Dispatch from Minneapolis: Jan 14, 2026

The Star of the North Burns Bright

I am still not in Minneapolis.

I need you to understand that.

I am still reporting this from a distance, relying on people who are risking their safety to document what’s happening in their own neighborhoods.

They are doing this because the national press is not willing to say everything, because cable news has closed their eyes and ears, and because the algorithm wants rage-bait about tweets.

The people sending me this information are not journalists. They’re teachers, medical workers, and parents, all organizing to protect their neighborhoods while thye get pepper sprayed for filming.

They asked me to tell you, so I’m telling you.

A few days ago, I published a dispatch from Minneapolis based on information from an organizer on the ground. I asked you to pay attention. A lot of you did.

What I didn’t expect was for hundreds of you to reach out and show me evidence of a society in moral decay.

So here’s Part II.

Everything I’m about to share has been cross-verified by multiple independent sources on the ground in Minneapolis. I’m not naming anyone (duh) but I’ve done voice verification, cross-referenced accounts, and confirmed details against documentation where it exists.

This is what’s happening in an American city right now.

The Family in the Attic

I received confirmation of an incident that occurred on January 8th, which was the day after Renee Nicole Good was killed.

ICE was patrolling the neighborhood around a birthing center in Minneapolis.

Inside, a Somali family had come for a delivery. When staff realized what was happening outside, they made a decision.

They hid the family in the attic.

A mother. In active labor. Hidden in an attic. Because federal agents were circling the building.

I have verified this account through a direct family connection to medical staff at the facility.

They wanted this reported.

The Dozens in the Plaza

On Friday Jan 10 2026, ICE agents showed up at a business plaza near Minneapolis.

Business owners and customers alike confronted them and demanded they retreat.

They did…for like an hour.

Then they came back with dozens of armed agents.

They moved through the plaza randomly selecting people for harassment. No warrants. No specific targets. Just grabbing. By the time they left, three people had been taken.

Here’s what you need to understand about Minneapolis: the Somali community there is 87% U.S. citizens. Fifty-eight percent were born in the United States. The statistical probability of ICE finding an undocumented person by randomly snatching people off the street is nearly zero.

But of course they don’t care. They’re not even really looking for “illegals.” They’re just there to fuck with you. They’re looking for bodies which, by the way, is the term Border Patrol internally uses for the human beings they detain.

Bodies.

The Students

Three hundred students walked out of Roosevelt High School on Monday Jan 12 2026.

This is the same school that ICE raided on January 7th just hours after they killed Renee Good less than three miles away.

During that raid, agents pepper sprayed and fired rubber bullets at staff and students during afternoon pickup. They arrested three teachers. All three were U.S. citizens. They arrested a student. Kids ran across the street to hide in the public library.

Five days later, those kids walked out.

Three hundred of them.

I don’t know what gives me more rage: that children had to experience that raid, or that children are now the ones leading the resistance because the adults in power won’t.

(No, literally: as of today, Jan 14th Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries both refuse to endorse any position that is remotely close to actually even reducing funding for ICE.)

The Victor

On Tuesday Jan 13 2026, the owner of a local restaurant - Los Cactus - was arrested in his own parking lot.

He is a U.S. citizen. He is diabetic.

As of my last confirmed report, there is serious concern about whether he is receiving proper medical care in custody.

The vehicles involved have been documented. The plates have been recorded.

None of that has stopped anything.

The Judge

On Wednesday Jan 14 2026, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez declined to issue an immediate temporary restraining order in Minnesota’s lawsuit against ICE.

The state of Minnesota, along with the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, is suing the federal government over what Attorney General Keith Ellison called an “invasion.”

The judge acknowledged the case is a “frontier” in constitutional law. She said it would remain on the “front burner.”

But she didn’t stop it. Not yet.

Federal response is due January 19th. State response January 22nd. The legal process moves forward.

Meanwhile, people keep getting taken.

