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Laura Coates Live
Protests Continue In Minneapolis Now On Their Third Night Demanding ICE To Leave The City. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired January 09, 2026 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[23:00:35]
LAURA COATES, CNN HOST: Tonight, brand new video from the perspective of the ICE agent who shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis. What it shows, and why both sides are saying it proves their point.
Plus, Minnesota officials opening up their own investigation now, as the local prosecutor is rejecting claims that the officer can't somehow be charged. So could they? Would they bring a case?
And Democrats are floating a bill that would rein in ICE. One of the lawmakers behind it, Congressman Dan Goldman, joins me tonight on "Laura Coates Live."
We got live pictures right now out of downtown Minneapolis, where protestors are gathering for a third straight night, demanding that ICE leave their city, demanding justice, and demanding accountability for what happened to Renee Good. Now, we don't know when, or frankly, if this case will ever see the inside of a state courtroom or federal, but in the court of public opinion, well, DHS certainly hopes that there is a hung jury.
With each new video and angle, or even act of slowing down the frame to hone in on what is happening, they hope that it will validate what they initially assessed to be, well, an act of self-defense, and what the many in the community call an act of murder.
And tonight, another angle is going to add to this conversation, because CNN has obtained new video that both sides are using to try to argue that their version of what they say happened. It is the most intense first-person perspective that we have seen yet, and it purports to be not from a bystander on the scene, but cellphone footage from the ICE agent who fired the fatal shots. And I'm going to warn you, like all the other videos you've seen, it's difficult to watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RENEE GOOD, MOTHER: That's fine, dude. I'm not mad at you.
BECCA GOOD, RENEE GOOD'S MOTHER: Show your face. I'm not mad at you. That's okay, we don't change our plates every morning, just so you know. It'll be the same plate when you come talk to us later.
That's fine. U.S. citizen, former fucking guy, the same veteran. You want to come at us? You want to come at us?
I say go get yourself some lunch, big boy.
JONATHANN ROSS, ICE AGENT: Out of the car.
B. GOOD: Go ahead.
ROSS: Out of the car. Get out of the fucking car. Get out of the car.
B. GOOD: Hey, you're going to crash.
ROSS: Whoa. Fucking bitch.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: I want to take another look at it. Here's the critical moment in slow motion.
Renee Good's wife is recording the agent, Jonathan Ross, right before he walks across the front of the car. Good reverses and glances forward as she turns the steering wheel to the right, away from where Ross is standing. And when the car moves forward, he cries out, "Whoa." And then fires three gunshots in rapid succession.
There is a lot this video shows us. There's a lot the video does not tell us. It does not, for example, show if Good's car made contact with that officer. We do not see the shooting itself. We do not know who said, quote, "F-ing bitch" at the end.
It's another piece of a complicated puzzle, where two halves of America, I don't know that that's right. I don't know the breakdown, but there are certainly two different sides seeing what happened in those same 30 seconds.
And tonight, we're getting a better picture of what was happening in the moments before the shooting, because another video, another new video from a witness who was walking down the street, shows this.
(VIDEO PLAYING)
You can see, and you can hear, what was going on in some way from a distance. I mean, people are blowing whistles, which is an indication that people carrying around to trade that ICE is in the area. Horns honking similarly as well.
[23:05:09]
Good's car is blocking the street, it seems, and other cars were also backed up. Federal agents were already walking around the area, and the shooting happens about one minute after what you're looking at right now, although it was not on screen.
Now, all of this adds some new context, but legally, this is not just about this particular ICE officer. It's about what any other objectively reasonable officer would have done in that same situation. And notice I said officer, not person, other person who's not actually in law enforcement.
Take the agent who was trying to open Good's door. Seconds before the shooting, he didn't pull his gun, and that raises a basic question: Did he think this was a deadly force situation? What would he have done if he were standing where Ross was standing? And how about the other agents that you see around there, who were also close to the vehicle?
They didn't seem to draw, let alone fire their weapons, even when the car was pointing towards their colleague, and there's that notion of defense of others. This is all what investigators and any prosecutor is going to be thinking about, to have to try to think about the legal framework.
Was there an imminent threat to Ross in that moment, such that it was reasonable to exercise self-defense, or that it was kill or be killed? Did he have any other objectively reasonable option? That's the question you'd have to put before your jury and try to prove your case. But like I said, we may not even get there, because the administration is already saying this shooting was justified, full stop.
Now, the FBI, they're big for the investigation. City and state officials are demanding that they also have access to the evidence, and they can decide if state charges are warranted. But President Trump says they're not going to get it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Do you believe that the FBI should be sharing evidence with state officials in Minnesota?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, normally I would, but they're crooked officials. I mean, Minneapolis and Minnesota, what a beautiful place, but it's being destroyed. It's got an incompetent governor, fool. I mean, he's a stupid person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COATES: CNN's Omar Jimenez on the ground in Minneapolis, where the protesters are marching for now a third night. Omar, they've got this new footage out in the public eye. Tell me what the scene is like now.
