.

“As an adjudicated insurrectionist, Trump is an illegitimate president according to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, and therefore every official act as president will be illegitimate.”

–Mike Zonta, co-editor of OccupySF.net

The 14th Amendment states: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”

Call your Congressperson and your U.S. Senators at (202) 224-3121

Even Democrats Who Crafted ICE Funding Compromise Are Questioning It

Fearing primaries for abetting Trump’s crackdown, top Democrats are turning away from a deal they crafted to avoid another government shutdown.

Matt Sledge

January 21 2026 (TheIntercept.com)

Representative Lauren Underwood, a Democrat from Illinois and acting ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, left, and Representative Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut, during a hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. The hearing is reviewing the fiscal year 2026 budget requests for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Photographer: Pete Kiehart/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., center, during a hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security in Washington on May 7, 2025. Photo: Pete Kiehart/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Top Democrats in Congress are turning against a deal that some of their caucuses’ most powerful members reached with Republicans over the weekend to maintain steady funding for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

Only a day after Senate and House Democratic appropriations leaders said the bill was the best they could do, some of the Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Wednesday they would oppose it during a final vote.

Civil rights advocates worried that, if the bipartisan deal the appropriations committees reached passes, it will provide cover for ICE after the killing of Renee Good.

“Every dollar more is a dollar that is enabling this bad behavior, and every dollar emboldens these agencies.”

“Every dollar more is a dollar that is enabling this bad behavior, and every dollar emboldens these agencies,” said Kate Voigt, a senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union. “Giving these agencies this much money right now in a business-as-usual appropriations bill is a stamp of approval on their behavior.”

The House could vote on the measure Thursday, with a make-or-break Senate vote coming next week.

Even the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee who led negotiations on the compromise, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., offered a tepid defense at a House Rules Committee meeting later in the day.

“It is complicated,” she said, “when you’re both trying to govern and you’re trying to resist what may be infringements, to thread that needle and try to be able to move forward.”

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Primary Bait

The compromise on funding ICE had barely been announced before drawing a furious response from progressives.

Congress is trying to craft a package of bills that will provide continued funding for the federal government past a January 30 deadline, which was set at the end of the last government shutdown.

The package includes the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency for ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which itself houses Border Patrol.

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New Bill Would Put Basic Limits on ICE Use of Force After Minneapolis Killing

Instead of defunding or abolishing ICE, as some progressives have demanded, the bill keeps the agency’s funding flat. Customs and Border Protection would see its regular funding drop by $1.3 billion.

Democratic leaders in the House heard an earful about the bill at a caucus meeting Wednesday. During the meeting, Jeffries said he would vote against itaccording to multiple reports.

The bill is already playing into Democratic primaries, where challengers have seized on it as an example of out-of-touch Democratic incumbents.

Chuck Park, a former New York City Council staffer who is challenging Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., said the bill was “not a compromise. It funds ICE at current levels and offers reforms that don’t get anywhere near solving the problem.”

“Any Democrat who supports this needs to be primaried.”

He continued, “Any Democrat who supports this needs to be primaried.”

Meng, a House Appropriations Committee member, said in a statement that she would oppose the bill on the House floor.

“It’s clear that ICE must be held accountable. This bill fails to meet this moment,” Meng said. “For the constituents in my community who have been violently detained, for Renee Good and other U.S. Citizens who have been wrongfully targeted by ICE agents, and for the law-abiding immigrants throughout the United States whose rights have been trampled on, I cannot in good conscience vote for this bill.”

Guardrails That Aren’t

In defense of the bill, Democratic leaders on the House and Senate appropriations committees have pointed to a handful of provisions they say could provide a check on some of ICE and CBP’s worst abuses.

The bill would increase reporting requirements when DHS shuffles funds between agencies. It boosts funding for oversight offices that President Donald Trump’s administration has tried to gut. It would also provide $20 million in additional funding for body cameras.

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In a statement, Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., said that even if Democrats were successful in tanking the bill, another shutdown would be worse.

“The suggestion that a shutdown in this moment might curb the lawlessness of this administration is not rooted in reality: under a CR” — a continuing resolution that funds the government for a limited period — “and in a shutdown, this administration can do everything they are already doing — but without any of the critical guardrails and constraints imposed by a full-year funding bill,” Murray said.

Murray pointed to the $75 billion that congressional Republicans gave to DHS to spend over four years as it likes as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Murray and DeLauro argue that Democrats in the minority have limited tools to block funding for DHS, and that even preventing additional funding for the agency represents a win.

Still, it remained unclear Wednesday whether some appropriations leaders — including DeLauro — will themselves vote for the bills. Others, such as Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., have said they will vote against the DHS funding bill.

There do appear to be some centrist Democrats open to voting for the measure. Appropriations Committee member Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, told The Hill that he would vote for the bill, citing the oversight and body-camera provisions.

The purported guardrails will do little to curb ICE and CBP, advocates said on a press call on Wednesday.

ICE is already flouting transparency requirements such as a law allowing members of Congress to inspect detention facilities. The body-camera funding is also toothless, civil rights groups said.

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“Agents are committing egregious abuses day in and day out while wearing body cameras, and I would remind everyone that Jonathan Ross was in fact holding up his phone and voluntarily filming in the moments before he shot Renee Good,” said Heidi Altman, vice president of policy at the National Immigration Law Center.

Moreover, DHS can still shuttle funds within and between agencies, with some restrictions. Altman said members of Congress cannot “wash their hands” of fighting funding for DHS by pointing to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“Every member of Congress is responsible to their constituents,” she said, “and right now, we are hearing quite the outcry from across the country to do every single thing in their authority to take away power and take away money from this agency that is hurting their community members.”

