Protesters march in icy conditions to protest against the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies, demanding ICE leave the city.
Published On 24 Jan 2026
Thousands of demonstrators have braved bitter cold to march through the streets of Minneapolis in the United States and demand an end to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in their city.
Friday’s march started with temperatures as low as minus 29 Celsius (minus 20 Fahrenheit), with organisers saying that as many as 50,000 people took to the streets, a figure that could not be independently verified.
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Many demonstrators later gathered indoors at the Target Center, a sports arena with a capacity of 20,000.
Organisers and participants said dozens of businesses across Minnesota closed for the day as part of the “ICE OUT!” show of defiance that organisers billed as a general strike.
Workers headed to street protests and marches, which followed weeks of sometimes violent confrontations between US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and protesters opposed to Trump’s surge.
“It is 23 degrees below zero but the stores are closed and these demonstrators are out braving the coldest day on record since 2019 all to send a simple message to ICE: Get Out,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren said, reporting from Minneapolis.
Just a day earlier, US Vice President JD Vance visited Minneapolis in a demonstration of support for ICE officers and to ask local leaders and activists to reduce tensions, saying ICE was carrying out an important mission to detain immigration violators.
In one of the more dramatic protests, local police arrested dozens of clergy members who sang hymns and prayed as they knelt on a road at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, calling for Trump to withdraw the 3,000 federal law enforcement officers sent to the area.
Organisers said their demands included legal accountability for the ICE agent w