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So Laura, right now we are in downtown Minneapolis. We've been following this protest outside of a hotel where these protesters believe federal agents may be staying, and just in the last few seconds, it appears they're trying to get actually inside this hotel.
You can see this ramp that they've all now. They were all around me a few seconds ago, and now they are up this ramp. I can see a door open to this particular hotel, and you can see and hear how much noise they're actually making right now.
Earlier, they were shining lights on some of the windows, truly making as much noise as humanly possible to this point, banging on drums, blowing their whistles, out with their signs as well. This is at least the second hotel they have been to in the downtown Minneapolis area, appearing to be under the belief that agents are staying at the hotels at which they arrive.
Now, again, you can hear the drums, but I can't emphasize enough, it was just a few seconds ago, as we're going to get closer to this ramp to see what we can see. Excuse me here.
Where you can see the door open. It doesn't seem that they've made much more progress beyond that door opening and a good portion of them actually going in.
Now, while there was law enforcement in this area a little bit earlier in the evening, we have not seen any in the last 30 minutes or so to this point, as they are now clearly seem to have breached at least one of the doors here. But at the very least, everyone out in the street making as much noise, truly as humanly possible. And when you look at the size, it actually isn't the overall biggest that we've seen, but you actually see here they've climbed a ladder of this other little vestibule here on the, on the side, and they're up there observing as well, as you've got apartments around the surrounding area on top of that.
So this is a protest that had been marching through the city and through downtown Minneapolis in particular, and this is the latest stop where, where they've made their move here to just -- and you know what? I'm going to turn here. You can see the lights that they were shining on the sides of the building here, trying to get into some of the windows with that light, which we saw them doing previously on the other side of the building as well.
So Laura, clearly, we knew there was anger here with federal immigration agents being in the city of Minneapolis, and these protesters making it known they do not want them, not only in the city, but not even staying in the hotels here in the city, Laura.
[23:10:02]
COATES: You're telling me there's no state police there present right now, or any other law enforcement? I mean, that's unbelievable to think of, these are hotels occupied by people who are not law enforcement as well. This is their neighborhood, different urban apartments, lofts, and beyond.
You're near different buildings, restaurants, and the like, a university campus not too far away.
JIMENEZ: I have not seen any in the last 30 minutes. There was a law enforcement presence a little bit earlier this evening in the downtown around protests like this, but I'm not sure exactly where they are right now. There is a drone flying at the moment, so that could be a law enforcement drone keeping an eye on the proceedings and protests at this point.
But you can see the crowd that has gathered, at least at one of, what appears to be an entrance here in this hotel, as they continue to shine lights here on the sides of the building. I can't emphasize enough, while this isn't the biggest protest we have seen, maybe 200 or so in terms of folks that are behind me, and then there are some further off camera in that direction, this has definitely seemed to be the loudest protest we have gotten into at this point, and that seems to be the point.
They are under the belief that there are federal agents here, and the goal seems to be making sure that no one can sleep who's at this hotel, and the target in that case being the federal agents. So we haven't quite seen a protest like this in this exact way to this point. At least, I have not seen it personally, and we've been here over the past few days since the day of the shooting of Renee Good.
But this type of anger has been pretty palpable at every protest we have seen. And again, the most confrontational protests have been outside that federal building, miles from here, which I know was where you were yesterday and the day before as well. We have not quite seen the same level of confrontations in downtown Minneapolis to this point.
That's not to say they couldn't come, and the law enforcement we did see on the streets was a little bit earlier this evening, but with my own eyes, I don't see them at least on the ground. They could be watching from, from above, Laura.
COATES: You know, Omar, at that federal building, you surely heard the taunts that were said to the ICE agents as well. They were saying things like, "It's only a matter of time before we know where you're staying." They often stopped even our own camera crews, believing that they were coming out of big Suburbans or big SUVs, that they were a part of ICE. It was very clear that people were looking to identify ICE. You, yourself, I know, experienced that.
Can you describe to me, though, what the reaction has been, even with the new footage that came from the cell phone footage of the officer who shot and killed Renee Good? What are people saying? Did that fuel part of this new response?
JIMENEZ: Yes, well, the one thing I'll say is that it has not changed the minds of people who are on one side of the video or the other. And for those of the folks that were against ICE being here and were enraged at even the previous videos that were out beforehand, they were even more so enraged at seeing this latest point of view that, again, we got from the shooting agent at this point.
