Demonstrators in Minneapolis, across U.S. protest ICE

Amid ongoing immigration operations in Minnesota, a local company is filling a desperate need for on-demand legal help.

TurnSignl was started in 2020 by attorney and former mayoral candidate Jazz Hampton. He developed it after George Floyd was murdered, to connect drivers to an attorney when they've been pulled over. But now they're filling another huge void: on-demand legal help for people stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"They're doing the review of cases in Texas and then they're finding out, oh this person does have legal status we have to send them back," said Hampton. "The level of disorganization is, to me, startling."

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For many, February rent is due in two days, and increased U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity is keeping some from going to work.  
 
Help lines at the Greater Twin Cities United Way are seeing a surge in need. Housing assistance calls are up 60%, overwhelming organizations trying to respond.
 
Denia is a single mother of three. Fear has taken over her life. She hasn't worked since December, not because she doesn't want to, but because leaving home feels dangerous.

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Community members organized a sit-in at the Dinkytown Target on Friday.

It's part of broader protests calling on the Minneapolis-based retailer to respond more directly to immigration enforcement.

Demonstrators outside the location near the University of Minnesota want the company — long seen as a community institution — to publicly oppose U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity on its properties, and ban agents from entering stores.

"ICE has been staging operations at Target parking lots all across the city," organizer Elan Axelbank said.

"Seven hundred small businesses closed on the 23rd in solidarity with a general strike. Target stayed open," protester Chris Gray said. 

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Outside the governor's mansion in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Friday, demonstrators, including many students and teachers, pleaded for Gov. Tim Walz to enact an immediate eviction moratorium to help families impacted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.

Students at the protest were standing up for their classmates.

"I'm at the dual language program at the high school I go to, and all of my classmates are home. They're hiding. They're afraid. It's a really noticeable difference to walk into an empty classroom every day," Josie, a member of the Sunrise Movement, a political organization, said. 

Educators pleaded for Walz to help families that are financially crushed by the ICE raids.

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Protesters took to the frozen lakes in Minneapolis Friday to broadcast a message of distress to the world, some of them spelling out "SOS" atop Bde Maka Ska in south Minneapolis.

As the sun sets in the Twin Cities, the plan is for those forming the letters to illuminate, shining the message to those flying above.

Bde Maka Ska was formerly known as Lake Calhoun. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources approved the name change back to its original Dakota name back in 2018, as the man the lake was named for — former vice president John Calhoun — was a slavery supporter.

As was the case last Friday afternoon, thousands of protesters marched through downtown Minneapolis in opposition to the ongoing surge in federal immigration enforcement forces in the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota.

The demonstration targeted Government Plaza, between the Minneapolis City Hall building and the Hennepin County Government Center, as well as Washington Avenue and nearby park The Commons, by U.S. Bank Stadium.

One group of protesters carried a large-scale replication of the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.

Independent Minnesota journalist Georgia Fort and two others were released from law enforcement custody Friday afternoon after being arrested over what Attorney General Pam Bondi says was a "coordinated attack" involving anti-ICE protests at Cities Church in St. Paul earlier this month.  

WCCO has learned Fort is federally accused of conspiracy against rights and freedom of access to clinic entrances. 

Prosecutors in court sought detention because, they say, Fort committed a crime of violence. Fort's attorney, Kevin Rich, pushed back strongly, citing other recent arguments in the church protest that denied that detention. A judge agreed with Rich and denied a request from prosecutors that she stay away from the church.

Bondi also announced that former CNN anchor Don Lemon had also been arrested, alongside Trahern Jeen Crews and Jamael Lyndell Lundy, the latter of whom is presently running for the state's 65th senate district. 

Crews and Lundy were released from custody on Friday afternoon.

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Bruce Springsteen performed at First Avenue in Minneapolis on Friday afternoon for a concert that organizers said was in support of the families of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement victims, Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Springsteen released a protest song in honor of Pretti and Good titled "Streets of Minneapolis" on Wednesday. He sang it in front of a crowd of hundreds at the iconic downtown Minneapolis venue during "A Concert of Solidarity and Resistance to Defend Minnesota." 

"This is for the people of Minneapolis, the people of Minnesota," Springsteen said during the concert.

The concert featured Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and rock band Rise Against, along with artists Al Di Meola and Ike Reilly. Organizers said on Friday morning that the event was sold out.

See the sights and sounds of the concert here. After it was over, hundreds who attended walked over to the downtown Minneapolis protest.

Thousands of Minnesotans are expected to march through Downtown Minneapolis Friday afternoon as part of an anti-ICE nationwide strike.

Somali and Black student organizations in Minnesota called for the nationwide strike, mirroring the movement last week in which hundreds of local businesses shut down to advocate for the end of federal immigration enforcement in the state. Tens of thousands of Minnesotans marched through the streets of downtown Minneapolis on what was the coldest day in years.

The strike on Friday is intended to carry that momentum forward. Organizers are asking people not to work, go to school or go shopping to show their solidarity. 

