Transcript

LIVE STOP TRUMP’S ICE INVASION Protests | Court LIFTS Restrictions on ICE

From MeidasTouch · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 1 min · 10,391 words · 127 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "LIVE STOP TRUMP’S ICE INVASION Protests | Court LIFTS Restrictions on ICE", an episode of MeidasTouch published January 22, 2026 (1 h 1 min, about 10,391 words). It mentions 7 people, works and ideas, including Minneapolis, Fourth Amendment, general strike, Federal Whipple Building, Emily Phillips.

What this episode is about

Protests are intensifying against the Trump administration's immigration enforcement actions by ICE and other federal agencies in Minneapolis, as demonstrators brave harsh winter conditions to voice their dissent outside the Whipple Federal Building. The recent lifting of restrictions on ICE has heightened concerns about increased immigration enforcement and the perceived rise of authoritarian practices.

Key takeaways

  • In icy conditions, a warm protest proves: passion for justice often outshines comfort.
  • Tomorrow's VP visit may distract, but a cold city’s anger can never chill.
  • A general strike in sub-zero weather? Now that’s a bold statement in the face of oppression.
  • Reporting live in hostile temps, proving that courage is the hottest trend right now.
  • For just $5 a month, you can keep journalists warm while they expose the cold realities of power.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Minneapolis, general strike, Federal Whipple Building, Wisconsin
  2. – 20:00: Minneapolis, Associated Press, Fourth Amendment, Federal Whipple Building
  3. – 30:00: Minneapolis, Emily Phillips, Wisconsin
  4. – 40:00: Fourth Amendment, Federal Whipple Building, general strike, Associated Press
  5. – 50:00: Minneapolis, general strike
  6. – 1:00:00: Fourth Amendment, general strike, Associated Press

Notable quotes from "LIVE STOP TRUMP’S ICE INVASION Protests | Court LIFTS Restrictions on ICE"

  • Cities area. It goes to cover flights for John and our freelancers to come out here, the gas money for me to drive out here from Wisconsin.
    about Wisconsin · at
  • So, not only is the vice president staging a visit, but come this Friday, labor unions and other groups have been gearing up for a general strike here in the Twin Cities area. And you hear those cars laying on their horns in support of.
    about general strike · at
  • Bevino just yesterday held a press conference inside of the Federal Whipple building here behind me where he said outright that what he and his agents have encountered here in the Twin Cities.
    about Federal Whipple Building · at
  • Asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people's homes without a judge's warrant. According to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by the Associated Press, marking a sharp reversal to long-standing.
    about Associated Press · at
  • Hi, I'm Emily Phillips or Emily Heather on social media. Meta stole my last name. said I'm a fraud.
    about Emily Phillips · at
  • Point. But reporting or what the rumors are here among the activists here on the ground is that what is happening is that some of the people who are being detained by federal…
    about Minneapolis · at
  • Being reported by the Associated Press that ICE is circulating a memo to its new recruits that ostensibly says to ignore the Fourth Amendment, which is the protection against unreasonable search and seizure by ignoring judicial.
    about Fourth Amendment · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Emily Phillips — Person · On-the-ground activist / source · 1 mention · first at
    Provides activist-community information and allegations about detainee releases; introduced as a longtime activist and social media presence.

Companies & orgs

  • Associated Press — Company · Referenced expert · 5 mentions · first at
    Cited as the source for reporting on ICE's internal memo regarding search and seizure practices.

Concepts & topics

  • Fourth Amendment — Concept · Core topic · 5 mentions · first at
    Discussed in the context of ICE agents potentially ignoring constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

Places & events

  • Minneapolis — Place · Setting · 12 mentions · first at
    The city where the protests and federal actions are taking place, central to the episode's narrative.
  • general strike — Event · Core topic · 6 mentions · first at
    Planned labor action in the Twin Cities area as a response to federal immigration enforcement actions.
  • Federal Whipple Building — Place · Setting · 5 mentions · first at
    The building where ICE and Border Patrol agents are operating from, a focal point for protests.
  • Wisconsin — Place · Referenced location · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as the origin of JT Saskowski's travel to Minneapolis for reporting.

Full transcript with timestamps

Lovely. Thank you, Colin. All right. Hello everyone. I'm JT Saskowski reporting for Status Coup live just outside of occupied Minneapolis, Minnesota in the blowing cold outside of the Whipple Federal Building, which is this building here behind me. That is where the Trump administration's secret police force, its de facto Gestapo, ICE agents, border patrol, and other DHS immigration enforcement agents are operating from outside of this building. We came out here to report on the protest scene and how it is developing across this week. will go into the small group of protesters who have braved these conditions. And those conditions are serious out here tonight.

It's supposed to be something like 18° right now, but the feels like temperature, at least according to my weather app, is four. And when you're standing in this wind where the snow is coming sideways, it feels a hell of a lot colder than that. So, I am grateful to have these thick winter gloves, four layers that I'm wearing up top, the three on my pants, the nice winter boots, and this mask on my face that was kindly covered by status coup. And that means by the kind support of our paying members. Thank you so much for keeping me warm out here as we report on encroaching fascism and authoritarianism on the front lines of that fight here outside of the Whipple Federal Building.