You know, on what you were first talking about and sort of the heightened awareness about even the vehicles that are arriving at, at scenes like these, that is something I've encountered in multiple other cities covering increased immigration enforcement. In places like Chicago, for example, when we would pull up to a scene happening to be in a black SUV, it immediately drew attention and questions in certain neighborhoods that were on the lookout for federal immigration enforcement, were trained to blow their whistles, and alert others, and film with their cell phones if they believed that there was immigration enforcement in the area. So, hearing what you just told me doesn't surprise me. That's some of
similar, I guess, understandings that people here are going through as well. But that heightened awareness over immigration enforcement, again, has translated from that sign, as you spoke about, to, again, they believe there are agents here, and they are making their presence known, both audio-wise with -- I don't know how you could not hear this if you're upstairs, but also visually, literally trying to shine a light into some of these rooms here in downtown Minneapolis, Laura.
COATES: And are you seeing any ICE officers or any, any indication that they are, in fact, in this facility, or this is just some thought that they might be?
JIMENEZ: I have not seen visual confirmation on my end, though, you know, n- I would imagine agents are not wearing uniforms and badges even in off hours. So I have not visually seen that and had that confirmation, but something must have motivated these protesters to show up here.
[23:15:01]
I should also mention they were at another hotel in downtown Minneapolis, not too far from here, walking distance from here, and that's where we initially caught up with this particular group. And then from that particular group, that is when we saw them walking towards this hotel, and this is where they've stopped, and this is where we've seen them blowing whistles, and playing music, and quite literally.
Here, walk up here this way with me. When you talk about playing noise, you can probably hear it as I walk up right now. You can literally see someone is playing on a drum set right here outside the entrance of the particular hotel right now. So clearly not shy about making noise at this hotel and making sure that if there are actual agents inside, as they believe to be the case, that they are making their presence known in a way that protests tend to do.
But you can't really avoid it when they're making noise like this, Laura.
COATES: Omar, please stand by. We're going to come back to you as well. Donell Harvin, I want to bring with you -- Donell Harvin Harvin's here. Donell Harvin, first of all, I want to hear your reaction to what you are seeing right now, because, as I mentioned, you know, there's a number of ICE Out rallies going to be happening across the country.
It's clear they don't want them in their cities, at least in this area. Then you've got this tension that's going to happen between the role of local police officers, noise ordinances, trying to just keep the public safety and keep the public peace, and then now this is happening outside these facilities. What is your reaction?
DONELL HARVIN, FORMER CHIEF HOMELAND SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Well, this is clearly a volatile situation. Hot heads, hopefully don't prevail. But what you have is, , state and locals, not just in this city and this state, but all across the country, if you remember going back to California, stating that ICE is coordinating these operations without the state and locals.
And so what happens is that the state and locals will be called in when something goes bad, almost to clean up the mess or help cordon things off. And so when you don't have this type of coordination, when you don't have this feeling of camaraderie that normally is there, this is what you happen.
COATES: But what's the risk of -- If you're law enforcement, what -- I'm talking about local police.
HARVIN: Yes.
COATES: What is the risk if you are only left with the choice of being reactive? Talk me through that.
HARVIN: Well, you're always behind the ball, right? And so--
COATES: You can't get your officers out in advance at all.
HARVIN: Yes. I mean, listen, , I've always worked over 25 years in a scenario in which state and local authorities worked so seamlessly with the federal government. The past year, we've seen things in the law enforcement space that we've never seen before.
They're actively not talking with each other. They're actively not coordinating with each other, and those are the type of things that are going to get people hurt and injured. What you're seeing play out in the streets of Minneapolis right now is something that's volatile. Hopefully, law enforcement will see this and come out and kind of cordon this off.
People have a right to get some sleep, irrespective of whether they're ICE or regular residents, and so this can only turn bad, especially if the hotel doesn't have proper security. You don't know who's out there, how long they're going to be out there, and this is what happens when the agitators start coming. We've seen this time and time again, that night falls, lack of police presence, agitators come out.
They may not even be from that area. They may not even be from that state, and this is where the violence potentially start happening.
COATES: And local police have to be aware that, you know, these hotels are not. If they are occupied by federal agents, they are also occupied by civilians. What does that add to the preparation or the response? Because it occurs to me that now it puts local police in the position of having to be in confrontation with these protesters on behalf of maybe civilians and, of course, also the federal agents.
HARVIN: Well, people have a right to public safety.
COATES: Right.
HARVIN: And people have a right to peace and quiet, and what you're showing right now on the screen for our viewers is a lack of public safety, full stop, right?
HARVIN: And if they breach the facility?
HARVIN: Well, this is the potential, right? Omar said he hadn't seen law enforcement in over a half an hour, wholly unacceptable. No one's violent right now, yet but the issue is that when people start seeing the lack of public safety, they start encroaching more, they start taking more chances and more risks.
