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Minnesotans Fought Back Against ICE and CBP. Now it’s Congress’ Turn.
Congress must not fund DHS until it obtains dramatic reforms to rein in the cruelty of ICE
This morning, White House Border Czar Tom Homan announced ICE and CBP will vacate Minnesota, after Minnesotans fought tirelessly to protect their communities against lawless immigration enforcement.
Public Citizen Co-President Lisa Gilbert issued the following statement:
“The people of Minnesota set the example of bravery, compassion and strength against masked, lawless federal agents who vastly underestimated the power of community and peaceful protest.
“Tom Homan’s announcement that the administration will scale back the surge of immigration operations in Minnesota is a crucial win. That said, with billions still to spend on immigration enforcement from the “big ugly law,” the Trump Administration is still stripping families from their homes and throwing them into unlivable conditions in detention centers across the country in a militarized mass detention campaign. And there is no sign from the Trump administration that it plans on doing anything – including arresting and persecuting small children – differently. The victory in Minnesota should galvanize our efforts to fight these atrocities.
“Just as Minnesotans fought back, Congress must now follow suit and refuse to fund DHS agencies that enable such reckless and dangerous acts that, in some cases, have killed people in broad daylight. We need drastic reforms now.”
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
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'Not an Anomaly... A Blueprint': Homan Says Minnesota ICE Surge Ending—But Mass Deportations Aren't
"Just as Minnesotans fought back, Congress must now follow suit and refuse to fund DHS agencies that enable such reckless and dangerous acts that, in some cases, have killed people in broad daylight," said one watchdog leader.
Feb 12, 2026
While people across Minnesota and beyond welcomed "border czar" Tom Homan's Thursday announcement that "Operation Metro Surge is ending," he also made clear that the administration's deadly immigration operations still threaten other US communities, declaring that President Donald Trump "made a promise of mass deportation, and that's what this country's gonna get."
Homan said last week that 700 agents were leaving the state, but around 2,000 would remain. However, as outrage from the public and local officials persisted, he announced Thursday that "I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude. A significant drawdown has already been underway this week and will continue through the next week."
The administration's "tactical withdrawal" came just a day after a car crash involving federal agents led Democratic Saint Paul Mayor Kaohly Her to renew her call for an immediate end to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) operation, which has involved officers with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) terrorizing Twin Cities residents for over two months—and even fatally shooting Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
"Today's announcement reflects what happens when communities organize, speak out, and refuse to accept fear as public policy," said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Minnesota chapter. "This is a hard-fought community victory. But it comes after real trauma, real harm, and the loss of life. That cannot be ignored."
"This moment belongs to the community," Hussein added. "Faith leaders, organizers, tenants, youth, and everyday residents stood together and demanded dignity. That collective action forced change. And we will remain vigilant."
After ICE officer Jonathan Ross killed Good, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told the agency to "get the fuck out" of his city. After Homan confirmed the operation is ending, the Democrat acknowledged the strong local pushback to the invasion, saying on social media that "they thought they could break us, but a love for our neighbors and a resolve to endure can outlast an occupation."
"These patriots of Minneapolis are showing that it's not just about resistance—standing with our neighbors is deeply American," Frey said. "This operation has been catastrophic for our neighbors and businesses, and now it's time for a great comeback. We will show the same commitment to our immigrant residents and endurance in this reopening, and I'm hopeful the whole country will stand with us as we move forward."
Outgoing Democratic Gov. Tim Walz similarly said that "the long road to recovery starts now. The impact on our economy, our schools, and people's lives won't be reversed overnight. That work starts today."
Minneapolis Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Congresswoman Angie Craig (D-Minn.), and US Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) were also among the Minnesotans welcoming the development. The senator, who is running to replace Walz, said that "Minnesotans stood together, stared down ICE, and never blinked."
Not everyone critical of the operation has been satisfied by local Democrats' response. Progressive organizer and lawyer Aaron Regunberg said Thursday that it is "important to remember that this victory belongs 100%—literally one hundred percent—to the people of Minneapolis. Elected Dems did essentially nothing to bring this about. Our political leadership is dogshit. Everyday Americans, on the other hand, can really do amazing things."
Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, said that "Minneapolis residents' heroic resistance has resulted in this retreat. We hope the people of Minneapolis can start to heal from the monthslong siege of their city, the murder of their neighbors, and the tragedy of families ripped apart by the Trump administration."
Mitchell pointed out that the end of the Minnesota operation comes on the eve of a likely DHS shutdown due to a funding fight in Congress, which is narrowly controlled by Republicans. Because of their slim margins and Senate rules, most bills need some Democratic support to get through the upper chamber to Trump's desk.
