appeared on NPR’s Weekend Edition and said quote “It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, but people in Trump's orbit have toyed with the idea of having ICE agents at polling places or involved in the election in some other capacity to guard against noncitizen voting. And any of these scenarios obviously could potentially have a suppressive effect if they make anyone scared to vote.” He also noted that far-right election attorney Cleta Mitchell, who has close ties to Trump, has indicated he may try to exercise his emergency powers to quote unquote protect federal elections. So in situations where there is unrest, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that Trump will use that as pretext, along with the false claims of election fraud he’s built upon over the last six years, to stage some sort of “national emergency” that requires military presence on the ground at polling places to “ensure the integrity of our elections.”
Now, to be clear, it is already illegal to vote if you aren’t a citizen. The instances of actual provable election fraud are very rare, and certainly so rare that they do not influence the outcomes of our elections. But as we’ve seen with the increased ICE presence across the country even people who are legally allowed to be here are terrified of leaving their homes. Minneapolis public schools were closed on Thursday and Friday last week for safety reasons and they are now offering remote learning for students for the next month to ensure that those students who cannot make it to school, especially children from immigrant families who are terrified of leaving their homes no matter their legal status, can still get an education. That means that the presence of ICE at polling places, even the threat of their presence, will absolutely suppress the vote especially of people who don’t “look” like what ICE officers deem to be allowed to be here. Brown skin? Speak with an accent? Recently naturalized? There are so many reasons for so many people to avoid showing up to vote if they are literally afraid for their lives to do so. It’s hard enough getting out the vote on a normal election year. And especially if that is happening in liberal cities, places like Minneapolis, a blue city surrounded by red rural areas, that could have a very real impact on the outcomes of our elections because a lot of those voters probably vote Democrat, and the Trump regime knows that. It’s all part of the plan.
Okay so what do we do? First of all don’t spread yourself too thin, you cannot save the world, you cannot burn out this early in the fight. Pick an issue you care about most. The Go Fund Me for Renee Good already hit $1.5million dollars and her wife Becca Good has called on all additional donations to go to others in need. If you are looking to donate, here in Minneapolis you can give to the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee which is helping to organize protests and also has a rapid response network for ICE activities in the area. They also have resources for getting involved. If you are not here and want to get involved elsewhere, seek out an immigrant rights organization in your area on Google. Or check out Indivisible, which has arms across the United States and works to organize protests and lobby for legislative change. If you are concerned about election integrity, this is something election officials are already thinking about. You can get involved in your own local elections in various ways that are different in each location. In Minnesota you can become an election judge, which is a poll worker, the temporary paid employees of local election officials who are trained to handle all aspects of voting on voting day. Various non-profits like the ACLU offer training and resources for poll monitors and organize get out the vote campaigns to ensure as many people vote as possible and know their rights while doing so. There are lots of ways to get involved, to start I would google poll worker and your city to see what is needed in your area.
Again, as with lawsuits against the regime, this is not a situation where one thing or one day of action or one opposition force is going to stop the state apparatus that Trump’s goons have built. But there are SO many of us and so few of them, and the opposition they face will slow them down and make their jobs as hard as possible. Remember, once again, to turn to your neighbors and your community, connect with each other, and try to do the most good you can wherever you are.
If you’d like to support my work heading into a brand new year of horrors, consider joining here on YouTube by clicking the big join button below, or supporting me over on Patreon, patreon dot com slash Leeja miller, where you get access to all these episodes completely ad free. Thank you to my multi-platinum patrons Christopher Cowan, Evan Friedley, Marc, Sarah Shelby, Art, David, L’etranger (Lukus), Thomas Johnson, and Tay. Your generosity makes this channel what it is, so thank you!
And if you liked this episode, you’ll like my episode from last week with my initial thoughts and reactions to the murder of Renee Good.