And so these are planned demonstrations, Laura. You've been out there, I've been watching on television for the last couple of days. There's no secret that there are people out there, they're hurt, they're very angry--
COATES: And they can be on a public street.
HARVIN: And they can be on a public street, but that's what law enforcement's there for. Law enforcement is there to protect their rights to First Amendment protected activities, but also protect property owners and civilians from being encroached upon by these type of activities.
COATES: So if they go enter a hotel, which is obviously a private facility, then the coordination between the hotel manager, the hotel staff, possibly the owner and corporate get involved, and would request, not private security, but they could request the local law enforcement to come in and assist them, as if it were a private home.
[23:19:57]
HARVIN: I mean, they should've called 911 already, right? Because they're, if they're on that ramp, they're ostensibly on the private property of the hotel, and if they wait till something bad happens, and they call 911, how are law enforcement going to get through these crowds? That's the next problem.
COATES: Stay with us. Donell Harvin, there's more ahead. We'll be right back after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COATES: Welcome right back to Omar Jimenez, who's in Minneapolis. Omar, what is happening right now? I see police presence or some sort of law enforcement. Describe it.
JIMENEZ: Yes, so right now, we talked about how we hadn't seen visible law enforcement a few minutes ago, and then we saw flashing lights, and then they cleared sort of that hotel, which is just off camera in that direction, and now there is a line formed of Minnesota State Troopers. You can see them.
You can see Minnesota State Troopers right there, forming a line where protesters have gotten up and really coming. They're walked in their faces right here, and we are in downtown Minneapolis.
[23:25:08] But this line is something that clearly you see the police vehicles behind this line of troopers as well. This is clearly a spot where they're wanting to make a stand and stop these protesters from going further back into the city. I do want to note that we have been following these protesters as they march through various portions of the city, and they had not run into a line as solidified as this one has appeared to be.
You can see protesters very much as close as you can be to these state troopers. They were up a little bit further a few moments ago, and then the troopers took a step back as well. There clearly seems to be some evaluation going on at the moment. But when you look at the amount of protesters that there are, this isn't the biggest group that we've seen.
And actually, if you go further to the left, you can actually see a lot of the protesters are walking away at this point, though there are some flashing lights on that side of the block as well. So there it does appear that there's a law enforcement presence over there on top of that. But this line in particular, these troopers are seeming to back up a little bit more as well.
But this set of -- these types of protests have been popping up pretty sporadically over the past few days since the shooting and killing of Renee Good. And while this sentiment reflects a lot of the people's feelings here, it obviously doesn't reflect everyone's feelings here in Minneapolis. But those that are angry about what happened to Renee Good, those that have seen the video and are angry at what they see in the video have made their presence known, still making that noise that they were making outside of the hotel where they believed that federal agents were staying, and that has not gone away, and that has been a huge staple of the night in downtown Minneapolis.
We were at the memorial earlier, and the memorial has-- was quiet throughout most of the night. There were points when chants would break out here and there, but for the most part, it was a continuous stream of people coming through to reflect.
This has been a completely different atmosphere. This has been very much loud and proud in, in the, from the perspective of the protesters, and you can see them quite literally walking right in front of those state patrol officers, state patrol troopers here in downtown Minneapolis, Laura.
I will say the numbers have thinned out significantly since law enforcement has arrived. We're showing you the line right now, but again, if our photographer, you want to go to the left a little bit and just show behind. You see people quite literally walking away from this line, and this group has thinned out pretty quickly.
When it was at relatively significant numbers, when it was outside of that -- outside of the first hotel where we saw them, Laura, and then they walked on over to the one that we were showing you all a few minutes ago, and now this is really the scene in downtown Minneapolis. A lot of noise and people who live in this apartment building watching down from their windows right now, trying to see what's going on. Just one of the many protests that we've seen here in Minneapolis over the last few days, Laura.
COATES: I want to say for everyone out there who's been watching right now, Omar Jimenez is outside of several hotel locations in downtown Minneapolis, where protesters have arrived at these hotels believing that ICE agents are inside. They are descending on the hotels to try to show a protest presence there, demanding that they leave their city.
There was a question of where the local law enforcement was coming from and whether they were going to be on the scene. They have now arrived.
What you're seeing in people in yellow appear to be state troopers, local law enforcement. These are not ICE agents. That fluorescent yellow color that you're seeing appears to be part of the line that they're holding right now, and their presence, as Omar has said, has thinned out the crowds in some respect.
This is downtown Minneapolis, which is a few miles away from the site where Ms. Good was killed in a residential neighborhood.
I want to bring in for a second. Do we have Jason Pack? Because he's a retired FBI special agent and I want to bring you in, Jason, and get your assessment of what you're seeing here right now, because what they're seeing are local law enforcement, Jason.