I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.

We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.

In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.

That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?

We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?

Donate

Contact the author:

Matt Sledgesledge@theintercept.com@sledge.41on Signal

Democrats Condemn ICE For Murdering Without Proper Warrants

Published: January 22, 2026 (TheOnion.com)

WASHINGTON—In a statement calling for more guardrails around ongoing immigration operations, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives publicly condemned Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thursday for routinely employing fatal use of force without obtaining the proper warrants. “For weeks, Democrats have pushed to require ICE agents to obtain the necessary judicial warrants ahead of any murders they plan to commit,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in a joint statement on the current Homeland Security funding bill, which would allocate $500 million to developing “common sense” accountability measures for any extrajudicial killings carried out at the behest of the federal government. “It is vital that the Department of Homeland Security uphold the rule of law when indiscriminately gunning down innocent civilians in the street; otherwise, the whole system could fall apart. Rather than doing things by the book, these officers are out there slaughtering everyday Americans without first filing the proper paperwork with the appropriate agencies. Our framework is designed to ensure that ICE conducts itself like every other law enforcement agency in the nation, enacting violence upon our populace with impunity and without consequence.” Jeffries added that he empathized with immigrant communities who live in fear knowing that at any moment they could be killed without administrative due diligence.

7 House Democrats Vote With GOP to Give ICE More Money Despite Deadly Invasions of US Cities

Federal Agents Descend On Minneapolis For Immigration Enforcement Operations

A Border Patrol member pepper-sprays observers after getting into a car accident on Blaisdell Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 21, 2026.

 (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

“The billions in funding in this bill will only embolden ICE and CBP to continue arresting our neighbors—immigrant and US citizen alike,” warned one ACLU attorney.

Jessica Corbett

Jan 22, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)

Seven Democrats in the US House of Representatives voted with nearly all Republicans on Thursday to pass a Department of Homeland Security funding bill despite growing calls from across the country for Congress to rein in the Trump administration’s deadly immigration operations, which are led by DHS agents.

Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar (Texas), Don Davis (NC), Laura Gillen (NY), Jared Golden (Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), and Tom Suozzi (NY) joined all Republicans but Rep. Thomas Massie (KY) for the 220-207 vote that sent the legislation to the Senate—where the GOP also has a majority, but it’s so narrow that most bills need some Democratic support to pass.

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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) notably refused to pressure members of his caucus to oppose the bill, even though voters clearly oppose federal operations featuring violence and lawlessness by agents with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) everywhere from California and Illinois, to Minnesota and Maine.

Jeffries and other Democratic leaders have faced growing public pressure to use a rapidly approaching deadline—if Congress doesn’t pass legislation by January 30, the federal government shuts down again—to freeze ICE funding. The bill that advanced out of the House on Thursday would give ICE $10 billion and CBP $18.3 billion.

https://x.com/sunrisemvmt/status/2014464643167633503?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2014464643167633503%7Ctwgr%5Ec4029adfaccdc29b96f64f3cf72679d1b738aa68%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Ftrump-administration-ice-funding

“I just voted HELL NO to giving ICE a single penny,” declared Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), who’s part of the progressive Squad. “Congress should not be funding an agency that has terrorized our communities, kidnapped our neighbors, and killed people on the street with impunity. We must abolish ICE and end qualified immunity for ICE agents NOW.”

Two weeks ago, ICE officer Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old US citizen and mother of three, in the Twin Cities, where President Donald Trump has sent thousands of federal agents. Videos, eyewitness accounts, analyses of the shooting, and an independent autopsy have fueled calls for Ross’ arrest and prosecution.

Squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose district includes Minneapolis, said ahead of the vote: “Deporting children with cancer. Using a 5-year-old as bait. Shooting moms. ICE is beyond reform. And today the House is voting to bankroll more terror. Hell no.”

Another Squad member, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), said: “DHS is using our tax dollars to terrorize our neighbors and detain 5-year-olds. It’s shameful. ICE must be abolished. Kristi Noem must be impeached. And not one more penny should go to this rogue agency.”

The entire Congressional Progressive Caucus opposed the bill. CPC Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas) said in a video posted to social media after the vote that “this mass deportation machine is out of control: detaining and deporting US citizens and veterans, arresting little kids, ripping up families, killing innocent people. It’s got to stop.”

“Our taxpayer money does not need to got to Donald Trump’s out-of-control mass deportation machine,” Casar added. “We should be sending it to our schools and to childcare, and to bringing down the cost of living for everyday people.”

MoveOn Civic Action spokesperson Britt Jacovich said in a Thursday statement that “Americans want healthcare and lower costs, not masked ICE agents kidnapping kids from playgrounds and schools. The House just failed their latest test to hold Trump and his dangerous ICE street gang accountable for killing innocent people like Renee Nicole Good and many others. Senate Democrats need to step up for the American people and block any funding bill that gives another dime for ICE to abduct 5-year olds and kill citizens.”

Kate Voigt, senior policy counsel at the ACLU—which has been involved in multiple lawsuits over recent DHS operations—similarly stressed that “the House vote in favor of excessive funding for ICE with no meaningful accountability measures is wildly out of touch with polling that shows the majority of voters oppose ICE and Border Patrol’s attacks on our communities.”

“The bill fails to rein in ICE and Border Patrol at a time when they are engaged in an unprecedented assault on our rights, safety, and democratic way of life,” she continued. “The billions in funding in this bill will only embolden ICE and CBP to continue arresting our neighbors—immigrant and US citizen alike—no matter the costs to our communities, economy, and integrity of our Constitution.

