ICE in Minnesota

It was mid-morning on Wednesday, January 7, 2026. Breck students of all grade levels boarded yellow school buses to head to their first Community Partnership day of the new year.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s “Operation Metro Surge” – an ongoing deployment of thousands of armed and masked agents from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – had been underway for over a month. On the morning of the 7th, about 2,000 ICE agents had already been deployed to Minneapolis and St. Paul, with the stated purpose of detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants.

But for some members of the Breck community, the ICE presence in our city remained largely “abstract” until that Wednesday morning at around 9:30AM, the moment when an armed ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good through the window of her car on Portland Avenue near East 34th St. At the time of the shooting, students from two Breck Community Partnerships – Loaves and Fishes and Pillsbury House – were in close proximity to the violence. Both student groups were forced to go into a lockdown at their Community Partnership locations and – while being escorted back to school by Breck security – drove directly through the aftermath of the shooting on Portland Avenue. Gabby Stratton ‘26, a member of the Loaves and Fishes Community Partnership, described the situation as “incredibly disorienting.” She added, “we didn’t fully understand what was happening yet. The brutality was disgusting, we watched people get gassed and thrown. It was the most insane experience I’ve had in my life.”

Good’s death marked a turning point. Rather than simply learning about the event after the fact, Breck students were physically close to it, caught in its immediate aftermath. While ICE has reportedly shot at people at least 16 times in 2025, Good’s killing – caught on video from many angles and resulting in the death of a white U.S. citizen – quickly and unprecedentedly became a top headline in national political discourse. Reactions, both at Breck and nationally, split sharply along partisan lines, with President Donald Trump publicly defending the killing as an act of self-defense and labeling Good a domestic terrorist. Within Breck’s own classrooms, teachers – particularly those in the History Department – scrambled to contextualize the rapidly unfolding events.

On Wednesday, January 14 – a week after the shooting – history faculty hosted a lunchtime discussion to address the historical background and constitutional questions surrounding ICE. The goal of the session was to help students deepen their understanding of the larger context and scope of these current events. Each history teacher explained one section of the larger topic: Mr. Daniel presented about the historical context of immigration law; Ms. Adey overviewed the constitutional issues at play; HP described federalism as it relates to Operation Metro Surge, and so on. During the session, APUSH and AHR teacher Dr. Keljik delivered his segment about why Minnesota specifically has been a recent target of ICE. He cited Minnesota’s history of liberalism and liberal resistance, the state government’s historic focus on caring for and protecting its immigrant populations, and finally, Dr. Keljik added his personal viewpoint to further explain why our state seems to have a target on its back. In an unannounced speech to the student audience, Dr. Keljik explained, “We are being targeted because we are a strong, resilient, tough people who stand up for justice. We are well known to care about our neighbors and our community.” In a follow up discussion with Dr. Keljik, elaborated on his speech. He told me that he believes Minnesota is a target of the Trump administration’s deliberate effort to crush its opposition and crush dissent. He said “We [in Minnesota] are not the only case of that effort, but we are a very important case because we are an example. If the Trump administration can break us, they can break the entire resistance.” Keljik ended his personal segment of the January 14th history presentation by telling students this: “Here’s the thing they don’t seem to understand: we cannot be broken. Love and humanity and justice will win.” An eruption of applause filled the room.

Regardless of individual opinions on ICE or the shooting itself, one fact is undeniable: Minneapolis – a city whose downtown sits just 5 miles from the Breck campus – has been thrust into the national spotlight, and Breck students have been forced to confront political ideas like federalism and civic responsibility no longer as abstract concepts, but instead as reality. It is in this pivotal moment that The Breck Bugle turns its attention to ICE in Minnesota, reporting on the unfolding of events and our community’s real-time response in the pages that follow.

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These events are continuing to unfold rapidly.

Since the time that this co-authored piece about ICE in Minnesota was written, another U.S. citizen and Minnesota resident Alex Pretti, 37-years-old, was shot and killed by masked federal immigration agents on Nicollet Ave near W 26th Street.

The Breck Bugle, run by a group of high school students, acknowledges that it cannot constantly cover all of these stories from all angles. We will do our best to cover all that we can in the coming days and weeks.

The opinions that follow do not necessarily reflect the views of the entire Breck student body, all Breck faculty, or the larger Breck community.

