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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed on Wednesday that anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agitators in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area had escalated to blocking Border Patrol agents attempting to do mundane tasks, including using the bathroom.
As the agents took bathroom breaks at gas stations, “hostile crowds” reportedly “repeatedly harassed and blocked” them, according to DHS.
“At each gas station where the agents stopped to use the restroom, groups of agitators appeared, yelled at them, stalked them and even tried to prevent law enforcement vehicles from leaving, creating unsafe conditions,” DHS said in a post on X.
“At one stop, individuals in the crowd threw food at the agents. At their final gas station stop, someone spit on an agent,” the department added. “When an agent moved to detain the person who spit on him, the crowd tackled and attacked the agents while surrounding them.”
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People confront U.S. Border Patrol agents of commander Greg Bovino’s team at a speedway gas station in Minneapolis, Minn., Jan. 21, 2026. (Seth Herald/Reuters)
The department said that the agents were forced to use crowd control measures to disperse the agitators.
The post comes just ahead of Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Minneapolis. He’s expected to meet with local leaders and deliver remarks focused on restoring law and order in Minnesota.
Tensions between federal immigration enforcement and agitators in Minnesota have grown in recent weeks since the fatal Jan. 7 shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good. The incident sparked protests and arguments between Minnesota leadership and the federal government.
When President Donald Trump on Tuesday attended a White House briefing marking one year since his inauguration, he took the time to highlight the “Worst of the Worst” criminal illegal immigrants who had been arrested by ICE in Minnesota.
A woman blows her whistle at US Border Patrol agents at a gas station in Minneapolis, Minn., on Jan. 21, 2026. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
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The president also addressed the anti-ICE chaos in Minnesota, accusing those demonstrating of being “paid agitators and insurrectionists.” He emphasized that federal immigration enforcement agents are doing “a dangerous job.”
“These are all criminal, illegal aliens that in many cases, they’re murderers, they’re drug lords, drug dealers, they’re the mentally insane. Some of them who are brutal killers. They’re mentally insane. They’re killers, but they’re insane,” Trump said as he held up mugshots of various arrestees.
A federal agent of Commander Greg Bovino’s team looks on during a stop at a gas station as immigration enforcement continues in Minneapolis, Minn., on Jan. 21, 2026. (Seth Herald/Reuters)
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Homeland Security’s “Worst of the Worst” database has information on arrestees, including those who were apprehended in Minnesota. The 42 pages for Minnesota include accused gang members, convicted rapists and convicted murderers.
The administration has largely blamed the anti-ICE sentiment on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both of whom criticized federal immigration enforcement in the wake of Good’s death. Immediately following the ICE-involved shooting, Frey demanded the agency “get the f— out” of his city.