It is the federal agency of ICE that has drawn the ire of the crowd, but it is local law enforcement who were there, and now you see them holding the line. Jason, do I have you?
JASON PACK, RETIRED FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Yes, ma'am, I'm here.
COATES: Jason, walk me through your response here, and this tension that local law enforcement is there. They, they're keeping, trying to maintain the peace. Tell me what's going on.
PACK: It looks like there's at least two strike teams from the Minneapolis -- I'm sorry, from the Minnesota Highway Patrol, state troopers there. I haven't seen any Minneapolis Police there, but they could be. It's just our photo journalists may not be seeing them.
[23:30:02]
But it appears they're trying to keep the peace. Earlier, Laura, we saw the video of the people almost entering that hotel and almost crossing the line. What happens? What do you think would have happened if they would've gotten access to that hotel and started going, I mean, how far would they have taken it, I guess is the question.
Fortunately, and thank God, we will never know right now. So it seems like the troopers are doing their job and keeping -- And hopefully that, they'll maintain that. People have a right to protest but you don't have a right to commit violence.
COATES: Now, for the audience, I want everyone to be clear. Obviously, the Constitution allows you to have the right to assembly and to protest, of course, the First Amendment, but there are, quote-unquote, "forums."
I want to bring you in here, Donell, because these forums, there are places like time, place, and manner restrictions that can be in play. There are places you're allowed to protest that are public, and then when it turns private, there are different implications, Donell.
Donell Harvin with us as well. I wanted to bring in to you, a former chief of Homeland Security Intelligence for Washington, D.C., no stranger to protests, no strangers to public streets, and of course, private businesses. Describe the tension that's happening right now with the strike teams that Jason has described.
HARVIN: So these are civil disturbance teams. They're CDU's, Civil Disturbance Units. They're specially trained to handle things like this, and the reason why you don't want to send regular police officers in there, because these individuals are going to be at some point, facing verbal abuse, sometimes physical abuse, and they're trained with maximum restraint.
I was in the police academy. I was trained in the CDU unit. They're also trained to use certain chemical munitions, like pepper spray and things like that.
But they're really in a very defensive posture. You don't see them pushing people back, you see them holding the line, letting them know that they can peacefully protest, but there's a certain line, which is their bodies, that they shouldn't cross.
COATES: What are they wearing? Describe the uniform that you can actually physically see. They're holding some sort of baton, it seems, but I see some flashing lights on their outer vest and clothing. Can you tell from your eye what you're seeing in terms of uniforms?
HARVIN: Yes, so this is a typical uniform, especially for the evening. It's a high-visibility uniform, which means that other law enforcement that are coming in to perhaps support them or their own colleagues will know what they look like, so they're not going to wear all black or all blue that may just blend in with the crowd. They're have riot control helmets with face shields to protect them from splashing, as well as objects thrown to them.
And the batons are basically there as a defensive mechanism. If they need to push people back, they can use the batons, and it keeps, gives them something in their hands to hold, hold the line, technically.
COATES: Jason Pack, I want to bring you back in here. We are seeing-- And Omar Jimenez is on the street, but, Jason, let me bring you in here because, look, you've got these strike teams you described.
I don't see local law enforcement in the traditional sense. Can you describe the distinction between, say, a Minneapolis patrolman or police officer and a strike team? Are they part of the same over umbrella organization? Are they trained separately? Walk me through it.
PACK: Yes, just like Donell Harvin said, the state police have this special training. The state troopers do. I'm sure Minneapolis Police have people trained in riot control, so usually it's a secondary duty. They're regular patrol officers.
They have other assignments. Some people join SWAT, some people join negotiators, other people are trained in riot police, and local police, I think, are trained in some level of that altogether when they go through the academy. So they'll combine forces if they need to, but right now it appears that the state troopers, as Donell Harvin said, have the defensive posture and are allowing the peaceful protest to continue.
COATES: I want to go back. Do we have Omar Jimenez? Omar, do we have you?
JIMENEZ: Yes, I'm listening.
COATES: Omar, talk to me what you're seeing right now. Our images see, at this moment, a woman holding a sign and a red coat in front of, that line of the, in the strike force. Describe what you're seeing, I hear drums, talk to me.
JIMENEZ: Yes, well, the numbers have pretty much dwindled, except for really that woman who's right in the face of a Minnesota state trooper right now. You know, I showed you earlier, there were a lot of protesters here prior to what was this line of state troopers. You can see them holding strong and steady right now, and no one appeared to be, at least from we saw, breach past this line.
And what they did was then they all started going that way, and look how empty this block is right now. You were just with me a few minutes ago, and this was completely packed with people, at least a few hundred people, it appeared. And I don't know what was said, or maybe this was enough of a message to get them off of this block in particular, but those protesters, you can see them now marching this way.