Hours after the death of Renee Nicole Good, thousands of Minneapolis residents gathered in her honor near the site of the shooting. To get a better understanding of the local response, we conducted an email interview with two students who attended the vigil, Matthew Brasser ‘26 and Ben Whittaker-Jolly ‘26.

Q: Could you give us an overview of your experience at the vigil?

Matthew: I remember it being extremely crowded and loud on the outskirts and deeper into the crowd, but when we went right up to the vigil, everyone was quiet, listening to the speakers that organized it. There were a few speakers as people gathered around the vigil setting down flowers or candles or random items. They talked about how the Minneapolis community needs to get together and stand up against tragedies like Renee Good’s killing and help immigrants in the community.

Q: What was the atmosphere like?

Matthew: It was a perfect mix of sadness and anger, with a very strong sense of community, strong enough to genuinely give me chills at moments. Everyone was so incredibly passionate and emotional over Good’s death and the ICE occupation that the whole thing felt emotionally charged, a perfect mix of anger, sadness, and determination.

Ben: There was a lot of anger in the air, with people from the outskirts of the crowd demanding justice and occasionally yelling, but the vast majority were peaceful and mourning.

Q: What inspired you to go?

Matthew: I had been keeping up with the Trump administration since the election season and had seen all the unconstitutional and corrupt wrongdoings of the administration, but when it came into my city and my community, I didn’t want to sit around and watch it happen. I wanted to be on the right side of things and participate in everything I could. Attending the vigil was one way I could get out there for the community.

Q: Were there a lot of other young people there?

Matthew: There were all different ages and races there from retired, to middle age, to probably 15-16. It was mostly younger people surrounding the vigil though. There were quite a few younger people but it was a good mix.

Ben: Outside of the direct circle around the vigil, however, it seemed like the vast majority of the crowd were adults (probably mostly 30-50 year-olds).

Q: What was one thing that stood to you the most?

Matthew: The passion and the exhaustion on every single person’s face. It gave me hope that there were people unafraid to stand up for what’s right, but everybody was also sad that we had gotten to this point in the first place.

Ben: One other thing I’d note was the variety of speakers that they had; we got to hear from Native singers, local representatives, people from the organization that helped set up the protest/were involved with it, and from other community members.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

In the aftermath of the murder of Renee Good, the public has been presented with two different versions of reality. While government officials paint a picture of threats and justified force, professional journalists, eyewitnesses, and citizen reporters make it clear that Agent Ross murdered Renee Good. This disconnect has created an environment of conflicting reports, where the exact version of events depends on who an individual chooses to listen to.

United States Secretary of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Kristi Noem addressed the murder of Renee Good at a press conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Throughout her address, she labeled Good a domestic terrorist, stated that protesters, including Good, were “impeding law enforcement operations,” and argued that the ICE agent—Jonathan Ross—“used his training to save his own life and that of his colleagues.” In doing so, Secretary Noem created a notion that this is a matter of national security and attempted to eliminate public sympathy; if Good was a terrorist, then the public must hate her. This messaging continued past that Wednesday. DHS stuck to the fact that the agent was acting in self defense and that Good was weaponizing her vehicle.

This contrasts deeply with what mainstream media has chronicled. The New York Times wrote that there is “no indication agent Jonathan Ross got run over.” They go so far as to say that “Mr. Ross put himself in a dangerous position near her vehicle in the first place.” This sort of understanding was reflected across other such reputable news outlets, including the local Star Tribune.

In today’s world, one must also acknowledge what kind of news has been passing through the social media sphere. There have been countless videos analyzing the footage—some by experienced law enforcement and others by random content creators. These videos often stick to the narrative that the ICE agent put himself in harm’s way. However, there are also campaigns making their way through the internet attempting to raise money for Mr. Ross. These campaigns agree with the DHS account, looking to acquit ICE agent Ross—often on the basis of self defense.

The stark contrast between DHS statements and reporting of new outlets reveals a battle for narrative control. By framing the incident through a lens of national security, the DHS sought to establish a definitive account of self-defense. However, counter narratives that view the killing as unprovoked murder persist, pointing towards tactical errors and a lack of imminent threat. Ultimately, the case of Renee Good illustrates a profound fissure in how information is consumed and validated. When the official rhetoric of the state is opposed to the observations of the press (and other citizen reporting), the truth becomes localized. Whether Jonathan Ross is viewed as a disciplined officer or a recklessly violent agent depends less on the evidence itself and more on which narrative framework an individual chooses to accept. In this landscape of conflicting accounts, the objective reality is increasingly overshadowed by the political and social identities of those observing it.