If you want to help keep me warm and keep me reporting here on the ground, please go to statuscoo.com/join for as low as $5 a month. You go to keep myself and John Fina, who's even colder because he has to have his hands continuously gripped on the metal camera body that he is keeping pointed at me right now. If you want to help keep us warm, please go and do that. And if you want to help keep us on the ground here in Minneapolis doing this important reporting, well, becoming a paying member is the best way that you can do that. It's $5 a month. That's 16 cents a day. That goes to cover the warm meal that we are going to get right after this. That's going to cover the shelter, our hotel room that will get us out of this wind. But it also covers our gas that we use when we go around reporting on the many abuses that the federal immigration agents are committing here in the in the Twin Cities area. It goes to cover flights

for John and our freelancers to come out here, the gas money for me to drive out here from Wisconsin. It goes to cover all of our warm weather gear as I just laid out there. It goes to cover parking and a myriad of other costs. When you factor in the salaries for John and myself and the editors of our small but mighty team who are back in New York and Texas supporting us out here, it becomes tens of thousands of dollars a month. And that's even without the couple thousand bill that I just figured out that I've been running up for status coup. I haven't been submitting my expenses to my boss. So that's going to be a bit of a surprise to him. Jordan, if you're watching, this is me slow rolling that bill that I have to give to you. That's stretching back to our on the ground reporting when we were on the ground for months outside of Chicago and now on the ground for going on more than a month here in the Twin

Cities area. There's quite a bit that has happened here in just the last 24 hours since we were last streaming from the protest in downtown Minneapolis last night. A lot of it is just scene setting for the next couple of days because what we have here tomorrow is a visit from the vice president of the United States. JD Vance is going to be coming out here to host some kind of roundt discussion which no doubt will serve as more administrative propaganda distraction from the abuses that its agents are carrying out and attempting to further racial animuses and the justifications that the administration is trying to use to continue to better and oppress the people living in the in these blue cities in this blue state.

So, we will be in some fashion reporting on his event tomorrow. I submitted my uh credentials to try and get in and actually cover what the uh vice president will be doing and saying tomorrow, but we're going to be more interested in seeing the protest that develop out here and elsewhere in the city in response to the vice president's visit. How much does this city push back? I'll note that as cold as it is today with that wind blowing and blowing snow across the roads out here and whipping against my face right now and lowering those temperatures to 4°. Today is the warm day this week in Minneapolis with highs that were supposed to be around 20. That's without the wind chill, but we're anticipating highs that will be around zero this weekend. And on Friday, it's going to be a high of -9. And that's actually higher than it has been forecast over the last several days. So, it's going to be pretty [ __ ] cold out

here. Pardon my French, but I think the language is warranted when we're talking about what it's like out here right now. So, not only is the vice president staging a visit, but come this Friday, labor unions and other groups have been gearing up for a general strike here in the Twin Cities area. And you hear those cars laying on their horns in support of the small group of protesters who are down the road to my left. And John is panning over to them uh right now. You can see those few people gathered underneath the flags there, the state of Minnesota flag and the flag that says stand with immigrants styled in the uh Trump campaign uh style signage.

In addition to that general strike, that attempt to grind this city to a halt and send real economic pain and a real flex of muscle to show the Trump administration what these people when pushed to the brink as they have been out here. I've uh often myself uh described it as people being uh uh backed into a corner and I've heard protesters describe it to describe it to me that way themselves as well. Uh it's meant to be that show of force to the Trump administration of this could be a more prolonged and nationwide strike. And we're already seeing I've seeing some reports of uh uh uh uh sympathy strikes or actions being carried out in other places around the country. Though isolated, could be a sign of the way that these uh that these demonstrations will uh continue to manifest out here. and continue to develop because we have heard John and I from the many on the ground interviews that we've been doing over the last many

months that we have been following and documenting this administration's immigration crackdown across the in cities across the country. We have heard this grounds full of people calling out for a general strike, for some kind of leadership, to show them the way to pick a day on the calendar to begin trying to inflict economic pain on this administration and its wealthy backers. And that's what's going to start out here in Minnesota on Friday. Oh boy. But today, today we saw that a uh a an appeals court came out, an appeals court came out and ruled against a lower judge's decision that had barred immigration enforcement agents from using uh quote unquote less than lethal tactics like uh pepper spray and tear gas and the like on protesters here in the Twin Cities area except under very particular circumstances.

An appeals court came out and struck down that lower court ruling. So the administration is again free to deploy tear gas at will. Not that it was completely obeying that order to begin with, but now has been given a free hand. And already today we have seen on the streets of Minneapolis and the surrounding cities a free use of those chemical agents on people on protesters. Again, we saw scenes of uh Border Patrol Commander Greg Bevino, who has led a lot of the worst crackdowns and is uh one of the instigators of the most cowboy-like tactics out here among his Bortac unit on the streets of this city and others across the country. again today. His unit was out using tear gas and other chemical agents that throws up this green sickly looking cloud that is really ominous and uh has a lot of people out here scared for what the knock-on health effects from exposure to that green chemical agent could be on

the human body. But already using those using those tactics in a show of force out apparently using the higher temperatures today because we had seen that Bevino and his agents seem must have been cowering from the cold or otherwise cowering from the people here in the Minneapolis area. And that's not that's not my assessment. That's Bavino's assessment and I'll get to that in just a moment. the cowering from the people and the temperatures out here and not having as robust a presence out in the Twin Cities area, but today out in force again and using those chemical agents.

Bevino just yesterday held a press conference inside of the Federal Whipple building here behind me where he said outright that what he and his agents have encountered here in the Twin Cities is a level of organization and communication among the the counter demonstrators. The people who are attempting to keep a check and keep a mindful eye on ICE and Border Patrol. They have been more organized and better and had better lines of communication than than other cities that they have encountered. He specifically named New Orleans as an example where he was before he came here.

And I have to say that having been on the ground here, you do see that organization. It's very sophisticated and it's quite effective in the way that it is able to identify agents when they are out in these communities and very quickly mobilize neighborhood responses. Rapid response networks come out of the woodwork. people blow whistles to notify the neighborhoods that immigration agents are out and they'll uh often also tail uh ICE and Border Patrol convoys from neighborhood to neighborhood to ensure that they uh are continuously being watched.