”While the House narrowly passed this bill, we thank the members of Congress who held the line and voted against this harmful legislation,“ Voigt added. ”Now we need our senators to hold firm and refuse to be complicit in fueling ICE’s reckless abuses in our communities.“

BlueSkye: https://embed.bsky.app/embed/did:plc:rrfwruhud4ovela3oe6isre5/app.bsky.feed.post/3md2ezmkays2m?id=6537654652762135&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.commondreams.org%252Fnews%252Ftrump-administration-ice-funding&colorMode=system

The group Indivisible emphasized that “the House had an opportunity to impose meaningful restrictions on ICE and it failed. As the regime terrorizes our communities with masked federal agents and unchecked violence, Congress stood quietly by and passed a DHS funding bill that continues to funnel taxpayer dollars into ICE’s slush fund.”

“Passing this bill without any meaningful check on this lawless agency is beyond the pale,” Indivisible added. “In an egregious failure of leadership, House Democratic ‘leaders’ personally opposed the bill while declining to whip against it.”

The DHS legislation advanced alongside a three-bill appropriations package, which passed by a vote of 341-88. According to the Hill: “The House will combine the four bills with a two-bill minibus it passed last week and send the full package to the Senate. The upper chamber is expected to take up the bills when it returns from recess next week ahead of a January 30 deadline.”

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.

Jessica Corbett

Jessica Corbett is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.

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Why Buddhist monks (and one very good rescue dog) are walking 2,300 miles across America for peace

Their dog Aloka, once a stray rescued by a monk, has become a symbol of resilience and light.

kat hong

01.23.26 (Upworthy.com)

dog, walk, peace, Budhhist, monks

Credit: Palm Beach Post

Aloka accompanying the monks on their Walk for Peace.

It was a normal winter’s day in Charlotte, North Carolina, when the Buddhist monks came to town. Soft gray clouds blanketed the city without a trace of wind in sight. A few people complained about the 96% humidity, while others put their heads down and went on with their damp day.

Then, like a scene from a movie, there they were: a single-file line of men, each wearing flowing saffron and ochre-colored robes, steadily marching along the shoulder of the highway. Some wore sandals while others cheerfully went ahead barefoot. Trotting alongside them—and at times, leading them—was a scruffy, tousle-haired rescue dog eagerly wagging his tail—Aloka, whose name translates to “Divine Light” in Sanskrit.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7595172743402753311?lang=en-US&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.upworthy.com%2Fbuddhist-monks-walk-for-peace

–TikTok video

In October 2025, approximately two dozen Buddhist monks hailing from various Theravada Buddhist monasteries across the globe, along with Aloka, embarked from Fort Worth, Texas, on a 2,300-mile pilgrimage to Washington, D.C. This “Walk of Peace,” and the participating 18 monks, stand on the shoulders of giants: the countless of those who came before them in this time-old tradition of spiritual activism through walking meditation, from the Buddha himself to Gandhi’s groundbreaking 240-mile “Salt March” in 1930, to Dr. Martin Luther King’s immortalized March on Washington in 1963 and the marches from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.

The journey, expected to conclude in mid-February 2026, has attracted millions of social media followers and drawn thousands of participants to major stopping points, transcending the religious and political divide during a period defined by deep division.

A pilgrimage of resilience

The journey began in Fort Worth, Texas, on October 26, 2025, at Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center, the Vietnamese Buddhist temple that organized the Walk for Peace. It’s also the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara’s home temple, who serves as the group’s spiritual leader and primary spokesperson.

While this is Pannakara’s first pilgrimage in the States, the Vietnamese Theravada Buddhist monk has reportedly walked across several South Asian countries, including a 112-day walk across India in 2022, where he met Aloka, the stray dog that’s become somewhat of a mascot for the walk. Aloka has been with Pannakara ever since.

Monks, walk, peace, Buddhism, Buddhists

Monks offer blessings to people lined up to see them.Credit: Des Moines Register

In a written statement to USA Today, Pannakara encourages others to reframe the purpose of their mission. “We walk not to protest, but to awaken the peace that already lives within each of us,” he writes.

He continues: “The Walk for Peace is a simple, yet meaningful reminder that unity and kindness begin within each of us and can radiate outward to families, communities, and society as a whole.”

He means it. For Pannakara, this walk represents a national act of healing rather than a political statement. At every stop, he offers lessons about mindfulness, peace as an inner quality, forgiveness, healing, unity, and the importance of meeting people where they are.

2,300 miles is no walk in the park

The journey hasn’t been easy—though that was never the point for this group. As if walking 2,300 miles across ten states wasn’t difficult enough, Pannakara and the other Theravada Buddhist monks live in accordance with the earliest teachings of the Buddha and dedicated themselves to extreme monastic living and to following strict Buddhist codes of living.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7591337796162440479?lang=en-US&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.upworthy.com%2Fbuddhist-monks-walk-for-peace

–TikTok video

As a result, the monks sleep in tents and rely on the kindness of strangers for shelter or sustenance. They’ve faced the physical reality of walking on asphalt for months. Then, in November, tragedy struck near Dayton, Texas. An escort vehicle was hit, resulting in an accident where one monk was severely injured and lost a leg.

Yet, the group continued.

At their stop Thursday in Saluda, South Carolina, Audrie Pearce—who had driven four hours from her village of Little River to see them—teared up as Pannakara handed her a flower.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7595172743402753311?lang=en-US&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.upworthy.com%2Fbuddhist-monks-walk-for-peace

–TikTok video

“There’s something traumatic and heart-wrenching happening every day in our country,” Pearce told Newsday. She describes herself as spiritual, but not religious. “I looked into their eyes, and I saw peace. They’re putting their bodies through such physical torture, and yet they radiate peace.”