On Wednesday, January 7th, teachers at Roosevelt High School in South Minneapolis were holding a meeting to discuss the effects that the shooting of Renee Good may have on students. It was at that moment that armed US border patrol agents arrived outside the building. According to TIME magazine, the agents were pursuing a woman not affiliated with the school in a car chase when she ended up on school grounds. ICE’s presence on school grounds was technically legal under Trump’s January 2025 revocation of an Obama-era memorandum preventing ICE from conducting enforcement in certain areas, like schools, hospitals, and places of worship. However, it is important to note that under the Fourth Amendment, ICE still needs authorization from school officials or a judicial warrant to enter private spaces like offices, restrooms, and classrooms.

The chase occurred around dismissal time, leaving students, parents, and school staff to be caught up in the chaos. What followed was a violent scene. Agents tackled bystanders, handcuffed school staff, and smashed windows of nearby cars. One school staff member who spoke with MPR News reports being pushed down by an agent; others, including students, were pepper-sprayed, shot with pepper balls, and pulled into ICE vehicles, according to interviews conducted by MPR.

After being made aware of the situation, the school promptly enacted its lockout protocols, with students sheltering in classrooms and others who were already outside running into a nearby public library.

One teacher reported to TIME Magazine that the encounter with ICE “lasted for about 35 minutes. The police had received many calls that this was happening, and they did not come to the school, they did not come to the school anytime. I think local officials…either don’t feel like they have the authority or don’t know what to do when federal law enforcement is in town.”

Following the attack, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) commented on the situation to KARE 11, stating that “At no point was a school, students, or staff targeted.” This comment seems to contradict the multiple eyewitness accounts and video footage of the operation.

In response to the ICE attacks at Roosevelt, along with the numerous other raids that have occurred throughout the Twin Cities, Minneapolis, and St. Paul public schools are now offering remote online learning through February 12th for all students.

While the original intention of this operation was not to target students or educators, it seems to mark the beginning of what has become a widespread targeting of K-12 students and teachers in the Twin Cities by ICE.

A spokesperson for Saint Paul Public Schools reported to Reuters that two of its contracted student transportation vans were pulled over by ICE, and multiple schools and daycares throughout the metro area have reached out to parents, notifying them of teachers and staff who have been detained.

On Tuesday, January 20th, five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, along with his father, was taken into custody by ICE, apprehended in their driveway after Liam arrived home from preschool. When a nearby adult and friend of the family offered to take Liam, ICE agents refused and instead instructed the boy to knock on his front door, “to see if anyone else was home—essentially using a 5-year-old as bait,” according to a statement from Columbia Heights Public Schools. Columbia Heights Public Schools also reported that three other students in their district have been detained by ICE. Two of them, says superintendent Zena Stenvik, were on their way to school.

A 16-year-old girl—under operation PARRIS, a new DHS initiative to re-vet lawfully admitted refugees to root out potential fraud—was also recently detained by ICE. While driving her family’s car, she was pulled over and detained alone. There was no indication that ICE had any belief the high school student was involved in fraud. After being detained, ICE “didn’t have anywhere to put her, and she spent the night in a hotel room with two adult ICE agents who were strangers to her, before, thankfully, the federal court intervened and stopped the US government from sending her to a camp in Texas, which was their intention,” says her attorney and Breck parent Michelle Drake. “This is someone who has done nothing wrong. Nothing. Even if there was a need to investigate some fraud—which there isn’t—since when in the United States of America do we lock people up in order to conduct investigations? That’s not how this country works. That’s not how this country has ever worked,” Drake adds.

Taken together, these incidents suggest a shift in how ICE is operating in the Twin Cities. ICE enforcement is increasingly intersecting with daily student life, and while the DHS maintains that students and schools are not being targeted, ICE’s actions seem to say otherwise. The result has been an immediate disruption to students’ education and sense of safety. As ICE continues to operate in Minnesota, students are moving farther from the periphery of immigration policy and much closer to its center.