Transcript

What I Found About the Anti-ICE Activists Is Disturbing

From Matt Walsh · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 27 min · 4,647 words · 40 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "What I Found About the Anti-ICE Activists Is Disturbing", an episode of Matt Walsh published January 14, 2026 (27 min, about 4,647 words). It mentions 30 people, works and ideas, including Defend the 612, ICE, Minnesota, Minneapolis, Cooperation Cannon River.

What this episode is about

The content discusses the organized efforts of anti-ICE activists in Minnesota, highlighting the federal government's authority over immigration enforcement and suggesting that the campaigns against ICE may be funded and coordinated rather than purely grassroots. It questions the leadership behind the anti-ICE movement and identifies a prominent group, Defend the 612, as a key player in the resistance, indicating a significant level of mobilization and planning among its supporters.

Key takeaways

  • In Minnesota, the grassroots anti-ICE movement is less grassroots and more 'Well-Funded Chaos Inc.'
  • Local leaders encourage 'patrols' that sound suspiciously like vigilante justice, but without capes or the law.
  • Defend the 612: where community action meets questionable legal advice, like a DIY handbook for obstructing federal law.
  • Calling ICE 'abductors' might win hearts, but it doesn't rack up legal points in a courtroom.
  • For a movement claiming community support, their manual suggests the fine art of mislabeling to deceive 911 operators.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Minnesota, Minneapolis, Defend the 612, ICE
  2. – 10:00: Minneapolis, Earl Giles, criminal conspiracy, Porzana
  3. – 15:00: Defend the 612, Cooperation Cannon River, Minnesota, Mitchell Williamson
  4. – 20:00: Minnesota, Tides Foundation, Defend the 612, MN 350
  5. – 25:00: Minnesota, SSRIs, Twin Cities
  6. – 27:11: Minnesota, Matt Walsh Show

Notable quotes from "What I Found About the Anti-ICE Activists Is Disturbing"

  • Immigration enforcement is the domain of the federal government. As we watch the rampant harassment and obstruction of ICE officers throughout the country, particularly in…
    about ICE · at
  • Last 48 hours joining so-called ICE resistance and ICE watch groups via Facebook Signal and other platforms.
    about Facebook · at
  • Defend the 612 exactly? If you pull up a flyer for the group, you'll see that they're committed to interfering with law enforcement operations, which they call abductions. Put…
    about Defend the 612 · at
  • Everyone involved in producing and disseminating this manual is involved in a criminal conspiracy to commit federal crimes.
    about criminal conspiracy · at
  • 612. In effect, based on this fundraising page, we can conclude that Cooperation Cannon River is doing business as Defend the 612. Okay. So then what is Cooperation Cannon River?
    about Cooperation Cannon River · at
  • The Tides Foundation and MN 350, whatever that is. Well, it turns out that the Tides Foundation takes a lot of money from groups like Open Society Foundations, the Rockerfeller…
    about Tides Foundation · at
  • That's the only rational explanation for the lawsuit the state of Minnesota just filed against the federal government.
    about Minnesota · at
  • What else I have to say, you can access my full show by going to dailywire.com or by going to the Mattwalsh Show Twitter page. Hope to see you there.
    about Matt Walsh Show · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Mitchell Williamson — Person · Referenced researcher/source · 2 mentions · first at
    Credited with researching and flagging the alleged nonprofit/funding structure behind Defend the 612; the speaker says producers verified his findings.
    Down their donation page on the website, including any reference to Cooperation Cannon River. Williamson was the first one to point this out, and I verified it using the…

Companies & orgs

  • Defend the 612 — Company · Core topic / alleged organizing hub · 8 mentions · first at
    Presented as the largest visible Minnesota anti-ICE group, allegedly coordinating patrols, Signal chats, and guidance that the speaker characterizes as obstruction and swatting.
  • ICE — Company · Core topic / primary target of discussed activism · 2 mentions · first at
    The episode centers on alleged organized efforts in Minnesota/Minneapolis to obstruct ICE operations and harass agents, framed as criminal activity and a coordinated campaign.
  • Cooperation Cannon River — Company · Alleged parent nonprofit / funding conduit · 3 mentions · first at
    Described as the nonprofit entity 'doing business as' Defend the 612 and the recipient of grants from other nonprofits (Tides Foundation, MN 350).
  • Helix (company) — Company · Alias/duplicate entity · 7 mentions
    Covered by 'Helix' above.
  • Daily Wire (company) — Company · Alias/duplicate entity · 3 mentions
    Covered by 'Daily Wire' above.