"This is a shutdown against racism. It's a shutdown against terror. And it's rooted in a long legacy of resistance. Black student unions were not created to be quiet in moments like this. We were created to lead. From the civil rights movements to today, BSU was always on the front lines of justice, refusing to accept oppression as normal," said Tutu Chinksso, the president of the Black Student Union at the University of Minnesota.

How to watch:

What: Minnesotans protest ICE

When: 2 p.m.

Where: Government Plaza on 300 South Sixth Street

How to watch: You can watch live in the player above, on the CBS Minnesota app, or on YouTube.

Hours after federal officers arrested journalists Georgia Fort and Don Lemon Friday, Fort's family, colleagues and Minnesota media leaders gathered at Minneapolis City Hall to issue a stark warning: the freedom of the press — and democracy at large — are under attack.

Fort and Lemon were two of the journalists who entered Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota on Jan. 18 to cover a protest focused on one of the church's pastors, David Easterwood, who also leads Immigration and Customs Enforcement's St. Paul field office.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the arrests, calling the protest a "coordinated attack."

Fort livestreamed the moment when she said federal officers arrived at her Twin Cities home early Friday, with her children's weeping audible in the background.

"This is all stemming from the fact that I filmed a protest as a member of the media," Fort said. "It's hard to understand how we have a Constitution, constitutional rights, when you can just be arrested for being a member of the press."

At Friday morning's City Hall news conference, journalist Harry Colbert Jr., vice president of the Center for Broadcast Journalism — which Fort co-founded and currently leads — addressed his fellow journalists on the other side of the camera.

"If you think for one moment that you are protected, this is the wake-up call to let us know that [press badges] don't stop arrests. They don't stop the death threats that we get for doing our job. These don't do a damn thing," Colbert said. "Journalism is under attack. The First Amendment is under attack and democracy is crumbling. If we allow this to happen, if we allow this to happen, if we don't speak up in the loudest voice, all of our so-called freedoms, our illusion of freedom, goes away."

Fort's eldest daughter briefly took the microphone to highlight the terrifying moment of her mother's arrest.

"My 7- and 8-year-old sisters woke up today without a mom. My father woke up today without his wife. I'm demanding that my mom gets released. The separation of families will never be right," Fort's daughter said.

Sheree Curry, co-president of the National Association of Black Journalists, noted how Fort's independence and entrepreneurial spirit puts her at extra risk.

"It's very important that people like her, independent journalists especially, be protected. They do not have the same type of backing, as an independent journalist, as someone would who works for a media outlet," Curry said. "Attacking a journalist, it is attacking all of us as citizens."

Jasmine McBride, editor of the Minnesota Spokesman Recorder — the state's oldest Black-owned business — spoke about Fort's immense impact on her life and career. McBride said she was the first hire at Fort's BLCK Press media company.

"[Fort] is a leader, she's a truth teller, she's been, she's the most consistent person I know," McBride said. "Her goal has always been illuminating what needs to be illuminated, illuminating the truth and standing by that, even if it means putting her in the position that she currently is today."

Perhaps the most impassioned speaker at Friday's conference was Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who urged U.S. journalists to "stop pandering" to the Trump administration.

"Stop giving them the voice that they don't need. You have allowed them to create headlines that are false and lies. They are lying to the American public about everything that is happening, and you have allowed for them to get away with lies every single day," Hussein said. "It is time to stand up. If you didn't stand up for the Somali American community or our civil rights leaders, you should stand up for your colleagues, your colleagues in journalism."

Almost since the time ICE arrived in Minnesota, protesters have been gathering at the Bishop Henry Whipple Building in Minneapolis, which has served as the headquarters for federal agents.

Friday they were joined by dozens of clergy and community leaders as part of faith-based rally. 

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A Department of Homeland Security doctor says Liam Ramos has been "examined" by a pediatrician, who "found no medical concerns."

Dr. Sean Conley, acting director and chief medical officer with the Office of DHS Health Security, said, "It is standard policy to provide medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody. This includes medical, dental, and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, and access to necessary medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care."

Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Ramos, were taken into custody as part of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation while in their driveway after just arriving home from his preschool classroom on Jan. 20.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison will testify at a House Oversight Committee hearing on fraud and the "misuse" of federal funds in the state in March, Chairman James Comer, R-Kentucky, said on Friday.

Republicans on the committee launched an investigation into Walz's handling of a series of multimillion-dollar fraud schemes in Minnesota last December. Members, at the time, asked in letters the governor and Ellison for "documents and communications showing what your administration knew about this fraud and whether you took action to limit or halt the investigation into this widespread fraud."

The hearing is scheduled for March 4. WCCO has reached out to Walz and Ellison for comment.

Republican Minnesota state Reps. Kristin Robbins, Walter Hudson and Marion Rarick, along with Brendan Ballou, a former prosecutor for the Justice Department who is appearing as the Democrats' witness, testified in front of the committee earlier this month.

Robbins said, as chair of a fraud prevention committee in the Minnesota House, she's been "working to uncover the massive fraud under Tim Walz, propose solutions and hold state agencies accountable."   

Democrats on the committee acknowledged concerns about fraud during the Jan. 7 hearing, but said the response should not punish communities unjustly, while pointing to what they said was hypocrisy among their GOP colleagues in taking fraud allegations seriously.   