The Other Two Shooting Victims (Today, Jan 14 2026)

At 7:35 PM on Wednesday Jan 14 2026, eyewitnesses on the ground at 610 24th Ave N in Minneapolis reported that two people were shot by ICE.

Eye witnesses who spoke with my source said that one of the victims was pregnant.

Both have been transported to the hospital. I do not yet have confirmation on fatalities.

This is the second shooting by ICE in Minneapolis in one week.

The Gas Station (Today, Jan 14 2026)

January 14th: “We Took Them Out”

This one is direct from one of my contacts, who spoke with the person it happened to tonight.

A Somali organizer, who is 29 years old and naturalized U.S. citizen since he was 16, was filling up his car at a gas station in Northeast St. Paul, near Metro State University. He noticed ICE agents working the lot. They were approaching random people with pieces of paper. Photos. Faces.

“Do you know this person? Do you know this person? Help us find them.”

They approached him.

“Do you know these people?”

No.

“Do you live around here?”

I’m a U.S. citizen. I don’t answer questions from ICE.

“Where are you from?”

I’m a U.S. citizen. I don’t answer questions from ICE.

“Where were you born?”

Same answer.

“You need to show us that you’re a citizen. Show us your documents, otherwise we’re going to arrest you.”

I don’t have to answer questions or show anything to you. I’m a U.S. citizen.

Back and forth. Back and forth. Then the organizer flipped it.

“Where are you from? You look like a foreigner. You don’t look like you’re from here.”

The agent got triggered. “I’m an American. This is my soil.”

“You don’t look Native American to me.”

And then the agent said it. Out loud. To a citizen. At a gas station.

“That’s because we took them out.”

His partner had to pull him away.

Just General Bullshit

Multiple sources have confirmed that ICE has booked out hotels across Minnesota through June 1st. This comes directly from hotel staff with knowledge of the reservations.

They’re settling in.

The Trump administration has also embedded police union representatives to monitor local law enforcement and ensure compliance with federal operations. Local cops are being watched. They are expected to fall in line.

Physicians across the Allina Health system (which includes Abbott Hospital, clinics throughout Minneapolis and the suburbs) have received guidance from management on protocols related to ICE. Doctors are being briefed on what to do when, not if, agents show up in their facilities.

The infrastructure of occupation is being built in real time.

And it’s getting creative.

There are now bounty hunters operating in Minnesota.

They wear plainclothes.

No badges.

No identification.

One tactic they’ve been using: pulling fire alarms in residential buildings. Everyone evacuates. Then they surround the exits and demand papers.

You can understand how dastardly that is.

What You Can Do

If you’re in Minneapolis and have information to share, you can reach me securely on Signal (@therealcornpop.01).

If you’re not in Minneapolis, the most useful thing you can do is not look away.

But if you want to do more than look, and if you want to actually support the people on the ground, here are three organizations doing the work right now:

ISAIAH (isaiahmn.org)

This is A faith-based community organizing group that’s been building multiracial power in Minnesota since 2000. They’re mobilizing congregations, Muslim communities, and neighborhood groups to protect their neighbors.

Monarca (monarcamn.org)

The legal observer network training thousands of Minnesotans to document ICE activity. Their trainings are booked through January. Their rapid response hotline is 612-441-2881. If you see federal activity, call it in.

Unidos MN (unidos-mg.org)

An immigrant-led, statewide grassroots organization born from the DREAMER movement. They’re on the ground organizing community defense, running food card fundraisers for families in hiding, and fighting like hell.

Give them money. Give them time. Give them whatever you can.

One Last Thing

I’ve now spent the better part of a week doing nothing but fielding messages, verifying sources, cross-referencing accounts, and writing dispatches from a city I’m not in about atrocities I can’t stop.

I’m going to keep doing it.

This is the job now.

But I can’t do it for free forever.

If this reporting has been useful to you - if you’ve shared it, if you’ve learned something, if it’s made you angry enough to act - I’m asking you to become a paid subscriber to Pop Off in the Pocket.

Five dollars a month. Less than a beer. It keeps me in the fight.