Journalist shoved while reporting on Minneapolis anti-ICE barricade

Daily Caller reporter Jorge Ventura was repeatedly shoved and his phone knocked from his hands by individuals angry with his coverage of an anti-immigration authority barricade in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Feb. 2, 2026.

Demonstrations against Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions in the Twin Cities area have been mounting since the beginning of January, following the expansion of an ICE crackdown, known as Operation Metro Surge, and federal officers’ fatal shooting of two Minneapolis residents — Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Ventura told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he had seen photos on social media of what was being referred to as a “filter blockade,” a makeshift barricade in the middle of the road meant to hinder ICE operations in a south Minneapolis neighborhood.

He and independent photojournalist Erik Herrera took a car together to where it was reportedly set up. “It was just a bunch of random things in the middle of the intersection, so stuff like wood pallets, dumpsters, mattresses,” Ventura said.

He added that the checkpoint was being operated by several individuals, some of whom immediately approached to ask who they were.

“I said, ‘Hey, we’re reporters, I work for the Daily Caller.’ And then they didn’t actually mind it,” Ventura said.

As the journalists began documenting the scene, Ventura said he noticed that one of the individuals had approached their ride-share driver.

“A couple of individuals basically said that our Uber driver was an ICE agent, because, I guess, they ran his license plate in their ‘database,’” he told the Tracker. “I head over there, and I’m just like, ‘Hey, he’s not an ICE agent, he’s Somalian, clearly.’ So that kind of started our interaction.”

Ventura said he tried to ask the individual about the database they had referenced and the checkpoint, but after a few questions, the man declined to do an interview and walked away. Then Ventura noticed that individuals manning the barricade were forcing two SUVs to turn around.

“It’s unconfirmed if they were federal agents, but they did have the markings: they had the all-black, tinted windows, and they were turning them around. So I started to zoom in and shoot video of that,” he said.

That’s when Ventura said two individuals began shoving him, blocking him from moving forward and telling him to leave. One also attempted to grab the phone Ventura was using to record from his hands.

The individuals also shoved Herrera and forced him to move back toward their waiting car.

“Then they kind of, in a way, forced me back to the Uber and kind of shoved me in,” Ventura said. “I’m still filming a bit, and one of them actually smacks my phone out of my hand, and I kind of spring out of the car seat.”

Ventura launched himself headfirst through the window, falling onto his phone atop a snowbank. “I panicked,” he said. “I felt like they were going to run off with it.”

He told the Tracker he was able to retrieve his phone, and the pair then left the scene after only five minutes. Over the next few hours, they clipped together their footage and posted it online.