That's the response. How is the administration responding? Well, in addition to that use of force that I just talked about, there has also been there has also been um a response from the federal government to uh relax the way in which it is following the constitution is probably the only way to say it. It's giving its agents leeway to not follow the Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure. In the past, ICE has always had to use, in most cases, judicial warrants to gain access to a home, to force entry on homes, residences, private property. But what is being reported by the Associated Press today, and I may try to read a portion of their reporting here live on air, assuming my hand does not get too cold from being exposed to the elements, as long as I can here. But what the uh what the uh what is being reported from the Associated Press is that a memo is being circulated among new ICE recruits

to essentially only rely on administrative warrants, meaning not issued by a judge, seemingly going against many uh established court precedents as to what constitutes unreasonable search and seizure. that it's all about getting the arrest first and then finding out and then just worrying about those or rather rep uh worrying about those repercussions later. So, this is reporting from the Associated Press by Rebecca Santana. Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people's homes without a judge's warrant. According to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by the Associated Press, marking a sharp reversal to long-standing guidance meant to respect constitutional limits on government searches. The memo authorized officers uh ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final

order of removal. A move that advocates say con collides with fourth amendment protections and upends years of advice given to immigrant communities. The shift comes as the Trump administration dramatically expands immigration arrest nationwide, deploying thousands of officers under a mass deportation campaign that is already reshaping enforcement tactics in cities such as Minneapolis. The memo itself has not been widely shared within the agency, according to a whistleblower complaint, but its contents have been used to train new ICE officers who are being deployed into cities and towns to implement the president's immigration crackdown. And what I should note is that a lot of those officers, as it is being reported, a lot of those ICE and other immigration enforcement agents are actually now being scared by the level of push back that they are experiencing in places like the Twin Cities area, growing weary

about the future. And it's only those gung-ho recruits signing up for those $50,000 sign up bonuses or who ideologically are aligned with this administration and signing up to act as that paramilitary force. answerable only to the president that are continuing to have high spirits and and respond to some of these orders. So the fact that they are being given this directive, the fact that they are being given this directive to what is effect ignore the parts of the constitution that they find inconvenient should be it's disconcerting to me and I think should be disconcerting to most Americans. and for the uh I have seen our chats in recent weeks since we started reporting in conjunction with the Midas touch network and it slipped my mind at the start of this report. I should thank them for continuing to act as as our partners in this reporting out there. I am reporting in conjunction with their

network. Uh so thanks to them for their support. But since we have gained that since they have so graciously given us this platform on which to uh air our reporting, I have noticed an uptick in the number of people who are spouting proga talking points in our chat. That has not gone unnoticed by me. But the point that I would put to them in this moment is did you vote for a sessation of the constitution? Is that what you signed up for? Cuz the usual kind of mega support that I see is one that is hyper patriotic invested in the founders and the constitution and the American project that they sought to build. So the fact that just parts of that contra of that constitution are being ripped out wholesale by this administration and their armed agents, masked agents driving around in unmarked vehicles terrorizing Americans on American city streets. Make no mistake, they are not not just going after

uh not just going after uh immigrants legal or otherwise here in the United States, but also have been directly harassing and brutalizing American citizens as well as the ignoring of that constitution and this patriotic project that is underway, this experiment in democracy and self-determination here in the United states. Is that what you voted for? It's something that I would challenge those on the right, seeing what is happening on the ground here in places like Minneapolis, challenge you to think about in these moments. I know it is easy to just fall back on partisan talking points and want to cheerlead your side. But at a certain point, I think that allegiance to some deeper project, to some truly American project, should probably take precedence. And you should ask yourself, what are your true core beliefs? Is it loyalty to one man and some cult of personality, or is it to some deeper ideals?

And to that point that I was just making about the harassment of Americans out here outside of the Whipple Federal Building just a couple of weeks ago on January 11th, I had the privilege to interview a Marine Corps veteran named Sky who had been held for hours inside of the Whitell Federal Building after she had been brutalized and dragged from her car by immigration agents. Earlier today, we published the video of her arrest. A lot of people have seen it. It's been going semiviral online. If you haven't, please go to status social media. You'll be able to see it there now. And also on our YouTube channel, by the way, get subscribed there if you are not. We are up, I am told, about 93,000 subscribers so far in the month of January. help us get to a 100,000 and growing this platform to be able to show on the ground real on the ground journalism being out here for hours including in the freezing cold to be able to lift up

the voices of some of the people who have been out here demonstrating or these last several hours as we will do in just a moment. But please go and see that video of her arrest where the agents are giving her contradicting orders are threatening to tase her and the person that she is in the car with who I was told by Sky just today because we did a ride along with her was told was another veteran in the car with her being threatened with tasing if they did not obey these contradicting orders being uh issued by officers and see her dragged out of the car and pushed to the ground. And we've seen photos of the injuries she sustained, bruising all along her arm.

She described to us in vivid detail or how her head was uh forced against a wall for having the timmerity to uh stand up to these agents and and try to protest them as she is being arrested or detained rather even if it's for hours on end. Detained. Somebody's got help.

It looks like somebody's being released from the Whipple Federal Building now. John, let's make our way over there. Uh, we might be able to get an interview. Uh,

Emily Emily has some Oh, yeah. Okay. You hear the You hear some of the protesters here getting on the bullhorns trying to welcome people trying to welcome these people back out of the Whipple Federal Building Rocks man.

Oh, thank you very much. We appreciate it, man. We appreciate that. Very warm. Yeah, you guys, too.

You guys, where are you guys from? If you don't mind me. I'm based in Wisconsin. Johnson, New York.

All right. So, you guys you got some grit, too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, though this is a little this is different out here right now. This is tough.

It's not coming out tonight, but everyone here is passionate and and No kidding. No kidding. Well, thank you very much for the support. We appreciate it.

We appreciate it. Hi, good to see you. Good to see you, Emily. Sorry, we have some really big information for you.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, um we've been putting it out. First, uh if you could introduce yourself.

Hi, I'm Emily Phillips or Emily Heather on social media. Meta stole my last name. said I'm a fraud.

