Spin Cycle: Forecast Calls For More Snow And ICE In Minneapolis

While Winter Storm Fern blanketed much of the southeastern United States with snow — and, of course, ice — media outlets continued to foment panic over President Donald Trump’s use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (the other kind of ICE) and Border Patrol in major cities like Minneapolis.

For those who don’t spend their Sunday mornings glued to the television — and their Sunday afternoons attempting to dig through a week’s worth of network and cable news media spin — The Daily Wire has compiled a short summary of what you may have missed.

Tensions ramped up over the weekend after a fatal shooting involving Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, where federal immigration officials continue their efforts to apprehend and remove criminal illegal aliens. Sanctuary policies — promoted both by Mayor Jacob Frey and by failed vice presidential candidate and Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) — have left federal agents working not only without the coordination and cooperation of local law enforcement, but sometimes directly in opposition to them.

The end result is the impasse that made a surge of federal resources and personnel necessary in the first place: local officials claim that having federal agents in the streets make the people less safe, while federal officials maintain that if state and local police would honor ICE detainers and allow federal officers to apprehend criminal illegals in jails and courthouses, federal officers would not need to be on the streets.

By Sunday, the lines in the snow had been drawn and reinforced — and the legacy media outlets brought in Democrats (and a few Republicans) who would question the Trump administration, at least in light of the latest fatal confrontation.

ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl began his broadcast of “This Week” with a brief profile of Alex Pretti, 37, who was shot by Border Patrol agents — and quoted Pretti’s mother as saying, “He loved his country, but he hated what people were doing to it.”

“He loved his country, but he hated what people were doing to it,” Alex Pretti’s mother told the AP.

ABC News’ @JonKarl reports on what we know about the 37‑year‑old, who was shot and killed by federal agents Saturday in Minneapolis. pic.twitter.com/nzQJ9tYzE4

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 25, 2026

Karl then brought in Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) — who is expected to jump into the gubernatorial race in the coming months — to discuss the situation. Klobuchar claimed she would have supported efforts to root out fraud and to apprehend the worst of the worst when it came to criminal illegal aliens — but she believed it was clear that was not what the Trump administration had been doing.

“If your goal was to go after fraud, that’s a righteous goal. But that’s not what this is. If your goal was to apprehend violent offenders — good. But that’s not what you’re doing anymore.”

Sen. Klobuchar’s message to federal officials after escalating tensions in Minneapolis. pic.twitter.com/FRz5VoRNvy

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 25, 2026

Klobuchar addressed the Pretti shooting directly, saying that some Republicans had spoken to her quietly about their concerns regarding the actions of federal agents but that was not enough. “At this point, silence is complicity,” she said, claiming that federal agents were violating constitutional rights at every turn.

Klobuchar argued, among other things, that the agents cracking down on violent protests were violating First Amendment rights to assemble — and then claimed that Border Patrol agents were violating the Second Amendment because Pretti had been a legally-permitted gun-owner.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar criticizes her Republican colleagues who she says have not spoken about the federal actions in Minneapolis: “At this point, silence is complicity.” https://t.co/Q4LlxAFJW9 pic.twitter.com/Jmda2AVYSx

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 25, 2026

Karl wrapped up the broadcast by giving New York City’s democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani a chance to double down on his calls to defund ICE. “ICE is an organization that cares little for the rules. It’s an organization that operates with reckless impunity and seems to revel in the flouting of those kinds of rules. And that’s what gives people a real sense of fear,” Mamdani claimed.

NYC Mayor Mamdani on his calls to abolish ICE: “ICE is an organization that cares little for the rules. It’s an organization that operates with reckless impunity and seems to revel in the flouting of those kinds of rules. And that’s what gives people a real sense of fear.” pic.twitter.com/i3n9c6Np6N

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 25, 2026

On CBS News, “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan brought in Senator Angus King (I-ME) to discuss the surge of agents coming to his state in the same way they’d dispatched to Minnesota, and he drew a hard line: “I believe what we’re seeing is an attempt to intimidate the American people. Again, armed people with masks and telling people they can’t photograph what they are doing and intimidating protesters, that’s not American.”

King joined Democrats making noise about another possible government shutdown as he said that he couldn’t possibly vote for a bill that funded ICE.

Sen. Angus King (I-ME) says he “can’t vote for a bill that includes ICE funding in these circumstances, what they are doing in my state, what we saw yesterday in Minneapolis.”

“I believe what we’re seeing is an attempt to intimidate the American people,” King says. “Again, armed… pic.twitter.com/ESbH4QMwzX

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) January 25, 2026

King claimed that there was a way for federal authorities to enforce immigration law without “ransacking our cities and terrorizing our residents,” but he did not say how he expected that to happen while local and state authorities were refusing to cooperate with the feds – and while Democrat leaders were actively encouraging civilians to obstruct and push back on the federal agents attempting to do their jobs.

When asked how the state and federal government can work together on immigration, Sen. Angus King (I-ME) says federal authorities “can enforce the laws against illegal immigration and people that are criminals without ransacking our cities and terrorizing our residents.”

“There… pic.twitter.com/yH2uHNj1sf

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) January 25, 2026

Brennan also spoke with Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, who suggested that the federal agents were going about things the wrong way.

“The Minneapolis Police Department went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds and hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn’t shoot anyone,” he claimed, but he failed to address the fact that the city was still awash in criminal illegal aliens that he and his department had done nothing about.

After two U.S. citizens were killed by federal agents in Minneapolis in recent weeks, the city’s police chief, Brian O’Hara, says the people of Minneapolis “have had enough” of ICE’s Operation Metro Surge.

“The Minneapolis Police Department went the entire year last year… pic.twitter.com/dX3DKVtHbe

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) January 25, 2026

And on CNN, anchor Dana Bash discussed the situation with newly-elected Governor Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ). Asking Sherrill about the fact that her state was home to numerous “sanctuary” jurisdictions — and was likely to face surges of federal agents as well, Bash asked how she planned to handle such actions.

Sherrill’s response was to compare ICE to the communist STASI, East Germany’s brutal secret police.

Sherrill on ICE: “This is about a basically Stasi-type force of secret police that wear masks, that are unidentifiable, that are unaccountable, that have leadership in the Trump administration blatantly lying about what’s going on, when the American people can see the videos… pic.twitter.com/oRnMsIUEDE

— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) January 25, 2026