Minneapolis shuts down public schools as rioting escalates after lethal ICE shooting

Anti-ICE protesters and rioters have forced Minneapolis public schools to shut down out of caution after a lethal shooting of a woman by federal agents.

Protesters denounced the Trump administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement overnight at the same time that the governor and mayor, both of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, called for ICE to leave Minneapolis immediately.

'All MPS-sponsored programs, activities, athletics, Community Education, including Adult Education, will be canceled.'

"Out of an abundance of caution, there will be no school on Thursday, January 8, 2026 and Friday, January 9, 2026 due to safety concerns related to today's incidents around the city," reads a statement from Minneapolis Public Schools.

"All MPS-sponsored programs, activities, athletics, Community Education, including Adult Education, will be canceled," they added. "The District will not move to e-learning because that is only allowable for severe weather. MPS will continue collaborating with the City of Minneapolis and other partners on emergency preparedness and response."

Some media reports tied the action to an incident where armed U.S. Border Patrol officers detained two staff members at Roosevelt High School after allegedly tackling people and pepper-spraying bystanders.

A school official who spoke on condition of anonymity described the incident to MPR News.

"The guy, I'm telling him like, ‘Please step off the school grounds,’ and this dude comes up and bumps into me and then tells me that I pushed him, and he's trying to push me, and he knocked me down," the official said.

"They don't care. They're just animals," the official added. "I've never seen people behave like this."

The Department of Homeland Security offered a far different version of the incident. DHS said agents were conducting an operation when a protester tried to impede them and rammed their vehicles. They gave chase and ended up near the school when a teacher "proceeded to assault a Border Patrol agent."

DHS denied using tear gas at the incident, but witnesses contradicted that report.

RELATED: 'ICE, get the f**k out of Minneapolis!' Democrat mayor calls ICE's self-defense claim for deadly shooting 'bulls**t'

Another witness to the incident spoke to KARE-TV about the altercation.

"All of a sudden, a few high school-age kids came running and looking scared and maybe even tearful," said Evan Johnson, who was walking his dog near the school. "And there was a woman right next to me who was going to head over and start filming herself. And she told this little boy to get into her car. She asked him first if he was afraid of what's going on. And he just said, 'ICE is here.'"

DHS said that at no point "was a school, students, or staff targeted, and agents would not have been near this location if not for the dangerous actions of this individual."

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