Right-Wing Influencers Have Flooded Minneapolis
In the days Since a masked federal agent fatally shot Renée Nicole Good, right-wing creators and influencers like Nick Sortor and Cam Higby have descended on Minneapolis, filming protesters and interviewing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. So far, they’ve produced a steady stream of content that seems designed to portray Minneapolis as a lawless city and the actions of ICE agents like Jonathan Ross, who allegedly shot and killed Good, as self-defense.
“HELL YES! ICE just smashed a left-wing activist’s car window and took him out after he interfered with ICE operations in Minneapolis. MORE OF THIS!” Sortor posted on X Sunday: “The consequences must be HUGE! »
These creators focused much of their content on how protesters would use personal vehicles and block traffic to hinder ICE operations. In a video posted Friday, Kevin Posobiec, creator of the far-right website Human Events, highlighted how protesters appeared to have blocked traffic in downtown Minneapolis.
“Protesters are wearing high visibility safety vests and manipulating traffic. We are here,” he posted.
Once these clips are published on platforms like These clips then become topics of discussion on social media, sometimes landing on cable television channels where they become the primary evidence in attempts to justify the Trump administration’s advance in American cities.
The content apparently followed the same narrative as what comes directly from the EDS. In an interview with Fox News on Monday, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin says Ross was protecting himself and other agents.
“[The officer] followed his training. He feared for his life. He feared for his life from law enforcement officers,” McLaughlin said. “And that’s when he went through his training and this situation turned deadly.”
The Trump administration has been preparing for this moment for months. Since at least last summer, right-wing influencers have integrated themselves alongside immigration agents during ICE raids to justify the administration’s crackdown. Today, with an agent under scrutiny for Good’s murder, many of those same influencers are running a similar playbook.
Right-wing influencers began arriving in Minneapolis shortly after a YouTube video from Nick Shirley, a right-wing creator, went viral in December claiming to have uncovered an alleged $100 million fraud scheme involving Somali daycares. Although several local media outlets in Minnesota have covered a similar story for years, the video has been viewed more than three million times, with prominent right-wing figures like Elon Musk reposting excerpts.
A law enforcement official told CNN earlier this month that the influx of Department of Homeland Security agents into Minnesota was due in part to Shirley’s video.
ICE’s influence operations will only get bigger. Last month, the Washington Post reported that the agency plans to spend about $100 million to use content creators and geo-targeted internet ads to help recruit future deportation agents.