Products & tech

  • Facebook — Product · Organizing platform (referenced) · 3 mentions · first at
    Cited as a platform used to join and view anti-ICE group materials and flyers, supporting the claim of broad accessibility and coordination.

Concepts & topics

  • criminal conspiracy — Concept · Legal characterization (claimed) · 2 mentions · first at
    The episode repeatedly asserts that producing/disseminating manuals and coordinating obstruction constitutes a 'criminal conspiracy' to commit federal crimes.
  • mass psychosis — Concept · Core framing/diagnosis (claimed) · 1 mention · first at
    The speaker labels the behavior of rapid-response groups as 'mass psychosis' to argue the movement is irrational and delusional.
    This is mass psychosis. And again, it's well organized.
  • social and environmental justice — Concept · Stated nonprofit mission (contrasted by speaker) · 1 mention · first at
    Appears in Cooperation Cannon River's IRS mission statement and is contrasted with the speaker's claim that the group is actually focused on anti-ICE obstruction.
    Of Cooperation Cannon Rivers, DBA Corporation Northfield, is to create social and environmental justice through grassroots organizing and direct democracy in Minnesota. We do…
  • SSRIs — Concept · Rhetorical characterization · 2 mentions · first at
    Used pejoratively to describe protesters/activists as 'hooked on SSRIs,' part of the speaker's framing of the movement as unstable.
    Needs a general, after all, and that's particularly true when the army mostly consists of overweight, deadeyed women hooked on SSRIs along with gay men and 68 IQ Somali. So…
  • direct democracy — Concept · Stated nonprofit method · 2 mentions · first at
    Included in the IRS mission statement as a guiding principle for Cooperation Cannon River's work.
    Corporation Northfield, is to create social and environmental justice through grassroots organizing and direct democracy in Minnesota. We do this in three key ways. Youth…
  • fossil fuel infrastructure — Concept · Stated nonprofit opposition target · 2 mentions · first at
    Cited in the IRS mission statement as something the nonprofit organizes against, contrasted with the episode's claim their real activity is anti-ICE operations.
    Energy and to stop the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure. We educate and organize communities in opposition to fossil fuel infrastructure expansion while promoting investment in renewable energy in Minnesota.
  • grassroots organizing — Concept · Stated nonprofit method · 1 mention · first at
    Part of the IRS-described approach of Cooperation Cannon River; used to frame their purported legitimate activities.
    Corporation Northfield, is to create social and environmental justice through grassroots organizing and direct democracy in Minnesota. We do this in three key ways. Youth…
  • youth organizing — Concept · Stated nonprofit program area · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as one of the three key methods in Cooperation Cannon River's mission statement (via a youth coalition program).
    Grassroots organizing and direct democracy in Minnesota. We do this in three key ways. Youth organizing through our program, Young People's Action Coalition, which supports…
  • worker cooperative support — Concept · Stated nonprofit program area · 1 mention · first at
    Listed in the IRS mission statement as providing training/technical assistance for green worker co-ops (e.g., compost).
    Southern Minnesota in making social change in their schools and communities, worker cooperative support through training and technical assistance for local green worker…

