Community members across Minneapolis are organizing informal security at schools after ICE raids and the nearby fatal shooting of Renee Good. Parents and volunteers patrol entrances, escort immigrant staff, deliver food and medicine, and raise emergency funds for affected families. DHS says more than 2,500 arrests have been made in Operation Metro Surge and denies targeting schools, but local officials report stops of school vehicles, detained staff and sharply reduced childcare attendance. Several districts have canceled some in‑person classes and shifted to online learning while families cope with fear and disruption.
Neighbors and Parents Patrol Minneapolis Schools After ICE Raids and Fatal Shooting
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents stand guard after clearing people from the street during a protest outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, more than a week after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good on January 7, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., January 16, 2026. REUTERS/Tim Evans/File Photo
Peter Brown’s gray mustache and beard were rimed with ice as he stood watch on a bitter Friday afternoon outside Green Central Elementary, just blocks from where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Renee Good was fatally shot last week.
At 81, Brown — a retired lawyer who lives nearby — donned a neon green safety vest and carried a whistle and a walkie‑talkie as he scanned every passing car and pedestrian. He said he was prepared to raise an alarm if federal immigration officers approached the campus, which teaches in English and Spanish.
"I never did like bullies, and that's what the federal government has become," Brown said, explaining why he stood outside for hours in the cold — about -2°F (roughly -19°C with wind chill). "What's happening in my city is nothing more than authoritarian intimidation, and me and my neighbors are not going to put up with it."
Community Response: Patrols, Escorts and Deliveries
The deployment of roughly 3,000 federal agents to the Minneapolis–St. Paul area as part of a mass deportation effort has prompted residents to take extraordinary precautions. Parents and volunteers who would normally organize PTA events are instead forming informal security teams to patrol school entrances and bus stops.
FILE PHOTO: A demonstrator holds a Minnesota state flag with the words, "ICE Out", during a protest outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, more than a week after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good on January 7, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., January 16, 2026. REUTERS/Tim Evans/File Photo
Some community members escort foreign‑born teachers and staff between home and work, while others deliver groceries and prescription medicines to families too frightened to leave their homes. Across the metro area, parents are also raising emergency funds to help cover rent and basic needs for families missing work.
Clashes, Detentions and School Disruption
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE and Border Patrol, said more than 2,500 people have been arrested in the operation officials call "Operation Metro Surge," and has repeatedly asserted that agents are not targeting schools.
"ICE is not going to schools to arrest children — we are protecting children," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, adding that arrests at schools would only occur if agents were pursuing dangerous criminal suspects.
Local officials, parents and school leaders describe a different reality. A Saint Paul Public Schools spokesperson said two contracted student-transportation vans were stopped by ICE agents. Several schools and daycare centers notified families by email that teachers and staff had been detained, and parents reported that some individuals were arrested at bus stops after dropping off children.
Kelly, the mother of two school-aged children, poses for a photo at a protest against federal immigration raids, in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S. January 16, 2026. Like many parents in the area, Kelly is now helping patrol her children's school to warn of the presence of federal immigration agents and to deliver groceries to immigrant families with schoolchildren who are too scared to leave their homes. REUTERS/Brad Brooks
Border Patrol officers also clashed with protesters on the grounds of Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis just hours after the fatal shooting of Renee Good; DHS said the clash followed the pursuit of a person who had rammed one of its vehicles and fled to the school grounds.
Remote Learning and Childcare Impact
Several districts, including Minneapolis and St. Paul, have canceled some in‑person classes and shifted to online learning on certain days for the next several weeks in response to the operations. State Representative Carlie Kotyza‑Witthuhn said many families are too afraid to send their children to school because of ICE activity near bus stops.
Nate Byrne, a spokesperson for Kids Count on Us — a coalition of roughly 500 community‑based childcare centers — said centers in immigrant‑heavy neighborhoods have seen attendance fall by about 50 percent and are receiving daily reports of ICE officers near childcare properties. Reports also indicate some childcare workers have been taken into ICE custody, though specific figures were not available.
Parents in immigrant communities described heightened fear and uncertainty. One St. Paul parent who asked to be identified only as Kelly said she now carries a whistle everywhere and helps deliver food to families too afraid to leave home. "There's no parenting handbook for this," she said. "My parents never had to sit me down and explain that classmates are missing because their parents are afraid of being snatched by the government."
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Minneapolis; Editing by Sergio Non and Rod Nickel.)
Help us improve.