But um Emily Emily is a longtime activist out here. We spoke first back in December when you were uh when you were doing a Whipple watch out here on the other side of the building where you were keeping

tarp up now. Yeah. Where you cannot see the comingings and goings as easily of the agents as they come and go. But that was the work that we originally were tracking. You do. You were saying you had some information.

Yeah. This has been horrifying me since I found out last night and I was able to get more information on it today. I'm still working to confirm more and we can talk more about that too. But um I'm getting information from medical professionals that uh you so you know how safe har or safe haven is here to get people who are being picked up like that person.

Yes. So the people that are injured really badly or maybe other people too. We don't know how many people are being taken out into the woods around the Whipple and released in the middle of the night. you sometimes with no clothes, always with no phone, if they're brown, with no ID. Um, and it's a death sentence. One of the pe one of the people had a cracked skull that that's been treated. Um, so they're taking the people that they don't want us to know about and they're dropping them in the woods, which I've heard is uh something that they've been doing with Native Americans for a long time, and we're just continuing that tradition. But that is sickening me right now.

Yeah, absolutely. That is uh that is uh information that we've been trying to confirm here at Status C. Some of these harrowing stories. Please, if you if you Yeah, we can talk. Emily, I thank you for for talking. Yeah, for talking to us out here. And thank you for being a source. We appreciate it. Yeah, Emily's raising something that has been the talk of the activist community out here. And keep in mind this is just rumor at this point. But reporting uh or what the what the rumors are here among the activists here on the ground is that what is happening is that some of the people who are being detained by federal immigration agents, if they are not directly under ISIS purview, eventually they have to be released.

And when they are in some cases they're being let out the front gates as we just saw here. But the rumor is that some people are being released into parks uh uh in the middle of the night and obviously it's so unbelievably and in uh cold out here it's it's dangerous to be outside especially without the proper protection. So I just want to couch what what Emily was saying there in the proper context that we have which is just that we're still trying to get that confirmed and hear from some of these stories directly which we have not. So I want you to take that with a grain of salt in that moment. But certainly speaks to the amount of distrust and fear that the activist community has here for immigration agents. And that is something that will be very apparent uh something that will be very uh be uh very apparent if you watch that video I was just talking about about uh the uh uh from uh uh from excuse me I'm losing

my train of thought in the cold here. Uh uh but that is something that uh will become very apparent if you watch Skye's arrest video that is on our social media right now. So, uh, some calls to action in this moment just before I start doing some interviews with the crowd out here. First thing that I want to say is if the best thing you can do to support our on the ground journalism that we are doing here on the ground in uh Minneapolis and in cities across this country where we have been in Charlotte, in Chicago, in DC, in LA, in New York, in Alligator Alcatraz, down in Florida over the months and months of the first year of the Trump administration, best thing you can do to support these streams directly and The lowest hurdle is to just like this stream. Like it, share it. That gets it out to more people as we try to build a true peoplepowered and people centered uh news platform here at Status Coup.

Second thing you can do is get subscribed to us on YouTube and to our partners at Midas Touch. Support truly independent media in this moment. And the third thing you can do is support us financially. Go to statuscoo.com/join because we don't take any corporate sponsorships whatsoever. We don't take any corporate sponsorship. So you know that what I am saying is beholden only to you, our audience. We're not beholden to corporate interest and we're not beholden to partisan interests. We don't have to spin a narrative out here. We can just show you what is actually happening on the ground in these cities. And what is happening is the federal government is using its billions upon billions of dollars to outfit a paramilitary force to go into these communities, brutalize people, and disappear them off of America's streets and deport them. All right, so I want to grab a couple of interviews here

while we still have the fortitude out here in this cold. And I have seen people in our comments be very worried about myself and John and the people who have filled in for us as we have been home uh over the past several days about us out here in these cold. I just want to reassure you that we are okay. We don't push ourselves um uh beyond our comfort zone. Uh it's as soon as we start to feel the cold get to us that we do do call the stream. So know that we are looking out for ourselves and properly outfitting ourselves and and and taking great care. And though I appreciate I appreciate your concern that I have seen in the comments.

Well, I know you guys said you were fans. Would you mind if I interviewed you about why you wanted to be out here tonight?

Sure. Yeah. Okay. So, first thing I want to get from you guys is is names. If you just want to say and spell those however you want to be identified.

I prefer not to if that's all right. That's okay. I just ask that you give me something to to call you by.

Sure. How about James? James. Common spelling. J A M- S James James and Thomas Thomas common spelling T H O M A S James James and Thomas I first want to address your reticence to give full names I think for people who aren't living in a city that's being occupied by the Trump administration though it's happening in more and more places around the country right now I wanted to just get you to talk about why you feel that need to protect yourselves in this moment as you're out here ostensibly just exercising your first amendment rights uh to to protest and have your voices heard. Why Why do you need to protect your identities?

Well, you constantly read and see things in the media about all this surveillance technology that they have. Do I think hiding my identity is a necessity at this point? Not quite, but it's a precaution. Um, you know, they've got they've got Stingray. I've seen ICE agents coming out here with cameras recording people's faces. You've got the president talking about retribution. You I mean, you you see it in the news. Look at the subpoenas that were issued to our uh our our state and city officials. There's it's retribution. So, you know, better safe than sorry.

Anything you would want to add to that, Thomas? Yeah, I mean, you've seen uh in Miami Beach recently, the mayor send uh the police to somebody's house over a Facebook comment like these, you know, a lot of these people are out for revenge. It's been said word for word by our president. So, I'd rather be safer than sorry. Certainly. And I think that that is certain a sentiment that can be that can be understood by a lot of people watching at home. And I just want to I just want to emphasize that that is not that that is not an exaggeration what they're saying out here talking about being photographed. That's happened to John and I on a number of occasions when we've been out here just reporting just standing on the side of the street reporting in Chicago. We were photographed by by immigration agents and it happened again. has happened to me several times here in Minneapolis while I was out reporting with John or

with Andrew Marcato as we were driving around. Uh agents would pull us over, photograph the vehicle that we were in. Uh clearly likely as some way to either uh document uh that we are, you know, out nearby where they are operating as a way to try and establish pretext if they wanted to try and bring charges or as a way for surveillance. So, it's not paranoia. It's real things that are happening here on the ground to us that I can directly verify as well. I wanted to ask you guys, it is cold. You guys have got the stuff on your faces and around your heads. I think that's smart to keep yourselves warm right now. Why did you want to be out here in the wind and in the cold tonight?