Places & events

  • Minnesota — Place · Primary setting · 19 mentions · first at
    The alleged anti-ICE organizing, funding pathways, and the referenced state lawsuit against the federal government are all framed as occurring in Minnesota.
  • Minneapolis — Place · Primary city setting · 7 mentions · first at
    Defend the 612 is described as Minneapolis-based, with multiple incidents and locations (restaurants/neighborhoods) cited as examples of rapid-response activity.
    Flyers up on the screen right now, which we pulled from Facebook. Quote, Every day, neighbors in Minneapolis are stopping and preventing abductions. join us as we protect each…
  • Earl Giles — Place · Example incident location · 2 mentions · first at
    Cited as a Minneapolis restaurant/distillery where a Signal alert claimed ICE presence; later messages indicate it was a false alarm, illustrating the network's dispatch behavior.
    Following urgent message came into the Northeasts Southeast rapid response signal chat. Quote, Earl Guile's employees locked in. ICE agents in parking lot. That's a reference…
  • Central — Place · On-the-ground rally point (as referenced in clip) · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned by officials as a place where increased ICE activity was reported and where they were present, anchoring the narrative to specific Minneapolis intersections/areas.
    I'm Council President Elliot Payne and I'm on Maui in Central. We just heard that two legal observers were arrested today. we are seeing increased ICE activity in the neighborhood. and we're asking all of our community.
  • Porzana — Place · Example incident location · 1 mention · first at
    Used as an anecdote of rapid-response paranoia/overreaction: a tinted-window car near Porzana triggers calls and staff notification.
    Rapid response groups quote highly suspicious activity very tinted windows camped outside porzan porzana went and parked around the block after idling for a few minutes.
  • Lowry — Place · On-the-ground rally point (as referenced in clip) · 1 mention · first at
    Paired with Central in the clip as a location where officials urged people to show up and be visible.
    State Senator Doran Clark here. Proud to be at Central and Lowry. We need you.
  • Twin Cities — Place · Regional setting · 1 mention · first at
    Referenced in the lawsuit clip as the area allegedly experiencing a 'federal invasion,' reinforcing the geographic focus beyond Minneapolis alone.
    Mass DHS agents to Minnesota has done our state serious harm. This is in essence a federal invasion of the Twin Cities and Minnesota and it must stop.
  • Earl Giles (location) — Place · Alias/duplicate entity · 1 mention
    Covered by 'Earl Giles' above; transcript uses a misspelling ('Earl Guile's') but refers to the same place.

Media & podcasts

  • Matt Walsh Show — Media · The show/episode itself · 1 mention · first at
    Identifies the program where the monologue and investigation claims are presented; referenced via the show's page.
  • Matt Walsh Show (podcast) — Media · Alias/duplicate entity · 1 mention
    Covered by 'Matt Walsh Show' above.

Sponsors

  • Tides Foundation — Company · Referenced funder / intermediary · 4 mentions · first at
    Cited as donating $10,000 to Cooperation Cannon River and as receiving money from major foundations including Open Society Foundations, used to argue a funding chain.
  • MN 350 — Company · Referenced funder / intermediary · 3 mentions · first at
    Identified as a nonprofit that donated >$75,000 to Cooperation Cannon River and is alleged to receive state funding, implying taxpayer money indirectly supports the network.
    Canon River has taken money from the Tides Foundation to the tune of $10,000 and a nonprofit called MN 350 to the tune of more than $75,000.
  • Ford Foundation — Company · Referenced upstream funder · 1 mention · first at
    Listed as another major donor to the Tides Foundation in the alleged funding chain.
    Money from groups like Open Society Foundations, the Rockerfeller Brothers Fund, and the Ford Foundation. And if those names sound familiar, it's because they're some of the…
  • Rockefeller Brothers Fund — Company · Referenced upstream funder · 1 mention
    Listed among major donors to the Tides Foundation, supporting the claim that large left-leaning foundations indirectly support the Minnesota network.
    Tides Foundation takes... the Rockerfeller Brothers Fund.

Full transcript with timestamps

Doesn't matter if the residents of Minnesota are offended by immigration law or if ICE gives them the ick. Doesn't matter if the residents of Minnesota tell ICE that they don't want them there. It's not their call. Immigration enforcement is the domain of the federal government. As we watch the rampant harassment and obstruction of ICE officers throughout the country, particularly in Minnesota, it's become obvious that someone or some entity is organizing and funding many of these leftist agitators. That's not to say that we should delude ourselves into thinking that there's no grassroots support whatsoever for these anti-ICE riots. Clearly, millions of Americans, unfortunately, support the open borders agenda. They've embraced every tenate of the anti-American ideology that's taught to children in many schools from kindergarten on up. Can't deny that.

They're causing the chaos that we're seeing voluntarily of their own free will. Now, at the same time, the scale of these campaigns to obstruct ICE and their effectiveness does not seem to be organic. Every army needs a general, after all, and and that's particularly true when the army mostly consists of overweight, deadeyed women hooked on SSRIs along with gay men and 68 IQ Somali. So, who is the general of the anti-ICE movement exactly? Now, it it'd be cliche to say, "Well, it's George Soros, but seriously, is it George Soros?" And whoever it is, what orders is the general giving? What's the command structure here? Now, to answer that question, some of my producers spent the last 48 hours joining so-called ICE resistance and ICE watch groups via Facebook Signal and and other platforms.

