Kyle Sammin: Now would be a great time for everyone to chill out
Now would be a great time for everyone to chill out.
Things are heating up in Minnesota. Not the weather, which has been in the single digits this week, but rather the metaphorical temperature, which has found ICE agents, protesters, and counterprotesters out in the freezing cold in increasing numbers this month.
There are important issues being debated, but ideas are beginning to take a back seat to the pure rage of tribalism. This many angry people in close proximity was bound to produce a tragedy eventually, and in the killing of Renee Good during a clash with ICE agents, it did just that.
That might be a sign that things are boiling over, but no one in charge seems to want to turn down the heat. Many of them want this fight. They are convinced of their own righteousness and of the depravity of the other side. Why should they back down? They’re right! Let the other side pull back first, and then, maybe, our side will start to relax.
This is certainly the attitude of the ICE agents on the ground in Minneapolis. They are sent to do a job and they’re tired of all the ways cops have been hamstrung and handcuffed since the Floyd riots. Some of them just want to do normal, pre-2020 police work. Others seem to be spoiling for a fight. There is a carelessness about targeting that, whatever the cause, looks like the indiscriminate harassment of racial minorities, not the careful work of deporting illegal immigrants that is their actual mission. Deescalation is nowhere to be seen.
The protesters, also, seem to be spoiling for a fight. Following the cops, alerting the suspects, even helping arrested people escape — these go far beyond the right to peaceably assemble that our First Amendment protects. The hard core among them are provocateurs and want an incident — want a cop to lose his temper or disregard his training.
We’ve seen this in Ferguson in 2014, in Minneapolis in 2020, in New York in 2024, in Los Angeles in 2025, and in countless other protests-turned-riots. The protests have some contingent of concerned citizens who want to voice discontent in a peaceful way. But they also have a cadre of radical activists who would love to provoke police violence and then play the victim, showing the world that they are right and the system is violent and unjust.
There was an equilibrium to this when the cops were well-trained and knew the rules of engagement. But now there seems to be no one in the federal government looking to impose that restraint. When Renee Good was killed, the proper response from DHS would have been condolences and routine assurances about an investigation into the shooting. The investigation would have taken a while, but it would have been calm and even-handed — not immediate absolution, not serving up the cop as a sacrifice to the mob, but a real search for truth.
Instead, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem called Good’s actions “an act of domestic terrorism.” Vice President JD Vance said it was “terrorism” and smeared the entire crew of protestors as using “terror techniques.” Meanwhile, Ilhan Omar, who represents the region in Congress, immediately called Good’s death “murder,” and later defended having said so, in case you thought she misspoke in the heat of the moment. Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey insisted that ICE “get the fuck out of Minneapolis.”
None of these statements are evidence that the speakers want to lower the temperature.
So we inevitably get escalation. Right-wing counterprotesters have arrived and clashed with left-wing protestors, a sight that any student of history will tell you is a bad sign for a liberal democracy. Last Sunday, far-left activists invaded a church — ostensibly because one of the members (who was not there) works with ICE, but also because the radical left omnicause hates religion as much as it hates America.
Where are the real leaders in all of this? There has been some movement toward the center, at least rhetorically. Governor Tim Walz initially characterized the ICE presence as “an occupation” and said the state of Minnesota was effectively “at war” with the federal government. President Trump responded with a threat to invoke the Insurrection Act and launched investigations into Walz and Frey.
But since that point, the executives have at least begun to relax. Walz urged that protestors behave peacefully and Frey urged that they “not take the bait.” After Trump initially said the ICE agent who shot Good would not be investigated, Noem confirmed this week that there would, in fact, be an investigation. The President also said on Friday that he might not need the Insurrection Act, after all.
These are all signs of normalcy, but they are mostly words, not actions. Nothing about ICE, the protestors, or the counterprotestors has changed. The state, local, and federal governments have not changed their tactics one iota. So for all the good calming words may do, another flash point is always around the corner.
Trump has made much of his quest for the Nobel Prize, and his efforts to end wars around the world are a genuine contribution to global peace. It is harder to make peace at home, where policy and personal pride are at stake. But part of leadership is telling your own most zealous supporters to rein it in. Trump, Walz, and Frey should all work to do that.
A few steps might help. One: everyone should take off the masks. Concealing one’s identity leads to a feeling of consequence-free power. Agents of the state should never conceal their identity because state action must always be subject to public scrutiny. Law enforcement officers should show their faces and badge numbers. Likewise protestors should show their faces, as is already required by Minnesota’s anti-mask law. Looking each other in the face will help communicate human empathy, and revive the feeling that what we do in the world has consequences.
That’s a good first step in chilling out. But we need more.
The way ICE is being deployed in Minnesota is a direct consequence of the state’s refusal to cooperate in enforcing federal immigration law. Every time state or local police arrest an illegal immigrant, they should be notifying ICE. Instead, some states have decided to shelter them, no matter which laws they have broken (in addition to the initial crime of entering the country illegally.) But the federal government still is permitted to enforce its own law — the Constitution specifically gives Congress control over immigration and the Supremacy Clause means that that power trumps state law.