"Donald Trump is trying to distract us and turn our attention away from the growing resistance in Congress to funding his campaign of cruelty and retribution," Mitchell said, taking aim at not only the president but also his deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, "and their cronies" who "refuse to make this agency and its criminal activities accountable to anyone."
"Democrats are using their power by voting NO as a bloc and pledging not one dollar more in DHS funding until demands for accountability are met," he highlighted. Various Democratic leaders have made demands for reforming the department, and specifically its immigration operations, and growing shares of the party's caucus and the public have even called for abolishing ICE.
Progressive Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, whose district includes Minneapolis, said on social media that "ending this operation is not enough. We need justice and accountability. That starts with independent investigations into the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, economic restitution for businesses impacted, abolishing ICE, and the impeachment of Kristi Noem."
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, said in a statement that "the people of Minnesota set the example of bravery, compassion, and strength against masked, lawless federal agents who vastly underestimated the power of community and peaceful protest."
While calling Homan's announcement "a crucial win," Gilbert also noted that congressional Republicans and the president gave ICE an extra $75 billion in their so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year. She stressed that Trump's federal government "is still stripping families from their homes and throwing them into unlivable conditions in detention centers across the country in a militarized mass detention campaign. And there is no sign from the Trump administration that it plans on doing anything—including arresting and persecuting small children—differently."
Recent reporting—including by Wired, which obtained related federal records—has revealed ICE's ongoing expansion efforts across the country. As Wired executive editor Brian Barrett wrote Wednesday:
Its occupation of Minneapolis is not an anomaly; it's a blueprint. Communities deserve to know that they might be next. People have a right to know who their neighbors are, especially when they amount to an invading force.
What we've reported so far fills in only part of the puzzle. It shows what ICE had planned as of January, not beyond. More than 100 addresses remain unknown, some of them in high-concentration states like New York and New Jersey. The specific nature of the work being done in some of these offices remains unclear, as is how long ICE plans to be there.
The need to resolve these questions is urgent as ICE continues to metastasize. At the same time, the Department of Justice has become increasingly aggressive in its dealings with journalists, and has repeatedly claimed that revealing any identifying information about ICE agents or their activities is "doxing." In Minnesota and beyond, ICE and CBP agents have treated observers as enemies, arresting and reportedly harassing them with increased frequency. The DOJ has been quick to label any perceived interference with ICE activity as a crime.
While Barrett pledged that Wired "will continue to report on this story until we have the answers," Gilbert argued to the public that "the victory in Minnesota should galvanize our efforts to fight these atrocities."
"Just as Minnesotans fought back, Congress must now follow suit and refuse to fund DHS agencies that enable such reckless and dangerous acts that, in some cases, have killed people in broad daylight," Gilbert added. "We need drastic reforms now."
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'Billionaires Are Waging War Against the Rest of Us': James Talarico Responds to Class Warfare Accusations
The Texas Democrat accused US billionaires of "stealing from the American people, stealing the wealth that we created."
Feb 12, 2026
Texas Democratic US Senate candidate James Talarico turned the tables on a town hall questioner who asked him if he was pushing “class warfare” with his populist economic pitch and frequent criticism of billionaires.
Talarico responded that there is already class warfare in the US.
"It's the billionaires waging war against the rest of us, and right now the billionaires are winning," explained the Texas Democrat in a video clip of the town hall posted on social media Wednesday. "They've been winning for 50 years. Trickle-down economics is not a theory, it is theft."
A young man at our town hall asked if I was pushing class warfare.
I told him: “We already have class warfare in this country — billionaires are waging war on the rest of us.” pic.twitter.com/w238OfB8yH
— James Talarico (@jamestalarico) February 12, 2026
Talarico went on to accuse billionaires of "stealing from the American people, stealing the wealth that we created."
"It's why everyone is so angry right now," he continued. "It's why, no matter how hard you work, you can't seem to get ahead. The American people are not asking for a whole lot: A job we don't hate, a house big enough to raise a family in, and a little left over so we can go on vacation every once in a while. That is a lot harder than it should be in America."
Talarico's answer on "class warfare" came two days after a Monday report in the Wall Street Journal revealed that labor compensation in the US has fallen to its lowest percentage of gross domestic income since at least 1980, even as corporate profits have risen to the highest percentage of gross domestic income over that same period.
"The divergence between capital and labor helps explain the disconnect between a buoyant economy and pessimistic households," explained the Journal. "It will also play an outsize role in where the economy goes from here."
An analysis released in January by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) found that the collective wealth of US billionaires surged to $8.1 trillion in 2025, even as many working-class Americans struggled with basic expenses such as groceries, housing and healthcare.
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GOP Lawmaker Says Bill Being Crafted to Shield Big Oil From Climate Liability Lawsuits
"Let’s be clear: You don’t need immunity unless you are in fact responsible for the damages claimed in these lawsuits," said one climate organizer.