Now, in Minnesota, the largest and most visible of these groups is called Defend the 612 or Defend 612, which is a reference, of course, to the area code of Minneapolis. In a prominent thread on Reddit on um anti-ICE activism, Defend the 612 is one of the top recommended groups that you're supposed to join if you want to assist in this criminal movement. Elected Democrats in Minnesota have also encouraged their constituents to join this group, including the president of the Minneapolis City Council. Watch.

I'm Council President Elliot Payne and I'm on Maui in Central. We just heard that two legal observers were arrested today. Uh we are seeing increased ICE activity in the neighborhood. Uh and we're asking all of our community members to show up for each other in this moment.

State Senator Doran Clark here. Proud to be at Central and Lowry. We need you. This is now what we do. We stand up. We let our neighbors know that we are here. We are saying no. And we need to be visible and out. So, if you're wondering what to do, get out, go for walks, make sure you are wearing a whistle. Elliot's got one. I'm going to pick mine up now, too. And we're going to do the work. Go to defend612.com to find out how you can get involved and stay safe and stay vigilant.

Now, the top council members of Minneapolis are going to do the work. And they want you to do the work, too, by joining Defend the 612. So, what is Defend the 612 exactly? If you pull up a flyer for the group, you'll see that they're committed to interfering with law enforcement operations, which they call abductions. Put another way, they're committed to committing federal crimes. Now, we'll put one of these flyers up on the screen right now, which we pulled from Facebook. Quote, "Every day, neighbors in Minneapolis are stopping and preventing abductions. join us as we protect each other on our blocks, on our streets, on patrol, at schools, and at local hotels that are housing kidnappers.

So, they're bragging about criminal obstruction over at Defend 612. They're also openly talking about harassing ICE agents in their hotels when they're sleeping. And on top of all that, it's not a very exclusive group. Anyone can become a member, as as those Minnesota politicians indicated. And indeed, upon joining Defense 612, my producers were met with a network of signal groups and websites, including a patrol handbook that offers a series of highly detailed instructions. And what's notable about the handbook is that at various points, it explicitly states that members shouldn't violate federal law, but in other sections, the handbook clearly instructs members to indeed engage in criminal activity. So, for example, there's this line from a section encouraging residents to enroll their friends in the resistance. Quote, "If each and every block had a regular schedule of monitors, the abductors

would not be able to operate in our city." Close quote. Well, why might that be? Why would a group of legal monitors prevent ICE from conducting operations? Exactly. You don't really have to fill in the blanks on that one. Uh here's some guidance from a document provided by the same group. This is the uh the paragraph in gray. It says, quote, "For ICE agents sitting in parked cars or driving around, lay on your horn and honk at them or gather as many people as possible to whistle and yell at them to chase them out. You can do this and everyone is doing this. Phillips and Powder Horn, which are neighborhoods in South Minneapolis, do not tolerate masked abductors taking our neighbors.

Form a crowd and be as loud as your commitment is to your people and get them out of here. Well, then there's this section from the patrol manual which offers advice for members on how to call 911 on ICE, effectively by lying to the operator so that they send officers and obstruct ICE. Quote, "Many 911 operators have been trained not to dispatch police officers if the caller mentions that ICE is involved." If you want a police response, it is straightforward to describe what is happening to 911 without saying the word ICE or immigration. For example, there's two armed men in a vehicle. They're getting ready to hurt or attack someone. There's an abduction happening right now.

They're taking her and they have guns. I'm surrounded by three cars. They're waving guns at me and screaming. So, what this is effectively is swatting the ICE officers. This this manual is encouraging members to make up a fictional scenario because what they described there does not that does not actually describe any ICE operation ever that's ever been that's ever been done. So, they're making up a scenario which isn't happening in order to prompt a law enforcement response with the obvious goal of obstructing ICE and potentially, very potentially getting an ICE officer killed. Again, all of this is very illegal. You cannot do any of this.