Walz has defended his handling of the crisis, saying his administration has "spent years cracking down on fraudsters" and has accused President Trump of "politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans."

A spokesperson for Walz, in response to the Jan. 7 hearing, said, without expanding, "We're always happy to work with Congress, though this committee has a track record of holding circus hearings that have nothing to do with the issue at hand."

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Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche says the Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation into the death of Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by two Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis amid a federal immigration crackdown.  

Blanche said he did not want to overstate the move, and instead characterized it as a "standard investigation by the FBI when there are circumstances like what we saw last Saturday." 

"And that investigation, to the extent it needs to involve lawyers at the civil rights division, it will involve those," he said.  

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The FBI is now leading the investigation into the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations branch supporting the investigation, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said.

CBS News has reached out to the FBI for comment.

About 70% of Native Americans today live in urban areas, including tens of thousands in the Twin Cities, one of the largest urban Native populations in the country.

There, in early January, a top ICE official announced the "largest immigration operation ever."

Masked, heavily armed agents traveling in convoys of unmarked SUVs became commonplace in some neighborhoods. By this week, more than 3,400 people had been arrested, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At least 2,000 ICE officers and 1,000 Border Patrol officers were on the ground.

Representatives from at least 10 tribes traveled hundreds of miles to Minneapolis — the birthplace of the American Indian Movement — to accept ID applications from members there. Among them were the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe of Wisconsin, the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of South Dakota and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa of North Dakota.

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The attorney for journalist and former CNN host Don Lemon says he was arrested Thursday night in Los Angeles in connection to his presence at a recent protest inside in a St. Paul, Minnesota, church.

Attorney Abbe Lowell said Lemon was covering the Grammy awards when he was taken into custody.

"Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done," Lowell said. "The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable. There is no more important time for people like Don to be doing this work."

Lemon was among a group that entered Cities Church off St. Paul's Grand Avenue on Jan. 18, where one of its pastors, David Easterwood, leads the local ICE field office.

"Instead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota protesters, the Trump Justice Department is devoting its time, attention and resources to this arrest, and that is the real indictment of wrongdoing in this case," Lowell said. "This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand. Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court."

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Richfield Public Schools notified families Thursday of an incident involving federal agents. 

The district says agents were on one of the school's bus routes Thursday afternoon. 

They say administrators were notified and leadership went to the bus to make sure students were safe. WCCO has reached out to school officials to learn more.

Conflicting information from the top voices on the federal crackdown is causing some confusion. 

On Thursday morning, border czar Tom Homan spoke for the first time since arriving in Minnesota. Homan says Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told him that county jails may notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the release dates for criminals so they can take custody of them when they get out.

Ellison, however, said no agreements were made.

"I did not negotiate with Mr. Homan, come to any agreement or offer any compromise on the goal of keeping Minnesotans safe," Ellison said.

Then later Thursday, President Trump shared a different message when it comes to the possibility of drawing back. 

"We will keep our country safe, we'll do whatever we can to keep our country safe. So not pulling back? No, no not at all," Trump said.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who announced her Minnesota gubernatorial campaign early Thursday, appeared on CNN Thursday night to share her thoughts on the Trump administration's mixed signals. 

"I literally could not believe that the president said this tonight after trying to change the tone, trying to deescalate," Klobuchar said. "But maybe I should believe it, because this shouldn't have happened in the first place."

President Trump commented early Friday on the video showing Alex Pretti confronting federal immigration officers on a Minneapolis street 11 days before he was fatally shot in another encounter with Customs and Border Protection agents.

On his Truth Social platform, Mr. Trump described Pretti as an "agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist."

The president said Pretti's "stock has gone way down with the just released video of him screaming and spitting in the face of a very calm and under control ICE Officer, and then crazily kicking in a new and very expensive government vehicle, so hard and violent, in fact, that the taillight broke off in pieces. It was quite a display of abuse and anger, for all to see, crazed and out of control. The ICE Officer was calm and cool, not an easy thing to be under those circumstances!"

A nationwide strike is planned for Friday to stand with immigrant communities and protest ICE activity, but some Minnesota businesses may not be as involved this time around. 

Minnesota showed up for a massive anti-ICE protest last week. Thousands took to the streets and an estimated more than 300 businesses closed.

Some, however, say another shutdown is not possible. 

"This has been not just my reality, but this has been my worst nightmare," said Daniel Hernandez, the owner of Colonial Market.

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After weeks of chaotic clashes, a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official has reportedly sent a memo ordering agents not to engage with protesters.

Thursday morning, Border Czar Tom Homan discussed the ongoing crisis between ICE and protesters, saying the agency is working to alter how it operates.

"I do not want to hear that everything's been done here has been perfect. Nothing's ever perfect. Anything can be improved on. And what we've been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient by the book," Homan said.

Reuters reports one of those changes is a memo headlined "DO NOT COMMUNICATE OR ENGAGE WITH AGITATORS."

"It serves no purpose other than inflaming the situation. No one is going to convince the other. The only communication should be the officers issuing commands," the memo reportedly reads.

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