{"id":78841,"date":"2026-01-29T10:26:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T18:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=78841"},"modified":"2026-01-29T10:26:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T18:26:42","slug":"as-immigration-enforcement-escalates-popular-resistance-is-growing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=78841","title":{"rendered":"As Immigration Enforcement Escalates, Popular Resistance Is Growing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Selen Ozturk<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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While deportation campaigns intensify nationwide, resistance is growing on both legal and grassroots levels.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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ICE protesters on Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis on January 23, 2026. (Photo by Myotus [CC BY 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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While immigration enforcement campaigns intensify nationwide, resistance is growing on both legal and grassroots levels.<\/p>\n

This escalation reached flashpoints with the fatal shooting of American citizens Ren\u00e9e Good on January 7, and of Alex Pretti on January 24. Both were shot by federal immigration agents during protests in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

In both cases, the Trump administration defended the killing as self-defense by the agent. Officials also denied state investigators access to the shooting scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe killing of Ren\u00e9e Nicole Good illustrated what we have been saying all along: The attacks on immigrants are the tip of the spear on attacks on all Americans. This mass deportation agenda, as much as this administration had said it will only target \u2018criminals\u2019 \u2014 we are now seeing in real time that they are affecting everyone, noncitizen and citizen alike,\u201d said Vanessa C\u00e1rdenas, executive director of\u00a0America\u00b4s Voice<\/a>, at an American Community Media\u00a0briefing<\/a>\u00a0held one day before Pretti\u2019s shooting amid widespread protests.<\/p>\n

Metro Surge<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The ongoing protests are in response to Operation Metro Surge. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has called it \u201cthe largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out,\u201d involving the arrest of over 3,000 people.<\/p>\n

The operation also involved the largest deployment of federal immigration agents in history. Some 3,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are now operating in Minneapolis. That number is five times the size of the Minneapolis Police Department, which has about 600 officers.<\/p>\n

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Vanessa C\u00e1rdenas, executive director of America\u2019s Voice, discusses public reaction to ICE deployment in Minnesota, the fatalities that have ensued, and how these impact political opinions.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAmericans are seeing in real time what an [immigration] enforcement-only agenda looks like, and they\u2019re recoiling from it,\u201d said C\u00e1rdenas. \u201cBut even though most Americans reject what ICE is doing, that does not mean they support Democrat solutions for reforms \u2026 That\u2019s why we have to navigate this moment carefully in terms of bringing people into our coalition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Public outcry<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Immigration enforcement, and subsequent clashes between protesters and federal agents, is fracturing even Republican support for the administration\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

A YouGov poll<\/a>\u00a0conducted a day after Pretti\u2019s shooting found that \u201cMore Americans support than oppose abolishing ICE (46% vs. 41%).\u201d A majority (57%) also \u201csomewhat or strongly disapprove of the way ICE is handling its job. Only 37% approve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a new POLITICO poll shows that one in five voters who backed Trump in 2024 say the mass deportation campaign is too aggressive.\u00a0Moreover, 41% of Trump voters say that while they support the administration\u2019s immigration enforcement goals, they disapprove of how the president is implementing it.<\/p>\n

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Ann Garcia, staff attorney at the National Immigration Project, explains the Trump administration\u2019s directive on political dissent and how it could lead to state repression.<\/em><\/p>\n