Everyone involved in producing and disseminating this manual is involved in a criminal conspiracy to commit federal crimes. And they're very well organized. Take a look at this section of the handbook. Uh it reads, quote, "Ice encounters. What to do when you see these things?" Number one, request a plate check in the live call. Dispatch or plate checker will confirm. Now, you hear that and you think dispatch? What are you talking about dispatch? Well, yes. These hopeless dweebs have a dispatch system. So, they'll they'll see a car that in their opinion might be ICE, and they'll call out the license plate number so that someone at home can compare that license plate to their list of suspected ICE vehicles. And if it's a match, they'll flood the area and try to chase uh the car away. Now, in just a few hours, my producer saw several license plates and car makes and models being listed in this chat along with their

current locations, which obviously poses a safety risk to the general public as well as ICE. We have unhinged leftist vigilantes using unverified Excel spreadsheets full of license plate numbers in order to hunt down and pursue and harass law enforcement. They even do the same thing with the airplanes flying overhead. There's a whole signal chat for flight tracking. Now, to give you an idea of how it works and how insane this is, around midnight this morning, the following urgent message came into the Northeasts Southeast rapid response signal chat. Quote, Earl Guile's employees locked in. ICE agents in parking lot. That's a reference to a restaurant and distillery in Minneapolis. Another user responded, "Numbers description, please." Then came the reply, "All clear at Earl Guile's MPD following up on potential prior ICE activity."

So, the employees barricaded themselves inside thinking ICE was on the way. Uh, that gets circulated around signal chat full of these larers and their dispatchers. And then we learned that actually there's no ICE agents around. The police were called because these these freaks thought that there might be ICE agents, which of course, by the way, is not an issue if the restaurant doesn't employ any illegals. And then a few hours later, another update came in. The workers at Earl Giles wrote, quote, Ad muchas gracias mil gracias which of course my pronunciation was absolutely impeccable and according to Google translate means that they're grateful that the community alerted them to the potential danger and according to common sense it would imply that ICE needs to you know pay another visit to that restaurant pronto then there was this remarkable exchange in one of the rapid response groups quote highly

suspicious activity very tinted windows camped outside porzan porzana went and parked around the block after idling for a few minutes. Then somebody replies, "I'm at Porzana right now." And someone else chimes in, "Sending the Porzana staff now." Porzana is a steakhouse in Minneapolis. And apparently these losers called them last night because they saw a car with tinted windows that was just parked nearby. That's it. That's the threshold for highly suspicious activity for these lunatics. They're barricading themselves inside restaurants and running across the city because they see a car with tinted windows idling for a few minutes.

It would be entertaining if these people weren't genuinely obviously unhinged. This is mass psychosis. And again, it's well organized. In addition to the dispatch system, the leftists are using a procedure called salute to uh standardize the way that they report ICE activity to the larger group. As you can see here, a salute is an acronym. They want their foot soldiers to report uh with the number of vehicle uh vehicles and agents, what the agents are doing, where they are, what they're wearing, what time they were seen, and what equipment they have. And additionally, according to the salute system, anti-ICE foot soldiers are supposed to specify uh what they want their comrades to do. And normally, they request mob action. That's what my producer saw last night, for example.

We'll take a look at this screenshot. So, the address is provided and somebody immediately responds, "We're eight blocks away, heading there now." And somebody states at the same time, "I'm there. MPD has someone pulled over." After a brief bit of panic where they wonder if Minnesota police officers are cooperating with ICE, the communists realize that the situation has nothing to do with immigration enforcement and they disperse. They go off into the night awaiting their next call, awaiting the bat signal so they can swoop in. So, as you can probably tell at this point, this is a common theme. They spend half their time accomplishing absolutely nothing. Now, in the rare case where they arrive at a scene that actually involves ICE, these agitators are encouraged to use their whistles as communication devices.

And here's that portion of the manual, which translates their whistle language. So, apparently, if they're blowing in short blasts like pre pre, then they're saying ice is nearby or lurking. But if they're blowing continuously and the pres are longer, then ICE is currently abducting someone. So, as ciphers go, it's not exactly the Enigma machine, but it's pretty close. By the way, you know, you're dealing with criminal geniuses when they need to consult a manual titled How Whistles Work. Like, I would have thought that whistles are perhaps the most self-explanatory tool explanatory tool to ever be invented. But but apparently these masterminds need a how-to manual complete with illustrations how whistles work. And there's a picture of a whistle in case you don't know what a whistle looks like.

