Press exposed to tear gas, other chemical irritants at Minnesota protests

Protests erupted across the Minneapolis, Minnesota, area in January 2026, after a sweeping federal immigration enforcement surge heightened tensions between residents and federal agents. More unrest followed after a woman was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, an ICE officer shot and wounded one man, and Border Patrol agents shot and killed another.

As demonstrations unfolded, some journalists covering them were threatened with arrest, while others were repeatedly exposed to chemical irritants such as tear gas and pepper spray. At times, the exposure forced reporters to pause their coverage, retreat to other areas or wash out their eyes — echoing the types of disruptions seen at similar immigration protests in Illinois and California last year.

The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to requests for comments about journalists affected by its use of the munitions.

While these January incidents are not formally classified as press freedom violations under the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s 11 established categories, we’ve provided a roundup of them below, organized by date and location. This roundup will be updated as additional incidents are verified.

To learn more about how the Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit our FAQ page.

Jan. 7, 2026

In Minneapolis

• Videographer Oliya Scootercaster, founder of FreedomNews.TV, was exposed to tear gas while capturing video of protesters after an ICE officer shot and killed Minneapolis resident Renee Good nearby.
• KMSP-TV reporter Karen Scullin and other media were affected by chemical irritants after ICE officers pepper-sprayed protesters blocking the road. “Got hit just being near. That stuff hurts bad,” Scullin wrote on social media. “Skin, eyes, lungs. Waiting it out.”

Jan. 8, 2026

In Fort Snelling

• During a video report outside the Whipple Federal Building, CNN correspondent Ryan Young can be heard coughing as he says, “The pepper ball spray is very strong. They use that to make sure that the crowd stays back.” Later in the video, smoke is seen filling the air. “They have deployed an agent, folks,” Young said.

Jan. 11, 2026

In Fort Snelling

• Status Coup journalists JT Cestkowski and Jon Farina told the Tracker they were repeatedly caught in the clouds of tear gas and impacted by federal agents’ deployment of stun grenades. “No distinction was made between press and protesters,” said Cestkowski, who was also shot in the arm and buttocks with pepper balls that day. Farina was also struck by a crowd-control munition during the coverage.

Jan. 14, 2026

In Minneapolis

• Reporter Wali Khan said in an Instagram post that an ICE officer threatened him with arrest while he was filming the aftermath of protesters flattening the tire of an unmarked ICE vehicle. “Just press,” Khan said in the Instagram video. “I don’t give a fuck if you’re the press,” the officer responded. “We’re giving everybody a fucking warning: If they fuck around, they’re going to get arrested.”
• Status Coup journalist Zach Roberts and photographer Jon Farina were exposed to tear gas fired by various law enforcement agencies. Also that day, Roberts was hit in the head with debris from a crowd-control munition.
• CNN correspondent Whitney Wild said on air that she and her crew were hit with chemical irritants. “It’s a little hard to breathe because they just let off several flash bangs, multiple tear gas canisters.” She added that she and her producer, Meridith Edwards, got separated from photographer Jonathan Schaer at one point because it was so foggy from the tear gas, as shown in another CNN video.

Jan. 15, 2026

In Fort Snelling

• Photographer John Abernathy was subjected to intense tear gas and deliberately pepper-sprayed as federal officers detained and arrested him. “As soon as that hit me, I was 100% defenseless. It was extreme pain. My eyes were burning, my face was burning and that was near my last breath,” Abernathy told the Tracker of the pepper spray.
• Martha Kelner, a reporter for Sky News, struggled to report after federal officers fired chemical irritants into the air. “As you can see, the police, with their weapons drawn, they’re firing tear gas, pepper bullets, too,” she said before she was overwhelmed. “Apologies, as you can hear that tear gas is really catching in the throat of everyone here.”
• Reporter Wali Khan can be heard reacting in pain and coughing as he is exposed to tear gas fired by federal agents in an Instagram video taken outside the Whipple Federal Building, which houses ICE.

In Minneapolis

• CNN correspondent Julia Vargas Jones told the Tracker that she, her producer Sarah Moon and photojournalist Orlando Ruiz were affected by pepper ball residue. “We were in the crowd where federal officers were shooting to disperse the crowd,” Jones said. Ruiz’s eyes were especially irritated by the gust of the chemical irritant, and he needed to stop filming to clean them before continuing to report.
• In a CNN video, reporter Shimon Prokupecz retreated, coughing, from the area of a protest as law enforcement deployed tear gas and percussion grenades. “Wow. This is nasty,” Prokupecz said as he continued to choke through his report.

Jan. 21, 2026

In Fort Snelling

• Daniel Knowles, a Midwest correspondent for The Economist, told the Tracker he had RSVP’d to a DHS news conference but was denied entry for security reasons. “Pretty much all the foreign press there were excluded from what I could tell,” he wrote in an email.