Feb 12, 2026
Weeks after the largest oil and gas trade organization in the US unveiled its 2026 policy agenda featuring the goal of shielding companies from "abusive state climate lawsuits," a Republican congresswoman acknowledged at a hearing Wednesday that GOP lawmakers are actively working to stop legal complaints and legislation that aim to hold the industry accountable for mounting climate harms.
At the House Judiciary Committee hearing in which the panel conducted oversight of Attorney General Pam Bondi's Department of Justice, Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wy.) informed Bondi that she is currently "working with [her] colleagues in both the House and Senate to craft legislation tackling" superfund laws like ones passed in Vermont and New York, which require fossil fuel giants to contribute to paying for climate damage wrought by their oil and gas extraction.
The legislation Hageman is working on would also aim to kill state and local climate lawsuits like one filed last month by Michigan alleging antitrust violations by fossil fuel companies and another filed by Boulder, Colorado against ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy subsidiaries. The parties in the latter case are awaiting a US Supreme Court review.
At the hearing, Bondi agreed with Hageman's assertion that such lawsuits and state laws "require a federal response" and said the Department of Justice would consider taking action to "protect federal supremacy over interstate emissions and energy policy."
“Multiple climate lawsuits are now advancing toward trial,” Hageman said. “Clearly this is an area in which Congress has a role to play."
Recent reporting suggests that Hageman's efforts are a response to the fossil fuel industry's lobbying to avoid accountability for climate disasters that have increasingly been linked to planetary heating, which international scientists agree is being caused by fossil fuel extraction—despite the congresswoman's dismissal of "speculative future climate change harms."
The American Petroleum Institute (API) said last month in its policy agenda that it aims to "stop extreme climate liability policy" and end the "expansion of climate 'superfund' policies."
Last year, 16 GOP state attorneys general proposed the creation of a "liability shield" for fossil fuel giants, while state legislators in Oklahoma and Utah have introduced bills to bar most civil lawsuits against companies over the emissions or their role in the climate emergency.
Hageman and other opponents of scientists' and experts' demand for a transition away from fossil fuels have suggested such lawsuits are unserious attempts to increase "mismanaged state budgets by imposing fees on consumers and businesses," as the congresswoman claimed.
API president Mike Sommers said last month that the mounting legal challenges are “denying facts, delaying progress, and ignoring the realities of rising demand"—despite the fact that an analysis by climate think tank Ember last year found a growing expansion of renewable energy worldwide while the Trump administration insists on reviving coal production and killing solar and wind power projects.
"Congress should not close the courthouse doors to communities seeking redress. Big Oil is not entitled to special immunity from the consequences of its conduct.“
Vermont Law School professor Pat Parenteau told ExxonKnews in December that the efforts to shield companies from climate liability suggest that fossil fuel giants and proponents like Hageman know that lawsuits like Michigan's and Boulder's would likely stand up in court.
"If these cases are as frivolous as the oil companies’ briefs pretend, then why in the world are you busting your butt to get a declaration of immunity from Congress?” said Parenteau.
Cassidy DiPaola, communications director for the Make Polluters Pay campaign, emphasized that "a federal liability shield for fossil fuel companies would not lower energy prices or ease the cost of living. It would simply shift more of the financial burden onto working families and local governments while insulating one of the most profitable industries in history from accountability."
"Congress should not close the courthouse doors to communities seeking redress," said DiPaola. "Big Oil is not entitled to special immunity from the consequences of its conduct.“
Climate lawsuits have been filed against companies by 11 states including Maine, California, and Rhode Island, and in addition to the Boulder case, lawsuits filed in Honolulu and Washington, DC are advancing toward trial after courts denied the defendant's motions to dismiss them.
Hageman announced her effort to stop climate liability lawsuits and laws the same day that new research led by Oregon State University ecology professor William Ripple was published in the journal One Earth, showing that multiple critical Earth systems are closer to becoming unstable than previously thought, due to the climate emergency.
That pattern is putting the planet on a "hothouse" path, the scientists warn, with feedback loops amplifying the effects of planetary heating like extreme heatwaves and weather disasters.
“As communities across the US move closer to putting Big Oil companies on trial to make them pay for the damage their climate lies have caused, the fossil fuel industry is panicking and pleading with Congress for a get-out-of-jail-free card," said Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity.
“Let’s be clear: You don’t need immunity unless you are in fact responsible for the damages claimed in these lawsuits," he said. "A liability shield for Big Oil would bar the courthouse doors for communities across the country and stick US taxpayers with the massive and growing bill for climate damages, while bailing out corporate polluters from having to pay for the mess they made."
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