Now the other thing my producers noticed unsurprisingly is that many of these people in these groups took pains to hide their identity. They frequently changed their names in the signal group. They warned about how ICE can supposedly hack Bluetooth and signal and GPS and everything else. There's a lot of paranoia and delusion in this movement as well as a clear awareness that they're committing crimes. And while many of these people are are ultimately harmless losers, some of them aren't. Some of them are nut jobs who actually want to start a much larger conflict and they have a chance of succeeding based on what we've seen over the past few days.

That's why it's very important to figure out who is behind this organization, defend 612 or defend the 612. Well, a man living in Minnesota named Mitchell Williamson has done a lot of research on this question which my producers have verified and which we will go through now. Here's a topline summary. So, defend the 612 is a taxexempt nonprofit that in turn takes a lot of money from other shady nonprofits and even from American taxpayers. So, yes, you're you are funding the rioting and the obstruction that's going on right now. And the federal government is allowing this nonprofit to operate without paying taxes, which it shouldn't be allowed to do. I mean, it shouldn't be allowed to operate at all. It should be shut down and everybody involved should be in prison. But let's back up sec a second. Uh two till a few days ago, if you wanted to donate to defend the 612, here's what you would see on

their website. If you look at the top, you'll see the words cooperation cannon river. That's apparently the name of the real nonprofit that's behind defend the 612. In effect, based on this fundraising page, we can conclude that Cooperation Cannon River is doing business as Defend the 612. Okay. So then what is Cooperation Cannon River? Well, you get the sense that you're not supposed to look into that question because Defend the 612 recently took down their donation page on the website, including any reference to Cooperation Cannon River. Williamson was the first one to point this out, and I verified it using the internet archive. As recently as December of 2025, Defense 612 stated on its website that it was the same thing as Cooperation Can River and now they've taken down that web page. Now, looking at all this, you know, you start feeling like you're in a real life episode of the chair

company, but it's all real. There's a genuine conspiracy here and the people behind it are trying to cover their tracks. So, let's take a look at at at the most recent IRS filing from Cooperation Cannon River, where they're required by law to explain themselves to some extent. And here's their mission statement. Quote, "The primary mission of Cooperation Cannon Rivers, DBA Corporation Northfield, is to create social and environmental justice through grassroots organizing and direct democracy in Minnesota. We do this in three key ways. Youth organizing through our program, Young People's Action Coalition, which supports high school and middle school student activists in southern Minnesota in making social change in their schools and communities, worker cooperative support through training and technical assistance for local green worker cooperatives, particularly in the growing sector of compost collection and compost

processing, as well as freerange poultry production, climate justice organizing through engaging Minnesota climate activists in the movement for renewable energy and to stop the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure. We educate and organize communities in opposition to fossil fuel infrastructure expansion while promoting investment in renewable energy in Minnesota. Okay. Well, that's a an inspiring mission statement. It's also not remotely related to what they're currently doing, which is disseminating materials that encourage the residents of Minnesota to commit federal crimes and obstruct ICE agents. They're not they're not doing compost processing or educating anyone about fossil fuel infrastructure expansion or anything else.

Now, somehow they forgot to tell the IRS all about that. You know, when when when they said direct democracy and environmental justice, they forgot to tell the IRS that what they really what they really meant by that was harassing ICE agents and driving them away from crime scenes and swatting them and trying to get them killed. But things get worse when you look at who exactly has been donating to this nonprofit. Now to be clear, we don't know the identities of the vast majority of the donors. That's the benefit of being a 501c3 nonprofit. They don't have to disclose exactly who is financing them.

However, if other tax exempt nonprofits donate to Cooperation Can River, aka defend the 612, then we can discover that information because those nonprofits are required to file a form 990 where they tell the IRS about their donations. And that's where it gets interesting because it turns out that in recent years to give just two examples, Cooperation Canon River has taken money from the Tides Foundation to the tune of $10,000 and a nonprofit called MN 350 to the tune of more than $75,000. Now, again, my producers pulled the form 9990s uh after they were flagged by Williamson. And here's what they look like. We'll put them on up on the screen right now. So, this is the donation uh from the Tides Foundation to Cooperation Canon River. And then here's a donation from MN 350 to Cooperation Canon River.

