President Donald Trump has labeled participants in recent anti-ICE protests as “professional agitators,” vowing to investigate who is funding them, following widespread demonstrations sparked by a fatal shooting involving an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis.
Trump’s Comments on the Protests
In a gaggle with reporters on Air Force One on January 11, 2026, Trump criticized the behavior toward law enforcement. “Disrespectful of law enforcement. The woman and her friend were highly disrespectful of law enforcement, you saw that? They were harassing them or following them for days and for hours on end,” he said.
“I think frankly they’re professional agitators. And I’d like to find out, we are going to find out who’s paying for it. With their brand new signs and all the different things,” Trump added. “But these are professional agitators and law enforcement should not be in a position where they have to put up with this stuff. What that woman, what her friend and what their other friends were doing to law enforcement? Not just ICE. Law enforcement is outrageous.”
The comments come amid nationwide protests following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis on January 8, 2026. The incident, which occurred during a large-scale federal immigration operation, has prompted tens of thousands to march in Minneapolis and more than 1,000 rallies across the U.S. under the “ICE Out For Good” banner, organized by groups including Indivisible and the ACLU.
Demonstrators have chanted slogans such as “Abolish ICE” and “No justice, no peace — get ICE off our streets,” demanding accountability and an end to aggressive deportations. While most events have remained peaceful, some incidents in Minneapolis included property damage at hotels and arrests.
Criticism from Rep. Ilhan Omar
On CBS’s “Face the Nation” on January 11, 2026, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) pushed back against characterizations of Good, calling for a full investigation before judgments. “It is not acceptable for Kristi Noem and the president, vice-president to make these kind of judgments without there being a full investigation,” she said.
Omar added: “Even though we can see in the videos that have been produced so far what they are describing—it’s really not what is taking place. […] Prove to us what documentation you have that one, that she was paid to. She was agitating when we can hear her say she’s not mad. She is not upset. She’s clearly trying to wave cars to bypass her. And so it’s just this level of rhetoric is unjustifiable to the American people.”