At the end of the day, I feel like I have to do something. Um, I'm a local. I want to be down here. I want to see it with my own eyes. Um, I I watch channels like yours and Marcato. I'm so thankful for the coverage. Um, but you know, as as a critical thinker, I like to leave some room for hearing people out cuz there's a sliver of truth to every narrative. But when you got people calling like Renee good at a domestic terrorist, it's just there's no sliver of truth. I got I got to be down here. I got to see with my own eyes. Um, so there's there's there's no room. It's all [ __ ] It it's it's totally [ __ ] when they start talking like that. It's just we've seen the videos.

I've been down here. I've seen it with my eyes. There's not a shadow of a doubt in my mind that that that we've got liars in this administration and uh we're we're not getting the true story from them. Thomas, I mean, you don't there's going to be day after day. I mean, we've already seen the Trump administration has been really grinding its heel into the back of the Twin Cities here over the last now going on two months since the beginning of December. I mean, you don't necessarily have to be out here today, but you are.

Why did you feel compelled to be out here tonight? I like my Constitution. I think this administration wipes their ass with it. I think that Trump views the Constitution as something that's in his way rather than something he swore an oath to. I think it's pathetic. Uh, when you lose democracy in your country, it's damn hard to get it back. And if I were to sit at home eating potato chips, how would I view myself in 5 years if I wasn't out here fighting against this [ __ ] I mean, it's constant lies. It's constant propaganda. They're violating amendments left and right.

They don't care about the Constitution that people fought and died for. And I think it's [ __ ] pathetic. I really do. And I can't sit at home and just not not be out here and see everything for myself. I mean, I've seen ICE agents uh from their car spray pepper spray on people who are peacefully protesting on the sidewalk. And you you hear these things, you know, like especially with the George Floyd stuff, you hear how, you know, a lot of these protesters were peaceful and had retribution thrown on them and you don't want to believe it.

And it's hard to believe cuz this is supposed to be the United States of America. But being down here, you see it with your own eyes. I mean, how can you what are you supposed to do? Are you supposed to just ignore what you're seeing and and all all the [ __ ] these people are doing? It's not right.

I want to talk about that constitution that you just referenced today. It's being reported by the Associated Press that

ICE is circulating a memo to its new recruits that ostensibly says to ignore the Fourth Amendment, which is the protection against unreasonable search and seizure by ignoring judicial warrants or or not needing judicial warrants to force entry under private property in many cases and instead and instead just relying on administrative warrants which is issued by the Department of Homeland Security itself that the Trump administration can just write a piece of paper that says we want access to this property because we say so and that's okay. Do that agents when you hear that the administration is just vesting itself with more and more power like that. What What's your what's your reaction? I mean, is there anything left to be surprised about out here? Any step that that could shock you that the Trump administration could take?

I'll be I'll be shocked if you know we've got uh we've got reports of these paratroopers and then today uh you know uh military police ready to be deployed. I will be shocked. I will be a little surprised if it happens. Um that would that would shock me. I mean that would get that that will give me shock, you know. Um it's it's being telegraphed though. They've already got what 3,000 people out here. Um

3,000 3,000 plus agents. And just and just to underscore what James was saying there, what he's referencing is that it's being reported today that the Trump administration has told some military members of the military police to be ready to deploy to the Twin Cities if need be. And that's on top of already reporting that the 11th Airborne Division in that's stationed in Alaska around Fairbags and Anchorage and specializes in cold weather deployments had already been told to possibly deploy here to the Twin Cities. who are threatening the use of the military on American city streets. I apologize. I cut you off.

No, that's all right. That's all right. Yep. It's uh that it's a it's a terrible thing to even hear this news. Uh for for that to even be a reality. It feels like a bad dream a lot of the time, especially happen in our in our own backyard. I mean, five, six years ago, you know, you get a little amped up when you hear about Minnesota in the news cuz it's kind of this, you know, this this midway this Midwest state, not a lot of clout. And now it's just it's just constant. I mean, I go to Reddit on the front page and I see videos every single day of stuff happening in places that I just drive by. It's uh it's unbelievable.

Thomas, I want you to react to the news at hand here. When you hear that the Trump administration is, you know, potentially just tearing up the Fourth Amendment that ICE agents could, I mean, even force down your door if they just have a piece of paper that says they can. I mean, what's your reaction when you hear that news? Uh, I'd like to say I'm shocked, but I'm not, unfortunately. Um, and I just want to say if you support Donald Trump up to this point, never invoke the Constitution. You don't give a [ __ ] about it. Never invoke states rights. You don't give a [ __ ] about them. You don't [ __ ] care about tyranny. You don't care about libertarianism. You don't give a [ __ ] about any of that. And it's time to admit that to yourself instead of living in [ __ ] delusion. You have no principles.

This Friday, we're preparing for uh uh to cover a general strike here in the Twin Cities. Do you two plan to participate? And if so, will you be out demonstrating? How do you plan to uh to make your voices heard and to join with other people here in the Twin Cities?

I'm unfortunately not in a position where I can take the day off of work, but I am going to participate. I'm going to get down in the streets after work, wherever there's protests, wherever there's marches. Um, I'm my, you know, my economic impact uh to try to participate is to not spend any money anywhere. So, I'm participating where I can.