And when you look at that, what does it tell us? What does it matter that Defend the 612, one of the lead anti- ice groups in Minnesota, has been taking money from the Tides Foundation and MN 350, whatever that is. Well, it turns out that the Tides Foundation takes a lot of money from groups like Open Society Foundations, the Rockerfeller Brothers Fund, and the Ford Foundation. And if those names sound familiar, it's because they're some of the biggest donors to leftwing causes in the world. And Open Society Foundation is George Soros's outfit, which is almost too on the nose.

It's like a right-wing meme at this point to say that Soros is behind everything. But indeed, as a factual matter, Soros's group funds the Tides Foundation, which funds Cooperation Can River, which is otherwise known as Defend the 612, which is currently organizing mass anti anti- ice activity in Minnesota. So, we say that George Soros is behind everything because when you dig to the bottom of it, you discover that, well, he is. But that's not even the most extraordinary data point here. The really amazing contribution to the cooperation Canon River Group, the $75,000 one came from MN 350.

And no one has any idea what MN 350 is, but as Williamson found, it's a nonprofit that takes a lot of money from the state of Minnesota. In fact, they recently received $100,000 from the state government. So, you see where this is going. This is how it works. Taxpayers fund the government of Minnesota. In turn, the government of Minnesota funds a non-escript generic nonprofit called MN350, which promises to save the environment or whatever. And then in turn, MN350 gives a large sum of money to another random nonprofit, which turns out to be a communist front group. Now, keep in mind, there are probably many, many more donations like this that we don't know about and that we'll probably never know about. And this is just one nonprofit. Here's a Facebook post from another group active in Minneapolis at the moment. It's called GR Rapid Response. They say they've had more than 4,000 people participate in 81

rapid response groups which have quote tailed and boxed in ICE vehicles. So they are again boxing in an ICE vehicle is a serious crime. They're openly admitting to committing crimes and there are there there are real names attached to many of these posts. In cases where they use aliases, it shouldn't be hard in many cases to get a subpoena. So, this is a national scandal that demands an immediate investigation by federal authorities. Fake nonprofits need to be shut down. Anyone disseminating pamphlets that encourage people to commit crimes, like the group Icew Watch, which Renee Good was a member of, should be arrested.

So, look at this for for just one example. It's just straight up telling people to pull and push officers away from criminals that they're trying to arrest. These are the materials that are meant to persuade a low-level foot soldier, you know, the lonely lesbian on SSRIs to impede or physically attack ICE officers. And the materials are disseminated by bigger players, including nonprofits that are funded by taxpayers and powerful leftwing organizations. And then if you zoom out even further, all of this criminal activity is enabled by leftist judges who do everything in their power to undermine the Trump administration.

So that is the very welloiled machine that underlies Democrat activism. There's a reason why so many of the judges who have ruled against the Trump administration have names like uh Ma and Frimong and Chuckkin and Reyes. Democrats have installed an army of foreigners to the bench and Democrats are counting on those foreigners to give their foot soldiers some much needed backup which they are. That's the only rational explanation for the lawsuit the state of Minnesota just filed against the federal government. Essentially asking a court to block the executive branch from carrying out its constitutional responsibility, which is enforcing the law.

This isn't so much a lawsuit as a declaration of Minnesota's secession from the union. Minnesota's government no longer believes it's governed by the US Constitution or the federal government has any authority within its borders. Watch. And we ask that the courts will end the surge of thousands of DHS agents into Minnesota. We ask the courts to end the DHS unlawful behavior in our state, the intimidation, the threats, the violence. We ask the courts to end the tactics on our places of worship, our schools, our courts, our marketplaces, our hospitals, and even funeral homes.

The deployment of thousands of armed mass DHS agents to Minnesota has done our state serious harm. This is in essence a federal invasion of the Twin Cities and Minnesota and it must stop.

This is a lawsuit that under our federal system is an obvious farce. The federal government has the absolute authority to enforce immigration law under article one of the constitution. States cannot interfere with that power because of the supremacy clause of the constitution. This is not a closed question. It's also not a federal invasion. It doesn't matter if the residents of Minnesota are offended by immigration law or if ICE gives them the ick. Doesn't matter if the residents of Minnesota tell ICE that they don't want them there. It's not their call.