Aloka, the four-legged peacekeeper

While the monks inspire reverence, the true celebrity of the group might just be their canine companion.

Aloka is an Indian Pariah dog, a breed known for its intelligence and loyalty. His story with Bhikkhu Pannakara began thousands of miles away in India during a previous peace walk. When Aloka fell critically ill as a puppy, Pannakara carried him and nursed him back to health.

monks, Buddhist, walk, peace, Buddhism

Thevada Buddhist monks greeting fans on their Walk for Peace.Credit: Des Moines Register

Now, the roles have reversed. Aloka is the one keeping spirits high. He happily trots alongside the monks, offering a furry reminder of loyalty and joy. When the group reached North Carolina, locals didn’t just bring water for the monks; they brought dog treats for Aloka.

Strangers becoming neighbors

Perhaps the most beautiful part of this journey is how it has brought people together. As the monks traverse states like Mississippi, Alabama, and the Carolinas, they have been met not with suspicion but with overwhelming hospitality.

The Herald shared stories from people in the crowd as the monks traveled through Rock Hill and Fort Mill on their way to Charlotte.

“I like the idea of peace, and I’m concerned about the state our country is in,” said Penny Sheppard of Rock Hill, as she waited for the monks to walk by. “The peace walk exemplifies where we could be…. I just want to support them… They just impress the heck out of me.”

monks, Buddhism, Buddhist, walk, peace

The monks as they enter North Carolina.Credit: 7News

Stevie Goudui of Fort Mill echoed this sentiment. “We could definitely use a little more peace in the United States right now,” he said.

Then, from Rock Hill resident Carolyn Hall: “No matter your religion, it makes sense that the purpose of the walk was for peace,” Hall said.

“Women, children, people getting killed. It’s a sad day in America right now,” she added. “I think it’s great what (the monks) are doing. I love it, and I just want to be a part of it.”

Streets lined with onlookers on a cold, wet Wednesday made for an emotional morning. “That really touched my heart,” said the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara. “These days, you all make me cry so much. A lot. But happy tears. Joy.”

A quiet request for a national holiday

While the spiritual goal is paramount, the monks do have a tangible objective for their arrival in the nation’s capital. Upon reaching Washington, D.C. in mid-February, they plan to ask Congress to recognize Vesak—the day celebrating Buddha’s birth and enlightenment—as a federal holiday.

The hope is that recognizing Vesak will officially acknowledge a day dedicated to reflection, compassion, and unity for all people, regardless of their faith.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7597838554135285022?lang=en-US&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.upworthy.com%2Fbuddhist-monks-walk-for-peace

–TikTok video

Judging by the overwhelming response to the Walk of Peace, the monks will always have the public’s support, regardless of the outcome in Congress.

The viral trek gained more than one million followers on both Facebook and TikTok since the monks started walking in October. Even Aloka the dog has enjoyed Internet stardom, gaining 752,000 followers on Facebook.

“Together, we are proving that peace is not just a dream—it is alive, it is real, and it is growing stronger every single day,” Walk for Peace organizers posted to Facebook.

Finding your own “peaceful day”

You don’t have to walk 2,300 miles to feel the impact of this journey. The monks’ message is that peace is accessible to everyone, right where they are.

Becki Gable, a woman grieving the loss of her daughters and parents, drove nearly 400 miles to meet the monks in Saluda, South Carolina.

“I just felt in my heart that this would help me have peace,” she told a local news station. “Maybe I could move a little bit forward in my life.”

She spoke about how the encounter helped her move forward, adopting a simple practice suggested by Bhikkhu Pannakara. Every morning, she writes down five words: “Today is my peaceful day.”

You can follow the monks on their journey to Washington, D.C. through their live tracker here.

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2000 Meters to Andriivka | FRONTLINE

FRONTLINE PBS | Official Premiered Nov 25, 2025A stunning and immersive portrayal of the men fighting on the front lines of the war in Ukraine, from the Oscar®-winning team behind “20 Days in Mariupol.” This journalism is made possible by viewers like you. Support your local PBS station here: https://www.pbs.org/donate​. “2000 Meters to Andriivka” documents the toll of the Russia-Ukraine war from a personal and devastating vantage point. Following his historic account of the civilian toll in Mariupol, Ukrainian filmmaker and Associated Press journalist Mstyslav Chernov turns his lens towards Ukrainian soldiers — who they are, where they came from, and the impossible decisions they face in the trenches as they fight for every inch of their land. The documentary follows a Ukrainian brigade battling through approximately one mile of a heavily fortified forest on their mission to liberate the Russian-occupied village of Andriivka amid a failing counteroffensive in 2023. Weaving together original footage, intensive Ukrainian Army bodycam video and powerful moments of reflection with haunting intimacy, the documentary reveals how the farther the soldiers advance through their destroyed homeland, the more they realize that, for them, this war may never end. “2000 Meters to Andriivka” is written, filmed and directed by filmmaker and Associated Press journalist Mstyslav Chernov. It is produced by Chernov, FRONTLINE’s senior documentary editor and producer Michelle Mizner and FRONTLINE’s editor-in-chief and executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath. It is edited by Michelle Mizner. The film is co-produced and includes additional cinematography by AP journalist Alex Babenko, and is composed by two-time Grammy Award®-winning composer and music-producer Sam Slater. Distributed domestically by PBS Distribution and internationally by Dogwoof, “2000 Meters to Andriivka” is a FRONTLINE FEATURES and The Associated Press production. 00:00 – Film Open 00:13 – In the Trenches With the Men Fighting the War in Ukraine 10:21 – Ukraine Launches a Counteroffensive Against Russia in 2023 23:53 – Ukrainian Soldiers Battle Through a Fortified Forest to the Village of Andriivka 49:41 – Ukrainian Officers at Headquarters Guide Soldiers Through the Battlefield 01:02:34 – A Ukrainian Soldier Reflects On His Hopes & Worries 01:14:44 – Surveying the Death & Destruction of the Russia-Ukraine War 01:21:29 – The Liberation of Andriivka 01:45:28 – Credits

“No Work. No Spending”: Minnesota Workers Will Strike Tomorrow to Protest ICE

A critical conversation with Minnesota union leaders on the eve of a massive general strike.