Federalism is much diminished from the Founding Fathers’ day, but this point still remains: States do not have to do the federal government’s bidding. However, they may choose to do so. And helping to deport illegal aliens who have been arrested for unrelated crimes is a policy that enjoys widespread support. Trump should agree to pull back ICE officers from doing raids on their own, but Walz should also agree to cooperate with ICE when illegal immigrants are detained by state and local police.
This is the situation that prevails in many other states, and the process does not result in the level of tumult that Minnesotans are now experiencing. Instead of choosing actions based on what will “resist Trump” or “own the libs,” both state and federal officials should work together within the law to deport criminals who have no right to be here — and not accosting people on the street.
Kyle Sammin is the managing editor of Broad + Liberty.
It is my opinion that the incitement of Minnesotans to actively “resist” and interfere with ICE activity by those in office there is meant to defuse the investigations into rampant fraud that otherwise would be the headlines. I think that the Trump administration taking the bait gives them further cover. If ICE stepped back a bit in MN and let the DoJ do its work and indict then all would benefit. Once more fraudsters are exposed, then the media would have something else to report on – or ignore.
Demanding that ICE agents remove their masks is a stunningly bad idea.
Why?
Agreed. The leftists only demand that so that they can identify the officers, doxx them, and terrorize them and their families.
The time for Kumbaya is over with. Walz and Frey backed down once DOJ subpoenas were threatened. I’m glad Bondi followed through with them.
As far as Ms. Good goes it was a foolish endeavor on her part to interfere with a federal law enforcement operation, and compounded by her sheer stupidity to accelerate her vehicle and hit an armed agent. I hope Walz and Frey are arrested and incarcerated for both inciting violence against federal LI, plus their involvement in the fraudulent use of taxpayer fund to enrich themselves and to buy Somali voters (legal and illegal).
Mr. Sammin,
Useful innocents (fools) like Ms. Good have gleefully celebrated and/ or supported the following things, literally: sex mutilation for children, Somali fraud, MS-13, running over law enforcement, Antifa operations, Hamas, Maduro, Sharia law, and assassination (Kirk.) Do you expect them to suddenly be reasonable?
Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani was charged with 13 felonies, found liable for $148mm in damages, and disbarred in DC and NY in large part for disputing Georgia’s election returns. Over 5 years later, Fulton County Board of Elections in Georgia admitted they violated the law by counting 315,000 early votes which were illegally certified during the 2020 Election. That illegal activity affected Trump not winning Georgia, and cost Republicans those two Senate seats in Georgia which gave Democrats control of the Senate in 2020. Would we even have this crisis in Minnesota were it not for those illegal actions in Georgia? Who can say? They literally put pizza boxes over the windows in Philadelphia so who knows what they were up to with the ballots in 2020? Now you want peace with these brazen criminals? How many Billions (Trillions even) of fraud occurred in Minnesota, California, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other states? Does anyone know? NOW YOU WANT PEACE? How about we focus on law and order and justice?
How about we track down the people and corporations that are funding these unreasonable useful “innocents” and hold their elite selves accountable?!? But instead for some reason you think it is reasonable to attack the brave ICE agents and scold them for wearing masks, which they wear because provocateurs and criminals are doxxing them, going after their families, and hunting them down at church?!? The Gov of Minnesota said they’re at war with ICE. And there are many examples of Democrat leaders actively trying to incite the rabble to partake in or commit criminal acts. Let’s hold them accountable or they will keep doing it. No one is trying to “own” these people, regular tax paying citizens simply want to survive them. We could cut off the head of the serpent, but instead it seems you want authorities to cozy up to these maniacs and tolerate their lawlessness and simply ignore the situation they created with the 10mm+ invaders (which were invited here by well funded and organized efforts.)
It is remarkable that intelligent people are falling for the propaganda talking point about ICE agents wearing masks. They are totaling missing what is actually going on with ICE protests.
1. Theory: most of the oligarchs and elites in the United States, bail-out capitalists who promote public money absorbing their losses while their profits stay private, use all of the organizations they head [ie., A) publicly traded companies like Disney, ABC, ESPN, etc., B) private for-profits, and C) non-profits] to fund the specific groups organizing these ICE protests [ie., “Sunrise Movement and the Latino advocacy nonprofit group UNIDOS, are organizing Minneapolis high school students to protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement” – Washington Examiner, January 23, 2026 8:24 am]
2. The direct and indirect donors to these insurrectionists should be held accountable, and punished under the law if possible. At a minimum they should be identified and called out for this. And if there are no laws against funding these efforts, we need to elect legislature that will make some laws to stop the elites from funding these Marixists and anarchists. We have only ourselves to blame in that we allow these elites to use a mob to keep stealing from the public (We the People.) They are waging a war against simply rounding up illegals that have also committed crimes. This isn’t even about rounding up the 10mm+ illegals that are depressing your wages and driving up costs on housing, taxes (which they are literally stealing with Somali schemes), clothing, food, etc.