Immigration enforcement is the domain of the federal government. You can show up as your best self this year by actually getting a good night's sleep despite all the idiotic things happening in the news that might keep you up at night. It all starts by finding the right mattress. That doesn't have to be a complicated task. Our sponsor Helix actually makes it incredibly straightforward with their Sleep Quiz, which matches you to the perfect mattress based on your specific preferences and sleep needs. They're not just another mattress company either.

Helix is the most awarded mattress brand out there with glowing reviews from major publications like Forbes and Wired. I used to struggle falling asleep at night, but since my wife and I switched to a Helix mattress uh many moons ago, that issue has largely gone away. Can't speak highly enough about the quality and comfort of our mattress. They even offer free shipping straight to your door, a 120 night sleep trial, so you can actually test it out in your own home. And they back everything up with a limited lifetime warranty. Start sleeping right tonight by ordering a Helix mattress today. Go to helixleep.com/wals for 20% off sitewide.

helixleep.com/walsh for 20% off sitewide. Make sure you enter our show name at checkout so they know we sent you. Helixleep.com/walsh. But there is one element of this lawsuit that I have to admit is extremely entertaining. Let's put it up on the screen. Quote, "Defendants, the federal government, have intentionally violated Minnesota's masking law, which prohibits anyone from concealing their identity by wearing masks in public places. Wearing a mask in violation of Minnesota law is neither necessary nor proper. defendants's policy and practice of wearing masks so that their agents can conceal their identities is arbitrary, capriccious, and an abuse of discretion.

Yes, Minnesota, a state where the National Guard under Tim Walls forced private citizens to wear masks during the CO lockdowns, is now suing the federal government because ICE agents are wearing masks to protect themselves from leftist freaks. We've come full circle. And on top of that, in this lawsuit, Minnesota is accusing the federal government of acting in an arbitrary fashion. Yes, the federal government is supposedly being arbitrary here, not the state of Minnesota. So, it's totally fine for them to require masks, then sue you for wearing a mask without ever changing the law. That's not arbitrary at all. I mean, if nothing else, you just have to admire the sheer gull and shamelessness on display here.

We can be fairly sure based on the current makeup of the Supreme Court that this lawsuit won't go anywhere. But make no mistake about it, this is why Democrats want to pack the Supreme Court. They want judges to rubber stamp their stamp their efforts to dismantle the federal system that our founders created. They want to destroy the constitutional order. That's what these anti-CE protests are really about. Now, in Trump's first term, they pretended to care about kids in cages and child separation. Now, they don't even have a pretext.

They're just mad about the fact that laws are being enforced. That's it. This is not an anti-ICE movement really. It's an anti-American movement and it's very well organized and funded. So, what's needed now, which the administration seems to understand, is far more aggressive enforcement action. Don't just double the number of ICE officers on the street. Go after the organizers. Go after anyone who's funding them. After a certain point, once the checks dry up, the cars are impounded. The agitators are sent to prison. It will end. Yes, they're wellunded. They're highly committed to their cause, but they're also very careless.

They don't expect anyone to pursue them, which is why my producers were able to gain access to all of their groups. It's time to use their narcissism and naive against them and to begin the crackdown on left-wing terror cells that we've all been waiting for ever since September 10th. If you'd like to see what else I have to say, you can access my full show by going to dailywire.com or by going to the Mattwalsh Show Twitter page. Hope to see you there. Godspeed.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "What I Found About the Anti-ICE Activists Is Disturbing"?

Matt Walsh (Host), Elliot Payne (Guest), Doran Clark (Guest), Mitchell Williamson (Guest).

What is "What I Found About the Anti-ICE Activists Is Disturbing" about?

The content discusses the organized efforts of anti-ICE activists in Minnesota, highlighting the federal government's authority over immigration enforcement and suggesting that the campaigns against ICE may be funded and coordinated rather than purely grassroots. It questions the leadership behind the anti-ICE movement and identifies a prominent group, Defend the 612, as a key player in the…

What is mentioned in this Matt Walsh episode?

30 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Defend the 612, ICE, Minnesota, Minneapolis, Cooperation Cannon River, criminal conspiracy. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "What I Found About the Anti-ICE Activists Is Disturbing"?

The episode runs 27 min; the transcript is about 4,647 words in 40 timestamped sections.

More from Matt Walsh

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.