MAXIMILLIAN ALVAREZ JANUARY 22, 2026 (inthesetimes.com)

Protesters participate in a ‘Stop ICE Terror’ rally against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, January 20, 2026.PHOTO BY MADISON THORN / ANADOLU VIA GETTY IMAGES

Maximillian Alvarez: As we speak — and we’re recording this on January 19, 2026 — the state of Minnesota is under siege by our own federal government, and residents, immigrant and U.S.-born alike, are living in fear. With the deployment of over 3,000 federal agents to Minnesota in recent weeks, this is the Trump administration’s largest and most violent so-called ​“immigration enforcement operation” yet. 

And with President Trump threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota in response to protests over ICE’s terror campaign, the situation on the ground is extremely volatile. Unions, community organizations, faith leaders and small businesses in Minnesota are calling for a statewide day of no work except emergency services, no school, and no shopping to take place this Friday on January 23.

Our panel of guests, Doug Williams, Janette Corcelius, and Dan Troccoli are all union members and organizers in Minnesota, and they are all speaking here today only on their own behalf, not on behalf of their unions or any organizations that they’re a part of.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Daniel Troccoli: The response by ordinary people in Minneapolis and the Twin Cities in general has been very uplifting. I think you painted a very good picture, Max, of how bleak the moment is and how it just drives hope out of you. This has actually instilled a lot more hope in a lot of people. 

“This should come as no surprise to anyone who’s been following the events in Minneapolis for the last 10 years.”

We don’t even have a Labor Party in this country, to say nothing of the sort of working class organization needed to pull off something like that. 

Well I guess I’m sort of like the Grinch, except I’m like a month late. 

My heart is growing three times because what I have seen here has been beyond inspiring. People are coming together. They are not only saying that this has to stop now. They’re not only saying this is a system that no longer works for us. But they’re doing more than talking. They’re acting. 

They’re in the streets. They are engaging in new forms of mutual aid that they might not have engaged in in the past. They’re engaged in high level organizing of their memberships, of their neighbors, of their friends, families, their communities. 

There’s something like 10,000 people in the city or more who have joined rapid response networks in their neighborhood to try and patrol dog ICE. It has had a good effect at stymieing ICE and making it difficult for them to continue their operations.

There’s something I don’t know if people heard, but there was like a moment of silence for Renee Good at the Timberwolves game and someone yelled out, ​“Fuck ICE,” and it just exploded. The whole stadium was just cheering. I’ve never heard of that kind of thing before — frankly, even during the Black Lives Matter movement. So it’s very interesting to me. 

They are choosing not to stay inside, not to stay silent, not just to say, “I approve of every strike except the current one,” or “I approve of every human rights movement besides the one that’s happening right now.”

There’s something I don’t know if people heard, but there was like a moment of silence for Renee Good at the Timberwolves game and someone yelled out, “Fuck ICE,” and it just exploded. The whole stadium was just cheering. I’ve never heard of that kind of thing before—frankly, even during the Black Lives Matter movement. So it’s very interesting to me.

Janette Corcelius: I feel so inspired and moved and, frankly, optimistic because of the labor movement and this opportunity to fight and to lead for Minnesota, to lead in this moment. 

I’m getting people from around the country who want to replicate what we’re doing here where they are at, and that feels so good, especially in a time with so much despair. 

The labor movement has had a long history in the last 50 years of really not doing shit, especially labor leadership. But we’re seeing rank and file and leadership and even non-union people rise up in this moment – willing to take that day and not work, not shop, not go to school. 

I also want to connect that Palestine, and the organizing that labor unions have been doing the last few years around the issue of the genocide, has geared us up and propelled us to this moment and was honestly quite necessary. 

I think it’s clear that a vast majority of people in the Twin Cities are absolutely against this occupation. In my union, the Minneapolis Federation of Educators, members have been actively trying to do something – pulling together networks of people in their buildings and around the city – in schools – to try and help immigrant students and families. Anticipating something like this happening, organizing began over a year ago and that network has been really important in helping schools respond quickly.

There’s a lot of participation now from many buildings. I don’t know the exact number, but I would imagine it’s somewhere near 90%. 

Most buildings have some sort of control system, including contacting families who are affected, enacting mutual aid – whether it’s getting people rides to work and back, or food, or things that they need to do that they just are too scared to leave their house to do. 

It’s uneven, as most things typically are in organizing. But it’s there, which is just a new thing for me and my experience of union organizing. I’ve been doing it for a long time.

This should come as no surprise to anyone sort of who’s been following the events in Minneapolis for the last 10 years. The George Floyd uprising literally instilled in people in this city a sense of a fight for racial justice, and I would argue, that was carried through in a number of different actions that various organizations have done since that time. 

Our own union went on strike in 2022 for the first time in something like 50 plus years. Centering the demands for our ESPs (support staff) was like a key demand of that strike that elevated it above everything else and made a lot of people see it as another piece in the fight for racial justice. 

So it’s not surprising to me that tens of thousands of people come out to protests. Some of our big days of protests are upwards of 30−40,000 people.