3. U.S. nonprofits generally do not publicly disclose their “largest donors” by name on IRS Form 990 (major-donor names are typically on Schedule B, which isn’t publicly released). So what we can do reliably is list large funders that are publicly disclosed via (a) the funder’s own grant database/press releases or (b) the nonprofit’s own published donor rolls / sponsor lists. Here are major funders with public documentation (amounts shown where the funder discloses them):
Wallace Global Fund — awarded Sunrise a $250,000 Henry A. Wallace Award and also committed $750,000 in 2019 grants to partner orgs working with Sunrise. Scott Fitzmorris is co-chair of the Wallace Global Fund, a prominent supporter of left-wing causes, particularly environmentalist groups. In January 2022, Fitzmorris was named one of the “most powerful heirs in philanthropy” by Inside Philanthropy. He is he great-grandson of Henry A. Wallace, a prominent New Deal-era politician who served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and Vice President under President Franklin Roosevelt.
Ford Foundation — its grants database shows $550,000 total (for an entry in its grants database for Sunrise Movement Education Fund).
Sequoia Climate Foundation — disclosed a $1,500,000 grant (2022) to Sunrise Movement Education Fund “to support member and leadership programs.”
For UnidosUS, there are clear public disclosures for some major institutional support—especially around its HOME initiative:
Wells Fargo — public disclosures describe $10 million in anchor funding for HOME as part of a larger $25 million philanthropic investment tied to UnidosUS/community programs.
JPMorgan Chase and PNC Bank — listed as leading sponsors / institutional backers for HOME.
Constellation Brands, Inc. and Modelo — named as added institutional backers/funders as HOME entered its second year.
MacKenzie Scott’s foundation (Yield Giving) — cited as a source for part of UnidosUS’s own committed funding to launch HOME.
How’s that for “chillin’ out”?
You mean ICE murdering another American citizen?
How anyone can defend ICE is beyond me at this point. They can barge into your house and kill you and the administration will say they’re right. The 4th Amendment and the 2nd Amendment are dead if ICE can murder you in cold blood and face zero repercussions.
Pennsylvania law requires jury selection commissions to maintain lists of disqualified prospective jurors and their reasons (including non-citizenship), but no aggregate annual statistics broken down by reason appear in public reports. WHY?
Pennsylvania Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) oversees driving services in 67 counties. Do you know how many languages the Pennsylvania Division of Motor vehicles officially provides for non-citizens? Answer: 32
WHY?
1. English, 2. Albanian, 3. Amharic, 4. Arabic, 5. Bengali, 6. Bosnian, 7. Burmese, 8. Cambodian (Khmer), 9. Chinese, 10. Dari, 11. Farsi, 12. French, 13. Greek, 14. Gujarati, 15. Haitian Creole, 16. Hindi, 17. Italian, 18. Japanese, 19. Korean, 20. Nepalese, 21. Pashto, 22. Polish, 23. Portuguese, 24. Punjabi, 25. Russian, 26. Somali, 27. Spanish, 28. Swahili, 29. Turkish, 30. Ukrainian, 31. Urdu, and 32. Vietnamese
Guess what? The specific number of driver’s licenses issued to non-citizens in Pennsylvania for 2024 is not publicly reported in available official sources. So, PennDOT maintains records of applicant citizenship or immigration status as part of the verification process for issuing licenses (including limited-term licenses for temporary non-citizens), but annual reports and statistics focus on total licenses issued… without breakdowns by citizenship. WHY?
ICE isn’t even trying to remove the 10mm+ recent illegals. They are roaming the streets shooting people because the Democrat leaders, and their oligarch masters have created that situation. There’s going to be a lot more of it, too. Unfortunately.
Very scary you’re advocating for and cheering on the state killing people without any due process and extrajudicially. Some might even say fascistic.
So in your view, the 2nd Amendment is dead (because the state can now kill you, even if you’re armed and pose no threat) and the 4th amendment is dead (because the state can come to your house and drag you away without any due procsss). That’s fascism and you’re opening advocating for it.
No one is ‘cheering’ for the state killing people. That’s the inflammatory rhetoric being squealed by leftist political agitators and commentators who will do anything to resist Trump even though he won the election promising to reverse and expel the illegal immigrant criminals in this country. The left financiers are placing willing professional agitators in harms way to prevent ICE and Trump from legally doing their mandated job. These violent leftist morons are using their vehicles and now firearms to interfere with zero respect for law enforcement, all the while being encouraged by useful idiot politicians trying to cover up billions of stolen dollars of corruption. Pull a gun on law enforcement or resist being legally apprehended from an arresting officer with a warrant, you will be forcefully dealt with. If you poke the bear with a stick, you will get mauled. These agitators think their protected by some righteous sanctuary power when, in fact, they are not. FAFO.
No – my comment was directed at the author regarding the reader comments up to this point. Of course you used it to inflame the conversation just like the leftists in MN and the media.