So now clearly trying to secure the block here. And again, this is where protesters were just a few minutes ago to this point, and now with this block completely empty, they are moving through to secure this particular block.
[23:35:08]
And so with the protests we've been seeing in downtown Minneapolis, I want to stress, and you, you hit this point a little bit earlier. The main point of stress to this point has been between federal immigration law enforcement, and that was really the main stressor of, obviously, this particular shooting, but it was where a lot of the anger in these protests were directed.
And even today, when we were at the memorial, we saw really the first significant local police presence that we had seen to this point, and the relationship that the police had with many of the protesters was very cordial. There wasn't any anger or a lot of anger directed at those law enforcement officers. So to this point, we actually haven't seen local, and in this case,
state law enforcement sort of be at the focal point of the stressors. We haven't seen local and state law enforcement sort of be at the focal point of the stress points among protesters, except for what you're seeing right now on camera. At least I have not seen it personally, and I've been at multiple protest sites over the course of the past few days here in Minneapolis, Laura.
COATES: Local law enforcement appears holding the line, dispersing protesters at a hotel that the protesters thought--
JIMENEZ: Oh, wait, you know what? There's actually another line of law enforcement up here.
COATES: What do you see? Show me.
JIMENEZ: Hey, Effie, turn around. This is our photo- I'm talking to our photographer right now. So you talked about where all these protesters, sorry, Laura, to jump in, but--
COATES: No, please.
JIMENEZ: -- this is the other side of the block where a lot of the protesters were then walking toward, and you can see another line of law enforcement right here. And this is where, this is where all those protesters that were at the previous state line were running back to, and then you can see on this block as well, you've got law enforcement right there as well.
So we should go this way. Effie, come this way. I'm speaking to our photographer here, just to get out of the way, as they seem -- as law enforcement seems to at least have three corners, three different directions covered right now, and blocked off, with a line over there, as this car is trying to make its way through, but a line over there.
You see that line of state law enforcement that we were showing you beforehand? They walked all the way up to this block, which is where many of the protesters retreated to, and you can see the white lights down in the distance as well with those flashing lights. So law enforcement, at the very least, seems to have three sides blocked, sort of pushing everyone out this direction.
JIMENZ: Omar Jimenez, keep us posted. Stay safe.
Law enforcement in the area right now, securing and pushing people out of the area to try to promote public safety. I got to go to a quick break. I'm coming right back. We'll check in with you in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COATES: We're back now with breaking news out of Minneapolis where protesters were descending on hotels in the area, believing that they were occupied by ICE agents. Local law enforcement came into the area, there was two different strike forces at least, it appears maybe even three, from local law enforcement to try to push out the protesters, not physically, but by their presence alone, out of the area and the zone to try to restore some semblance of order.
Omar Jimenez is on the ground. We're going to go back to him and keep checking in as we have some drone footage above to see what is going on in that area. This, of course, is a few miles from where the actual site of Ms. Good's death and killing by the hands of an ICE officer.
I want to bring back in Donell Harvin, as well as Jason Pack here, our experts in their minds. I need right now to walk the audience through what we're seeing, because there were real questions, Donell Harvin, about the absence of law enforcement initially on this scene.
They quickly came to really disperse this crowd. It seems to have thinned out, and yet these are protesters who were no longer on a public street outside of a vigil. They were trying to get into a private hotel.
HARVIN: Yes, absolutely, and one of the things I want to point the viewers to, and you had mentioned it a few minutes ago, is the flashing things on the law enforcement officers. Those are what we call BWCs, or body-worn cameras. And so just as a juxtaposition, these officers, these CDU officers, are trained when they deploy to have these cameras, these body-worn cameras, activated at all time, which means that if they have any negative interactions, any use of force with a citizen, that footage can be called back up.
It's not like, you know, think about the ICE agent, that shot Ms. Good, who had a camera in his hand. So it's a complete different dynamic there, and they're--
COATES: So is there a requirement that they have these body-worn cameras, and, say, an ICE agent is not required?
HARVIN: Well, that's- we have to get into that, right? So we know that ICE-- there's a discrepancy in who wear, who's wearing them with the ICE. I haven't seen their SOPs, but we know local and state law enforcement in many jurisdictions are required to wear them, especially these CDU units.
We can talk about what the ICE is supposed to be doing at another time. To your point--
COATES: Well, to that point, it's not ICE out there right now.
HARVIN: Correct.
COATES: Right?
HARVIN: Correct.
COATES: This is local law enforcement. And Jason, I want to bring you in. You're a retired FBI special agent.
What we're seeing here is appears to be a strategic placement of these strike forces. We're looking at these, you know, a city block.