MORE COVERAGE ABOUT ICE IN MINNESOTA

How One Minnesota Union Is Helping Members Survive the Federal Siege

UNITE HERE Local 17 is one of many unions, community organizations and faith groups calling for a work stoppage tomorrow, showing a key way Minnesotans are organizing against ICE.

SARAH LAZARE“We Will Be Closed: ICE Out of Minnesota”All the ingredients for a general strike are present in Minnesota.LUIS FELIZ LEON“We Are Facing a Tsunami of Hate”: Amid ICE Crackdown, Unions and Community Groups Call for Minnesota Shutdown in 10 DaysFollowing the ICE murder of Renee Good and an assault on the state by federal immigration forces, a labor-community coalition is calling for residents to refuse to work, shop or go to school on January 23.AMIE STAGER AND SARAH LAZARE

Douglas Williams: As I’ve been telling anyone who asked me in the Twin Cities right now, our response is as easy as 123. January, 23. ICE out of Minnesota: no work, no spending, we are going to show our working class power. 

Every Central Labor Council in this state has endorsed this day of no work. I fully agree with Dan that they are trying to see whether we will allow ourselves to be brutalized without a response, and we cannot allow the answer to that to be yes.

When I am teaching about organizing I always say that the first job of an organizer is to shut up and listen, but the second job of an organizer is to raise the expectations of workers and to broaden their horizons of what’s possible. 

Dan, Janette, and I have had so many conversations about a general strike. What they would tell you is that I am someone that is very skeptical of the idea that we could pull off a general strike anytime in this lifetime.

When I am teaching about organizing I always say that the first job of an organizer is to shut up and listen, but the second job of an organizer is to raise the expectations of workers and to broaden their horizons of what’s possible.

A rally to “Stop ICE Terror” in Minneapolis on January 20, 2026.PHOTO BY MADISON THORN/ANADOLU VIA GETTY IMAGES

I’m not one for counting the chickens before they’ve hatched, but I think that January 23, this Friday, we are going to see something in this country that perhaps we haven’t seen since the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, which is what you could call the closest thing to the last sort of major nationwide general strike that we’ve had in this country.

People understand and more are understanding every day, not only where we are in history, but also their place in where we are in history. They are choosing not to stay inside, not to stay silent, not just to say, ​“I approve of every strike except the current one,” or ​“I approve of every human rights movement besides the one that’s happening right now.” 

They are choosing to push forward in the hopes of crafting a better society. At the end of the day, that’s all the social movement is, man. That’s all our labor movement is. It is a collection of imperfect people working to create a more perfect world. And our creation of that world will make its debut, I believe, on January 23 and we have to do everything we can to make sure that it goes off as a success on that day, and that we keep the momentum going towards something better in the future.

Jake Lang, a conservative activist and January 6 insurrectionist who was pardoned by President Donald Trump, winces as he is sprayed, in the freezing cold, with water.PHOTO BY MADISON THORN/ANADOLU VIA GETTY IMAGES

Many of us knew that the Imperial boomerang was going to come back around on us. And I want to be quite frank: while things are very terrible right now, it’s nothing compared to what our government has done to Palestinians and to other countries in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Central and South America. Or what they’ve done in the past to Native American people and black Americans who are descendants of slavery. 

We know that this could get worse. So I’m hoping that this day will become either a week long or month long, statewide, regional, or nationwide general strike. 

Protesters in Minneapolis rallying against ICE and the abductions of residents.PHOTO BY JOHN WHITNEY/NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES

I’m seeing it as a moment to get ready to flex our muscles that haven’t been flexed in a long time. There are unions that have never gone on strike before.

Less than 10% of American workers are in a union right now. I know that the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee and DSA and the organized labor movement is working to organize the unorganized and take advantage of this moment. 

I hope that every organizer and union member realizes that they have a duty to go around and organize regular people, like talking to people they don’t even know.

Canvas around your neighborhood to different businesses. Talk to the workers. There are union members whose unions didn’t officially sign on to this, but I went to their store and I said, ​“Hey, I wanted to know, are you all participating on January 23” and they’re like, ​“Oh yeah, we are, to the point that actually our owners are shutting things down because of it.”

That shows that militant shop floor organizing is essential. We can’t replace that. This is a bottom up movement. Yes, some nonprofits and NGOs did call for this day of action like Faith in Minnesota, ISAIAH, Unidos, and SEIU Local 26. 

But the bottom up element has been crucial to making this successful and impactful. I’ve been seeing a lot of small businesses who are taking major hits right now that have posted, ​“We’re closing on this day in solidarity.”

Federal agents fire flash bombs and chemical irritants at protesters in Minneapolis on January 14, 2026, a week after resident Renee Good was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross.PHOTO BY RICHARD TSONG-TAATARII/THE MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE

That’s been really inspiring. And I’m taking note of every single one of these businesses. Before the 23rd and after the 23rd I’m going to spend my money there.

Strikes, workshop stoppages and other workplace actions are most effective, in my opinion, alongside boycotts. There are people who are still shopping at Target, Amazon, Starbucks, and Caribou. 

These are some of the businesses that are supporting ice. Spotify is another. We need to stop feeding into this system. We’re doing that with mutual aid. 

I sure as hell want to see socialism in my lifetime. People say that’s pie in the sky ideal, but I’m feeling invigorated knowing that we might have a nationwide general strike in our lifetime, and it’s because of awesome people like you all on this call who have dedicated your life and will dedicate your entire life to this movement. We just need more people bought in on our project.