Yep. And and and Thomas, what about you? I'll be there if I can. I'll be on the streets marching. All right. Well, Will will be out there reporting on that this Friday as well. Uh, I want to thank both of you for for your time. Uh, but before I let you go, I'd like to ask, is there anything that you want to say I haven't given you the opportunity to?

Just practice your rights. All of them. be smart, be safe, get out here. Uh, you know, there's not a lot of people in positions of power who can do anything. Uh, so do what you can.

Thank you. Just show people, show up, show people that you're not going to stand for this, that you're not going to like, don't take the death of our country and our democracy lying down. Don't do it.

Thank you both very much. I appreciate the time. Thank you. Something I want to say here is uh just uh

just uh take a moment to observe that the only people who are out here covering the continued protest against the Trump administration out here tonight are us and a couple of other independent it looks like streamers. There is no CNN. There is no MSNBC or MS Now. There is no Fox.

Another person is coming out of the uh Whipple Belly right now. It's just being met with cheers from the small crowd that is gathered here right now. But there is no media covering the release of these people from federal custody right now. We're the ones who are here out in the cold on the ground for hours. John and I have been out all day. We were doing a ride along with uh Sky, that veteran who I described earlier and whose arrest you can see on our social media right now. We were doing a ride along with her as she continues to do patrols here in the Twin Cities area. We rode along with her for se few hours and now we are out here outside of the Whipple Federal Building

and then is on top of day after day, week after week, month after month of on the ground reporting that we do here at Status Coup. She support that mission. statusc.com/join. That is the best way to support us and to keep us going. We cannot do it without your support. Oh my god.

John, did you see where that uh person who had just been released where he went? I wanted to see if I can get an interview

on the other side. I'm not sure. Okay. I want to try I want to try and find him really quick if I can.

Adrenaline and hate keeps you warm. Pardon me y'all. Did you see where the person who was just released where he went? Oh, it took off. Okay.

Got it. Sounds like the people who are being released, they have rides waiting for them when they are let out. So, does not sound like we're going to get that interview here tonight.

Wasn't there pictures of that being put into a car? Yeah, I saw a dad and that's confused. Here we go.

Would you would you guys mind if I interviewed you about why you wanted to be out here tonight in the cold?

All right. For sure. All right. This is John, my cameraman. My name is JT. Hi. Hi. If I could start just by getting your names, please.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm Maggie. Maggie. Kendra. Kendra. And I'm assuming Maggie is M A G I E. Kendra. K E N D R A. All right. Well, thank you for talking to me.

First question I got to ask cuz the wind is whip in here. It is cold. Why did you I mean, tomorrow we're expecting a visit from the vice president. You could be out protesting that day. Maybe you will be. On Friday, we're expecting a general strike. Maybe you'll be participating in that as well. But with all those things coming up, why did you want to be out here in the cold tonight? So, we are here tonight to uh pick up our friends that got detained this afternoon. Um, we got a call a couple hours ago from another friend who said they their last location was the Whipple building. Um, and their car was found in St. Paul with the window smashed in or smashed out.

Um, and so we're just here. We're going to be working in shifts with a few other friends and just waiting for them to get out. So just standing vigil here outside this building for potentially hours.

I think the average is anywhere between 6 and 12 hours of being detained and we have it worked out with groups of people in our friend group that we will be here when they are released. They shouldn't have been arrested. They're US citizens. They are friends. They are wonderful people and they were taken from us in an act of I'm assuming violence given the broken windows. Um, and the least we can do is stand out here and wait for them and let them know that they have a safe place to land when they get out because that's that's all we can do. That's what community is, is looking out for each other. And if that means standing out in the cold, well,

we're used to it. We we grew up doing shoveling the driveways, so we're used to the cold. But um yeah,

when you have to play detective like that, looking for someone's last known location,

C8 finding their car smashed out in the, you know, the middle of uh downtown St. Paul, was it?

Uh it was it was in like a small neighborhood kind of between Minneapolis and St. Paul. Um it's it's called Lauderdale. It's just really tucked away um off of Highway 280. Um

but yeah, and that's like a nice area, too. I used to live there. Yeah, you used to live you used to live there and like

it's a nice quiet neighborhood. Um, you know, it's it's home to a lot of professors from the University of Minnesota. It's always been like a really nice quiet place. So, it kind of sucks that uh even spaces that are supposed to be nice and calm and safe are being terrorized by federal agents who have no checks or balances to how they behave and what they do and how they operate. And it's just incredibly frustrating and devastating to see.

I mean, I I just want when you got word that uh you know, a friend had been taken. I don't know what they were doing at that time. If

we don't either, honestly, it's two of our friends. They were probably going to a thrift shop or something. Knowing them like I don't They didn't tell us they were going out protesting or anything. I think they've I don't know though because we haven't heard from them. We can't talk to them. We can't ask them. So yeah, we I got a a text that they were detained and I just immediately was like, "Okay, we gotta we got to get in touch with the lawyers guild. We have done everything we can. They have lawyers, it sounds like. Um but we just don't know when they're going to be released." So So we're here until that happens.

I mean, emotionally, what does it do to your sense of to your sense of safety here in in the Twin Cities area? The Trump administration has said that what it's doing here is ultimately in the name of safety. That's why it needs to crack down on cities that do these immigration raids that it's doing. What does it do to your sense of safety when your friends are being disappeared off the off the city streets and apparently being held in federal custody if their last known location was the Whipple building?

It's uh it's completely evaporated, you know, like nowhere seems safe. Um even our neighborhood this morning, we were woken up to the sounds of whistles and horns down the street. Um,

yeah, you you can't you can't go to work without seeing it. You can't go to school without seeing it. Um, it's all anyone talks about anymore. Um, we're we're tired. There are bags under our eyes. Our nervous systems are out of whack. Anytime you hear a horn or a whistle or any high-pitched noise, your head turns and you look. And it's uh we're tired. We're scared. We're tired. Um, yeah. I don't know anyone that hasn't had a story to share about a friend getting detained or a neighbor getting taken or you know people reaching out to me looking for help with lawyers and legal counsel and yeah I don't know like you just stare off into the distance

oh sorry oh they got to go before it has been released. Yeah. So we were expecting a call from I think the the lawyers guild basically.