This is downtown Minneapolis, near the water. Appears to be the Warehouse District-y area and I'm wondering for your perspective about the strategy of the placement of these strike forces. It's almost like they are trying to squeeze people into a particular area with one means of exit.
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PACK: Laura, that's right, and earlier we saw that we didn't see that many police, and at all, when we first started. So there was some decent planning, it looks like, by the law enforcement, the local and state law enforcement there, because you can't just call up that many troopers from out of thin air. They had to be close by and staged, so when they got the call, they were able to move in, and they were able to flank the crowd and push them in the way that they wanted to go without physically touching them, just their presence, moving it along, letting the city breathe a little bit, and letting those protests go on under the First Amendment.
COATES: Now, we know from Omar Jimenez's reporting, excellent reporting throughout these days, but particularly tonight, when he talked about how this was the second hotel, at least, that these protesters had visited. So talk to me a little bit, Jason, about the nimbleness that these officers have to exercise. Can you describe what you think the command center is like? Who is calling the shots?
PACK: Well, hopefully they have a joint operations center up. I'm quite sure they do, and that'll include state and locals, that'll include other members of law enforcement, and people that you might need for logistical things, like barricades and those types of things. So they're in a command center.
They're watching a lot of big cities like Minneapolis have real-time crime centers where they are able to type into cameras. They're also getting intelligence reports on the ground, and they're able to put all those pieces of information together. They have a dedicated radio channel, I'm quite sure, so they're able to get resources where they need to be quickly, and move personnel to keep people as safe as possible.
COATES: Donell, when I hear joint command center or coordination, that bodes well in some respects of the idea of the tension between possibly local law enforcement, who you say, and they have also said, is not apprised in advance.
They have to be reactive. But now it appears that they are the line of defense. If ICE agents are in those hotels, it is local law enforcement protecting them now.
HARVIN: Yes, absolutely. It's their jurisdiction, it's their responsibility. And the governor as well as the mayor keyed us into this a few days ago. Remember when the mayor stood there and the governor said, "We have our emergency operations center open. We have the National Guard on standby and alerted"?
This is exactly what he means. He's talking about how you can demonstrate peacefully, and he was explaining to the residents out there how you can do that, but also letting them know that law enforcement would have a presence out there.
They're your law enforcement. If the National Guards have to be called out, they're your National Guards. Making it very clear that these are people from Minnesota, these are people from Minneapolis, and they're here to protect you, and protect your rights to demonstrate peacefully. And what we've seen so far is peaceful demonstrations.
The only issue I would say here is that there are people in the roads, and we know that that's blocking critical infrastructure. Ambulances, police cars, fire trucks have to move, so this can't last that long, and it looks like they're trying to at least probably soon push them to the sidewalks, where they can continue to protest and not impede traffic.
COATES: I want to go to Omar Jimenez and check in. Omar, you may have just heard Donell Harvin describing the idea of putting, or putting people onto the sidewalks and beyond to allow for the flow of traffic. We saw similarly at the Whipple Building, federal building, that they moved people away from the street and onto the sidewalks.
Describe what you're seeing right now. We're watching you.
JIMENEZ: Yes, so, you know, I was listening to the conversation about, you know, trying to plan and place resources nearby. I would say that has to have been the case, just watching how things played out so quickly here on the ground.
Now, one significant thing was, remember when I talked about there were three directions blocked at that intersection? We were previously in that intersection about a block away. We saw this line of law enforcement coming, and we got around that line, because we saw them now closing what, that fourth direction to get out of that intersection.
We just heard, what appeared to be someone from the Minneapolis Police Department get on the loudspeaker and say, "This has been declared an unlawful assembly." You can see there are still, though, people right in the face of what appear to be either state or local law enforcement right there, forming that line that leading to that intersection that I was talking about a few moments ago.
Some still banging on drums, some still blowing whistles. This is something that we've seen throughout the night, and while we have seen various forms of law enforcement presence in parts of the city as some of these protests played out this evening, this is definitely the strongest and most coordinated law enforcement response we've seen to this point, at least this evening.
Now, look, when you, when you talk about this story in particular, a lot of the tension has been with federal immigration enforcement, and that's what a lot of the people here are actually protesting. When you look at their signs, it's talking about get ICE out. It's talking about getting federal immigration enforcement out of the city of Minneapolis as we know, the federal government has surged resources here.
[23:49:55[
But the confrontation in the moment, at the moment, is between protesters and state and local police officers right now, trying to, as from what we can observe, maintain order in downtown Minneapolis. This is that group that we had been following. There have been a few different groups, actually, in portions of the city, but this one in particular had gone to at least two hotels where they believed federal immigration agents were staying.
