Protesters gather outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, voicing opposition to the presence of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
Hundreds gathered outside the federal Whipple Building at Fort Snelling Friday to protest the presence of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who is leading the Trump administration’s efforts to detain and deport millions of immigrants.
Noem held a press conference to tout the administration’s arrests of immigrants who have committed crimes. She spoke behind a table piled with seized firearms and bags of marijuana, meth and fentanyl.
Many protesters feared Noem’s presence signaled the beginning of a large-scale immigration enforcement effort like the one launched in Chicago last month.
But Noem’s appearance focused instead on celebrating arrests made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s St. Paul field office.
“I’m here today to ask all of the people in Minnesota, all of the people in the Midwest and throughout our country, to support your law enforcement officers, to support them and help protect them as they go out and do their job,” Noem said.
Dozens of clergy members attended the protest, leading demonstrators through songs like “This Little Light of Mine” and “We Shall Not Be Moved.”
Craig Loya, a bishop at Episcopal Church in Minnesota, preached a message of inclusion.
“As long as I have breath, I will continue to preach and proclaim that diversity makes us stronger and that there is no clearer moral imperative than standing with the immigrant and the outsider, because that is how God has embraced every single one of us,” Loya said.
Protesters demonstrated right up to the Whipple Building’s glass doors, with many holding signs and shouting anti-ICE chants.
“No more Minnesota nice. We won’t want your fascist ICE,” the protesters chanted.
The chants did not reach the windowless room of the Whipple Building where Noem spoke.
When asked whether President Donald Trump would deploy the National Guard or other federal law enforcement to the Twin Cities, Noem said “it’s up to the president.”
But thousands of newly-trained ICE officers are expected to join field offices in the coming weeks, including in St. Paul, paid for by funding approved in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed in July, Noem said.
Under Noem, DHS has bucked precedent by requesting troves of personal data from states and other federal agencies to assist in deportation efforts; arresting people at courthouses; sending immigrants to countries they have no ties to and in some cases known for human rights abuses; and ignoring court orders.
Immigration agents detained a roofing crew in St. Paul on Oct. 3. The officers arrived in unmarked vehicles and refused to show their identification, according to advocates. Some wore masks.
Asked about the incident, Noem said “our agents always follow exactly what the law is and what the regulation and the protocol is for every single operation that they’re out on, so they are always identifying themselves and making sure that people know who they are.”
A handful of Minnesota Democratic lawmakers also attended the protest, including DFL state Rep. Samantha Sencer-Mura, who said she was at the protest to send a message to Noem that she and ICE weren’t welcome in Minnesota.
“We know a lot of what they do — the point is just fear,” Sencer-Mura said. “Always trying to combat that with love and community is a good way to just show up.”
This story was originally produced by Minnesota Reformer, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes South Dakota Searchlight, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.