I think Ellie got the call. Ellie got the call. So, our friend who was primarily leading the charge, calling all these attorneys and stuff, um was expecting a phone call from one of those attorneys upon their release. Um we're waiting for two of them. We don't know which one it is. Um but sounds like they're out and we're here. We brought food. We brought blankets and extra clothes and all that stuff. And I'm I'll admit I'm not prepared to be on the cold, so I'm kind of happy. But uh yeah, we're going to get them home. We're going to get them safe. We're going to get them fed. Um, and we're going to strike on Friday. We're going to let people know that we're not going to be bullied. We're not going to keep tolerating this cuz it's it's [ __ ] up, honestly.

Yeah. I don't think I don't think anyone could could fault you for the for the use of language, you know, for the use of a

cry better, but you know. No, I don't think anybody could fault you. I mean, this is, you know, these are intense times. Yeah.

Uh and I see Yeah. Somebody walking out right now. Is that uh the bearing of either of your friends right there?

Looks a little too tall. They're kind of small people, but Yeah. Okay. Well, I can let you go so you can watch for them. I appreciate that. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

John, I'm going to give them a card really quick if you just take that for a moment. Let me just uh

initials on a list. feel better. Also, if your friends are want to talk about Where's your humanity?

Where's your [ __ ] kindness? Mom, look where I saw your ugly face. She's from Milwaukee.

I went to school at W. White supremacist. It's so cold. My phone now. All right, everyone. Uh, give JT a minute here. He'll be right back. Uh, he's just making some connections, giving out his card. Uh it's what we've been doing here in uh in uh Minnesota, making connections.

Don't forget to smash the like button, share this live stream, get it out there. Uh if you are not yet subscribed, then make sure you do so. JT is back. Here he goes.

Oh yes. We're live right now for what you do, man. Thank you for what you do. All right,

John. Uh JT good. Yeah. Yeah. So, as I said, we respect uh we respect our limits out here. Well, sorry. Were you asking to be interviewed sir?

Oh, I I would love to be. Yeah. What What What's your name? Saurin Sperman. One more time.

Saurin Spickerman. Saurin like an eagle. Can Can you spell it for me? S O R E N. It's Danish. Got it. Got it. So Sord WHAT? GET OUT OF MINNESOTA. GET OUT. Shove on.

Get out. God, I hate ICE. Why did you want to be out here tonight? To fight fascism, to just I don't know what else to do except to to protest right now. You know, I've been uh super frustrated by this lack of law, this this lawlessness. You know, I'm disappearing people. This isn't what America's about. You know, uh we protect our neighbors. You know,

I I got Scandinavian heritage heritage. You know, it takes a lot to piss off a Scandinavian, but when we get pissed, watch out. We We can turn into berserkers. Yeah. And just to back that up, uh, Border Patrol Commander Greg Bavino just yesterday held a press conference inside this very building where he said that the organization and the level of resistance here in the Twin Cities was higher than in many of the cities that he has been operating in recently. So, it goes to underscore some of the point that you had made. Uh, I'm curious, but at what point uh maybe are you a are you a protester at heart? Are you someone who does commonly take to the streets or what what was the motivating factor to get you out and when did your activism start? It started the night that they did that debacle in the White House with Zinski. I thought that was that I I walked around just in a rage for a while and I felt utterly

alone and then I went to my very first protest was uh uh hands off and then I've been to about uh six or seven in the UP and uh in upper peninsula Michigan. That's where I'm from, but I got family here. And uh I plow in the winter. I'm a tree service guy in the summer. So, I had a 10-day window of no snow. And I said, "I'm going to Minnesota. I'm going to the front line, man. I I I I got to do it. I don't know what else to do." So, you're you're down here. You make the journey all the way over here just to be on that front line.

The way you put it, um I got I got to I got to ask, how long are you are you going to be out here? We're expecting a general strike on Friday. Are you staying that long? I mean, how how long do you want to be here?

I'm staying until Saturday. Till Saturday. Then I got to go back cuz we're supposed to get snow and I do plow in the winter.

Got to got to pay the bills right now. Got got to pay the bills. But like, you know uh

it feels really good to to to be here and get some camaraderie. And uh I watch, you know, I want to just do a shout out to Jennifer Lawrence and Angie Sullivan on IHIP. I love those chicks, man. I'm with you girls. I love you girls. Um uh and Midas Touch and what you guys do, you know, and thank you. Yeah, I'm 100% going to be here until Friday and I I plan on being here as like, you know, I can warm up in the car and I come back and GO HOME. GET OUT.

Shove on. These are the hazards of reporting in the middle of a protest. You got to take protesting breaks so that these folks can can do what they came down here to do.

And I'm just pointing out he's he's yelling because it's a vehicle that's coming out from

that's coming out of the Whipple Federal Building. And they [ __ ] the the traffic still comes and goes here out of this out of this entrance. And that's what provokes the response from the crowd.

Jesse Ventura nailed it when he said we this is like 1938 Germany, you know, and I'm not going to live in authoritarian dictatorship ever, you know. Right now I will protest peacefully. For now I will be peaceful

for now. For now. For now. I mean, that's one of the themes that we've been tracking out here is the way that people have the people who live here say telling me that they feel backed into a corner. And I've been listening to people talk more in more and more desperate terms. I mean, how long do you have the fortitude to hold out, you know, and continue this peaceful protesting? We're one year into the Trump administration. You've got three more at least in front of us, and who knows what he does with the elections beyond that. How much fortitude do you have to continue uh to to protest like this out in these conditions, make your voice heard against a federal government that at least for the next several years is going to be seemingly going to be continuing to apply the same pressure as long as I'm breathing. I will be out against fascism.