MAXIMILLIAN ALVAREZ is editor-in-chief at the Real News Network and host of the podcast Working People, available at InThe​se​Times​.com. He is also the author of The Work of Living: Working People Talk About Their Lives and the Year the World Broke.

Your weekly to-dos

  1. Tell your senators to rein in ICE right now. Congress has to pass an appropriations bill by January 30 to keep the Department of Homeland Security funded, which means Dems have a lot of leverage to include provisions that rein in ICE and freeze its budget. Call your senators now and demand they use the appropriations bill to protect our communities from ICE. (More info here)
  2. Then, tell all your Members of Congress: No votes for an appropriations bill that doesn’t rein in ICE. After you’ve called your senators, please use our email tool to demand your senators and representative withhold their votes from any DHS budget that hands ICE more funding or fails to end border patrol deployments in our cities.
  3. Build even more pressure on Congress with our ICE Out for Good phonebank. Keep the ICE Out for Good momentum rolling by joining us tomorrow, Weds, Jan 21 at 1pm ET / 10am PT, to call voters in key states and encourage them to call their senators about reining in ICE.
  4. Keep an eye on your inboxes for news about Minnesota solidarity actions this Friday. Minnesota activists are holding a day of action this Friday, and are asking allies across the country to hold solidarity actions to keep the focus on ICE’s brutality in the state and advance the call to get ICE out of our cities now. We’ll be in touch soon with ways you can get involved in your area.
  5. Join an important call on the upcoming Supreme Court decision that threatens to gut what’s left of the Voting Rights Act. Any day now, the Supreme Court could issue a ruling in Louisiana v. Callais that could invalidate minority-majority districts and greenlight far more aggressively racist gerrymanders across the South. We’re partnering on a call tomorrow, Weds, Jan 21 at 8pm ET / 5pm PT, that will provide more info on the stakes of the case and how we can respond to a bad decision.
  6. Email your senators and demand they act to restore ACA subsidies NOW. Two weeks ago, seventeen House Republicans understood that skyrocketing insurance costs threaten their political futures and voted with Democrats to pass a bill restoring healthcare subsidies. Now we need the Senate to get on board, too.

P.S. With the regime’s attacks on our communities and rights coming at an ever escalating pace, it’s never been more important to support grassroots organizations that are keeping up the fight for our democracy. If you can, we encourage you to support your local mutual aid networks, or chip in to power your friendly pro-democracy organizers at Indivisible.

Is Van Ness Becoming The Avenue Of Empty Buildings and Promises?

by Sebastian on January 20, 2026 (BeyondChron.org)

CVS, 701 Van Ness, is closing on February 24

Things were finally looking up on Van Ness last year with the new mayor, Mayor Daniel Lurie, and the new junior Supervisors, Stephen Sherrill and Danny Sauter, who share the jurisdiction over Van Ness.

They introduced legislation to permit “formula retail” on a one-mile stretch of Van Ness Avenue between Redwood, a half block North of City Hall, and Broadway Streets, to fill empty storefronts.

They soon celebrated the opening of Apple Cinemas at the historic building at 1000 Van Ness Avenue, which only had one business operating at that time, Emerald Lounge. And a new gym called The Grand Athletic Club was going to open as well.

But the optimism was very brief. The owners of Emerald Lounge and The Grand Athletic Club are caught in the middle of a legal battle with the owner of the building, alleging broken promises, conflict of interest, and hostile management.

The Grand Athletic Club never opened at 1000 Van Ness despite signing a lease.

 “Easy to buy illegal drugs, but difficult to buy legal prescription drugs on Van Ness”

Things go south at the beginning of the new year. CVS, the only pharmacy left on Van Ness, has announced that it will be closing its store on February 24, which causes a shockwave in the community.

The CVS closure is creating concerns about “pharmacy deserts” and access, especially for elderly residents in the Cathedral Hill and the neighboring Tenderloin. They refer their customers to their nearest store, a mile away, at 1059 Hyde Street.

This closure is part of a broader CVS downsizing in San Francisco, reducing their stores significantly from 2021 levels, leaving only eight locations in the city after this one closes. It deepens the pharmacy crisis in the city.

While downsizing is the reason, theft is also part of the reasons, according to the store employees, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Everything is behind a locked case. Even the fridges are all locked

Neighbors and the security guards of the Eye Institute next door often witness people running out of the store with unpaid merchandise, chased by the store’s security guard. A block away, Walgreens at 790 Van Ness closed on November 11, 2020, due to rampant shoplifting.

A crew from Inside Edition was at the store for a story on rampant shoplifting when a customer jumped over the counter to shoplift. The location remains vacant to this day.

Walgreens at 1301 Franklin closed on February 26, 2025. Rampant shoplifting was also partly to blame.

Ibrahim A. Sahid, who lives nearby and was a regular customer of the store, goes to CVS on Van Ness after the Franklin Walgreens closed. And his comment on the CVS closing: “There is no drugstore left on Van Ness. It’s a pharmacy desert.

Easy to buy illegal drugs, but difficult to buy legal prescription drugs. So much for the Van Ness corridor rebuilding. We can’t even keep the existing businesses, much less add new ones. I haven’t heard the Mayor try to negotiate with CVS to stay.”

Supervisor Stephen Sherrill’s comment on the Van Ness CVS closing: “This is obviously so sad and bad for the neighborhood. Shoplifting has caused cascading effects that has made it harder for customers to shop there and harder for CVS to compete with e-commerce. But bottom line is that we need to ensure that pharmacies can continue to operate here.”

Van Ness residents shared their concerns about the CVS closing with KRON4.