And while we saw it and observed it for a time, we were actually on the air when this was happening, when it appeared there was no law enforcement presence at all, outside of maybe what appeared to be a drone overhead looking down, then within minutes, that's when we saw state law enforcement arrive. We were up close to that first line that was formed, and they sort of pushed us up a block, and then over a block to where we are right now, and they seem to have really just shut off that intersection. And now what was hundreds of protesters seem to be just a smattering of a few now here in downtown Minneapolis.
COATES: Omar Jimenez we need you to stay safe. We're coming right back to you after a quick break.
JIMENEZ: Yep. Okay, sounds good.
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[23:55:00]
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COATES: We're back with breaking news out of Minneapolis. Minnesota State law enforcement has been breaking up an anti-ICE protest in downtown after demonstrators gathered outside of a hotel. I want to bring back in Omar Jimenez, who's on the ground. Omar, what are you seeing?
JIMENEZ: Yes, so right now we had been following a group of law enforcement that had, that had been walking towards us, and now it seems they are retreating back to that intersection where we were previously, and the protesters sort of retreated back with them, and now they have pushed back towards that line of protesters as well.
So clearly, even though we've heard over the loudspeaker someone in law enforcement saying this was an unlawful assembly, people still here and wanting to be as close to law enforcement as possible over this. For those that just tuned in, I mean, all this just developed within the last 20 or so minutes, 20 to 30 minutes, where when we started this hour, we didn't really see much law enforcement, and now you can't look almost anywhere in downtown without seeing flashing lights. And you heard that horn beeping. I didn't get the sense there that
that horn was for people to get out of the way, but more so, what we've heard at a lot of these federal immigration protests, is that they honk when in support of the protesters as well. So this is what's been the scene here in downtown Minneapolis. Laura.
COATES: Donell Harvin's with us right now. Donell, as law enforcement is watching this in other cities, so are protesters in other cities. There are already planned protests, ICE out across the nation tomorrow. What does that mean for how they prepare?
HARVIN: Yes, so they have to prepare state and locals have to look at what's going on here, make sure that they have a rapid response force, a CDU, ready to go. I think from the federal side, ICE agents, this justifies why they wear masks. I mean, some of the tactics, techniques, and procedures that we use to some of these groups that organize these things are, are doxing, going after these individuals and their families.
And so they have to be on the lookout of where they're staying, having what we call operational security, and making sure that they're working with the state and local, so that this doesn't happen and doesn't impact their operations and the city.
COATES: Jason Pack, I have you with me, a retired FBI special agent. Does this now demonstrate why the feds have to coordinate with local law enforcement?
PACK: It does, and I think, even though that they publicly, they're not talking, there have to be back channels. In a lot of situations in many communities across the United States, there are state and locals on FBI task forces, there are state and locals on Homeland Security task forces. So lines of communication are likely open, even though we don't see that publicly.
COATES: Donell, does-- is there some way that people are now tracking online the chat channels that might be happening to coordinate these protest groups, to b- have them go?
HARVIN: Well, I mean, history tells us yes. I mean, we saw this with the George Floyd protests and many other protests since this. You know, these are very well-organized individuals, they know how to peacefully protest, and some of the anarchists know how to violently protest.
And what they'll- the anarchists will do, or those who are seeking violence, is that they will glom onto or attach onto peaceful protests, and then when night falls, when law enforcement makes those announcements like they're supposed to, you know, they're supposed to make two or three announcements, "This is an unlawful protest," that's when things start getting kinetic, and that's when it starts looking ugly.
COATES: Jason, to what extent is ICE having to monitor this? They can't make any, or they can't be a part of criminal prosecutions or criminal investigations and arrests. What role are they playing? Are they just watching this unfold?
PACK: Well, they're certainly protecting themselves and, and keeping an eye to the news and other sources of information that they have. No one wants anybody to get hurt in this.
The last thing any officer does when they get up in the morning is go out and hopefully, and think that somebody might get hurt. That's just not it, I know you're a prosecutor, you probably never met an agent that wanted anybody to get hurt. It's just the opposite.
So I think they're going to take a look at this, and the folks at ICE will make preparations, and I'm sure they're not going to leave anytime soon. So I think they're going to be there and continuing their mission.
COATES: Donell, quickly, what would trigger the National Guard's presence?
HARVIN: Well, if the state and locals can't handle it, if they see it's getting out of hand, that's really when the governor can call them in.
COATES: Are we there yet?
HARVIN: Not yet.
COATES: Everyone, thank you so much. Stand by. We have so much more reporting.
For everyone who's been watching or just tuning in, protesters went away from the site of the vigil, where Renee Good had been killed by an ICE officer just two days ago, to downtown hotels, seeking out ICE officers.
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You have local law enforcement stepping in to try to hold the line and dispersing the crowd within short time and good order. Elex Michaelson is going to pick up the breaking news coverage right now.