I hate fascists. You are not Fascists are not welcome. Jesse said that the Republican party is basically been traitors to the Constitution. The Republican party could stop this nonsense. Right now, we have a mad king who needs to be stopped. He has done how many impeachable offenses has does the guy got to do, you know? Uh and then all all assault frontal assaults, you know, Venezuela. Uh, you got Venezuela, you got disappearing people here, you know, and it's all to cover the Epstein files. You know, I was a teacher in the prison system in Michigan for 22 years. And I'll tell you one thing, I observed prisoners for 22 years. Pedophiles hang out with other pedophiles.

Trump is a pedophile. It'll all come out. He is 100% a pedophile protector. and these people that want to worship him. I I think it's the biggest con ever ever pulled on America. Ever. This is the biggest con ever pulled on America. People got duped. They voted for a con man and they need to pull their heads out of their asses. Finally. Will you please wake up? I wanted to get your opinion on some news, some reporting that's come out of the Associated Press today is that ICE is uh circulating a memo to its new recruits telling them that they no long that they do not need a judicial warrant to force entry on uh some private property that they can do it with just an administrative warrant or a warrant that is essentially just written by the administration itself.

When you hear that the Trump administration is, you know, potentially tearing up the Fourth Amendment, uh, protection against unreasonable search and seizure, what's what's your reaction? I mean, can anything surprise you at this point?

No, nothing surprised me. If you're wearing a mask, you're either a coward or you are a thief or you're a bandit or, you know, you're a thug. This This is not America. people wearing masks. We got guys wearing masks. Just no due process, due process, due process, due process. That's, you know, we got to have it or we're a lawless nation. You know, I think that all these good these good judges and these good lawyers that are quitting and resigning instead of uh you know to to keep their integrity. Why don't we Why don't we make a branch with them to prosecute all of these guys and unmask every single ICE person? Unmask them. They all need to be prosecuted and held accountable.

Steven Miller needs to be accountable. The the costume wearing uh gnome uh you know, she's got to be held accountable. The mushmouth Tom Holman, he's got to be held accountable. And every one of these foot soldiers got to be held accountable. This is [ __ ] You know, [ __ ] You know, when dictators try to take over other countries, one thing that they don't have to deal with is an armed citizenry. You know, we are being peaceful right now, but there's we have more guns than people in the United States. You know, there's a lot of people that feel exactly the way I do.

We are [ __ ] disgusted and we are pissed. Sauren, anything else you want to you want to add here while you have the platform before I let you go? I love you guys. I love what you're doing. Stay on the front lines. Keep fighting the good fight. And uh you know, I just want to encourage people to watch independent media because uh the corporate media is just not serving the public right now. I mean, they're they're they're basically acting like the Republican party with their heads in the sand. You know, this could end this could end today if the Republican party showed some balls. You know, they have no backbone. No backbone at all. I I don't get it. You know, where I came from, we have a a Marine Colonel uh Bergman. I've written him several times.

Jack Bergman, you're a military man. You're in the military and you're letting this happen to US citizens and to everybody should be free from this [ __ ] You know, we have to do pride. I'm sorry. I'm I'm [ __ ] rambling, bud.

That's all right. You're doing fine. You're doing fine. You're doing fine. Uh but Zord, thank you very much for for joining me. I I appreciate appreciate it. Hang out for just a second. I'm going to I'm going to sign off here and I want to ask you one more question off camera.

But it is cold here as I told all of you just a few minutes ago. We we recognize our limits here at Status Coup. When it does get too cold or when we start to feel the effects, that's when we call it. And that's what I'm going to do now. So, I want to end I just want to end with uh I just want to end with uh uh one more call for support. We're not able to do this without the support of our members. So, if you can go to statuscoo.com/join for as low as $5 a month, you go to keep us reporting here on the ground in the Twin Cities. Go to cover the tens of thousands of dollars it costs us to be out here to be operating here on the ground. We're great uh very grateful to our our donors to our uh sustaining members. I also want to give a thanks to the Midas Touch Network who we are here supporting and con uh reporting in conjunction with. Uh thank you to them.

Thank you to our whole team. Uh and I also want to give a shout out to Andrew Marcato of Marcato Media who had surgery today. Uh we made sure to stop by and give him some wellw wishes today, but wanted to give him a shout out. He's been doing incredible on the ground reporting here in his home cities. Uh, so and he was the one who graciously kind of showed us showed us the ropes out here, gave us the lay of the land when we first got out here in December. So, we're thinking about him right now.

Get subscribed cuz we'll be going live again tomorrow from the protest around JD Vance's uh JD Vance's uh uh rep uh visit here to the Twin Cities. But for now in the Twin Cities, I'm JT Saskowski for Status Coup. Good night. Good job.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "LIVE STOP TRUMP’S ICE INVASION Protests | Court LIFTS Restrictions on ICE"?

JT Saskowski (Host), John Fina (Guest), Emily Phillips (Guest), James (Guest), Thomas (Guest), Saurin Spickerman (Guest).

What is "LIVE STOP TRUMP’S ICE INVASION Protests | Court LIFTS Restrictions on ICE" about?

Protests are intensifying against the Trump administration's immigration enforcement actions by ICE and other federal agencies in Minneapolis, as demonstrators brave harsh winter conditions to voice their dissent outside the Whipple Federal Building. The recent lifting of restrictions on ICE has heightened concerns about increased immigration enforcement and the perceived rise of authoritarian…

What is mentioned in this MeidasTouch episode?

7 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Minneapolis, Fourth Amendment, general strike, Federal Whipple Building, Emily Phillips, Associated Press. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "LIVE STOP TRUMP’S ICE INVASION Protests | Court LIFTS Restrictions on ICE"?

The episode runs 1 h 1 min; the transcript is about 10,391 words in 127 timestamped sections.

More from MeidasTouch

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.