Jan. 23, 2026

In Minneapolis

• Independent journalists Margaret Killjoy and James Stout were repeatedly threatened with arrest while trapped between a line of Hennepin County sheriff’s deputies and a wall near the Whipple Federal Building. Stout told the Tracker that they were documenting protests near the building that day, but had gone to their vehicle for additional clothing layers and hand warmers to defrost Stout’s equipment, which had stopped working in the -30˚F weather. After they returned to the scene, they found that sheriff’s deputies had pushed protesters back from the building and were blocking the journalists’ way out of the area. The officers then informed them they had only five minutes to disperse or else face arrest, directing them to head east toward a road, but no one around them knew where that was. “On one side of us is a military installation, so we’re not going that way. On the other side of us is fenced off. Then there’s the pathway that goes around the side of the federal building, kind of behind us. And then where we are standing is directly next to a light rail station.” Stout said he tried to approach the deputies, but they started advancing toward them and gesturing for them to leave. He added that he was clearly identifiable as a journalist — wearing a bright red helmet labeled “PRESS” and carrying a professional microphone. Killjoy was also wearing a helmet with similar markings. At what Stout said felt like the last possible moment, a light rail train happened to pull into the station, and they were able to board, bypassing the deputies’ skirmish line.

Jan. 24, 2026

In Minneapolis

• Independent journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was deliberately drenched in pepper spray by federal officers while documenting an impromptu protest in the hours after Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti was killed by Border Patrol agents. He wrote on social media that protesters were gathered less than a block from where the shooting took place and federal agents targeted them with large volumes of chemical irritants. “I got absolutely covered in spray,” he added in a subsequent post. “Really grateful to some protesters who have helped remove the dousing all over one of my jackets, face and camera.”
• Two weeks after an earlier encounter, Status Coup journalists JT Cestkowski and Jon Farina were caught in tear gas while documenting a protest near where Pretti was killed. In a video posted to Instagram, both journalists move back from gas and pepper spray, as Cestkowski is heard coughing. Later, he reported that local residents offered water to him and those affected by the chemical irritant. “The tear gas that’s being fired there is not being fired by the local law enforcement; it’s being fired by the federal government,” he said of the continuous barrage.
• KARE reporter Joe McCoy and anchor Jana Shortal, while on air at a demonstration in response to Pretti’s killing, were driven from the scene with others in the crowd after several loud bangs were heard. McCoy told the studio anchor that law enforcement had launched tear gas into the gathering, but that he and Shortal were unharmed. The incident occurred shortly after Shortal was shoved by federal agents and sprayed in the eye with a chemical irritant.
• KSTP-TV reporter Eric Rasmussen and photojournalist Joe Caffrey were tear-gassed on live TV while covering a protest after Pretti’s killing. “They’re moving us back,” Rasmussen reported while violently coughing and catching his breath. “There was no warning. I got to get to safety, I’m sorry guys.”
• CNN reporter Sara Sidner and photographer Jerry Simonson were inundated by a cloud of tear gas while reporting from the scene of Pretti’s killing. In a video posted to Instagram, Sidner chokes violently after federal agents deploy the gas. “I can’t breathe,” she said, as the sound cuts on and off. Later, in another Instagram video, she said, “There was no physical reaction from protesters; the only thing they were doing was speaking their minds, and suddenly we were all gassed and munitions fired toward us.”
• KARE television reporter Samie Solina reported that she was sprayed with tear gas as crowds gathered where federal officers shot Pretti. “I was kind of coughing up and throwing up a little bit earlier in the day because of that chemical irritant,” Solina said.
• Wall Street Journal reporter Mariah Timms reported that federal agents deployed tear gas in the area where she was reporting, causing people around her to start wretching from the exposure. “It was getting cloudier down in that intersection,” she said in a video, adding that she quickly got her mask on, though it was not properly secured in the frenzy. “It was that sort of spicy, back-of-your-throat, difficult-to-catch-your-breath feeling,” she said.
• Independent journalist Nick Valencia was repeatedly exposed to chemical irritants launched by federal officers. In a Facebook video, his eyes begin watering as he visibly reacts to the barrage. “This stuff is like pepper spray on steroids,” he told the Tracker. “I was basically left blinded for about 90 seconds.” Also that day, Valencia was pushed by a Border Patrol agent and struck with tear gas canisters.

Jan. 25, 2026

In Minneapolis

• Status Coup reporter Tina-Desiree Berg and photojournalist Jon Farina reported that they were covering a “noise demonstration” outside a hotel where federal officers were believed to be staying when officers deployed tear gas and disorientation weapons to disperse a gaggle of journalists who were already complying with orders to move back from the hotel. Both journalists were caught in the growing cloud of chemical gas. In footage of the incident, Berg can be heard saying “I can’t breathe” multiple times as explosions continue in the background. Farina tells her to cover her face and reassures her, “I got you.” As Berg struggles to continue moving, Farina says, “We have to keep going. Come here, we’re almost safe.” Both journalists needed to rinse off the irritant before they could continue reporting, according to Status Coup. The incident occurred shortly after a federal officer seized Berg from behind and shoved her to the ground.
• The day after previous incidents, independent journalist Nick Valencia was exposed to chemical irritants and ordered to leave while documenting federal agents making at least two arrests, he told the Tracker. In a video Valencia posted to Facebook, he identifies himself as a journalist. An agent responds, “Don’t care,” before shining a light in his face. Valencia later posted an Instagram photo showing an agent pointing a gun at him, which he told the Tracker was likely loaded with crowd-control munitions. “You show up with a camera, they show up with a gun and point it at you,” he wrote on the post. “I repeatedly identified myself as a journalist and was repeatedly told by the feds they didn’t care who I was. They would shoot me.” Valencia told the Tracker the encounter was brief and did not feel like an imminent threat at the time.