We Are On Our Way Back. But We Still Have Work To Do”

When Daniel Lurie was elected as the Mayor of San Francisco in November 2024, I wrote: Can Daniel Lurie Turn Van Ness Avenue Into SF’s Champs-Élysées?” Wrapping up his State of the City speech at  Angelo J. Rossi Playground in the Lone Mountain neighborhood, a year after he took office, Mayor Daniel Lurie said, “We’re just getting started, and we are not going to leave anyone behind. Let’s go, San Francisco!”

Van Ness businesses and residents certainly hope that Mayor Lurie doesn’t leave them behind. There are still plenty of empty buildings on Van Ness, the city’s spine, to fill, which he left out during his State of the City speech. Many mentally ill and drug users still roam around the Van Ness corridor, leaving residents and businesses to deal with them alone.

Drug users can still access drug paraphernalia from a harm reduction van every Thursday from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in Hemlock Alley between Van Ness Avenue and Polk Street despite Mayor Lurie’s shifting drug policy, moving away from harm reduction by stopping the free distribution of drug use supplies.

Graffiti is still out of control on Van Ness. Things are not much different from the previous administration, except that there are no more homeless tents, and the strong urine-perfumed sidewalks smell a little bit lighter under Lurie’s administration.

Van Ness is definitely still not presentable to grace Mayor Lurie’s well-curated social media accounts and to attract investments to bring in much-needed foot traffic. C’est la vie.

Burger King on Van Ness: a man passes out while kids are watching

The mural on the Van Ness 24 Hour Fitness building is defaced by graffiti

There are 3 more years to go! Let’s go, Mayor Lurie!

Sebastian

More Posts

Mark Carney warns ‘American hegemony’ is destroying world order in candid speech

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 20, 2026. Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP via Getty Images

Posted inPolitics and Movements: US

States like Canada have long known the current system of international rules-based order is a “fiction,” Carney said.

by Sharon Zhang January 21, 2026 (therealnews.com)

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 20, 2026. Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP via Getty Images

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This story was originally published on Truthout on Jan. 20, 2026. It is shared here under a  Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.

In an unusually candid speech in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned that world order is at a “rupture” point due to the U.S.’s longstanding vise-grip on the world and its swiftly expanding authoritarian nature under President Donald Trump.

Skewering “American hegemony,” Carney said that countries like Canada have long known that the idea of the international rules-based order was a “fiction” that states nonetheless signaled their support for in order to be granted access to crucial goods, trade, and other resources like finance.

For decades, states with “middle” amounts of power like Canada “participated in the rituals, and largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality,” Carney said. In return, the U.S. allowed other states access to important systems.

“This bargain no longer works,” Carney told the World Economic Forum. “We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.”

But, over the past two decades, great powers like the U.S. are increasingly using “economic integration as weapons,” he said. This is causing countries to retreat into themselves, becoming less reliant on outside sources — which Carney warned will lead to greater fragmentation and volatility.

“Tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited. You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination,” he said.

Countries like Canada “compete with each other to be the most accommodating,” he said. “This is not sovereignty. It is the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination.”

He calls for countries to form a third path, one of greater cooperation, in order to push back against the threats by major powers. Doing this would require dispensing with simply signalling support for global order in favor of redoubling efforts to actually enforce principles like those laid out in the UN charter, he said.

“We should not allow the rise of hard power to blind us to the fact that the power of legitimacy, integrity, and rules will remain strong if we choose to wield it together,” he said. Countries must “stop invoking the ‘rules-based international order’ as though it still functions as advertised. Call the system what it is: a period where the most powerful pursue their interests using economic integration as a weapon of coercion.”

The speech comes just weeks after German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier similarly said that the U.S. is ending world order as it’s known, and instead turning the world “into a den of robbers, where the most unscrupulous take whatever they want” and countries are “treated as the property of a few great powers.”

Carney and Steinmeier both, perhaps, ignore their countries’ respective responsibilities for the erosion of the enforcement of international order — in their support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, their contributions to the global system of imperialism, and their participation in an increasing crackdown on asylum and immigration by wealthy countries, among other actions.

However, many experts have noted the vast erosion of international principles brought on by the U.S. in particular, which is accelerating under Trump.

Amnesty International USA warned in a report on Tuesday, the anniversary of Trump’s inauguration, that Trump’s first year has led to a “human rights emergency” in which the administration is “cracking the pillars of a free society.”

“At stake are the rights that enable people to defend all other rights and live without fear from the arbitrary exercise of power and discrimination, including the rights to freedom of the press, expression, and peaceful protest; a fair trial and due process; equality and non-discrimination; and privacy,” the report said. “When these rights are weakened, the harms do not stay contained — they spread.”

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Sharon Zhang

Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labor. Before coming to Truthout, Sharon had written stories for Pacific Standard, The New Republic, and more. She has a master’s degree in environmental studies. She can be found on Twitter: @zhang_sharonMore by Sharon Zhang

Photos: Hundreds in S.F. protest on anniversary of Trump’s inauguration

As Minneapolis heads towards a general strike on Jan. 23, calls to protest in solidarity

A woman with long blonde hair and large glasses, wearing a white ruffled top, smiles slightly in front of a plain light background.A woman with long dark hair, wearing a white top and blue and yellow graduation stole, smiles in an outdoor setting with blurred greenery in the background.by Béatrice Vallières and Mariana Garcia January 21, 2026 (MissionLocal.org)

Sora Paez, left, Iory Gomez, center, and Stella Gamez, right, high-schoolers, join an anti-ICE protest at Civic Center Plaza as part of a school walkout on Jan. 20, 2026. Photo by Mariana Garcia.

Hundreds of San Franciscans gathered in front of City Hall on Tuesday afternoon, both to protest President Donald Trump as he celebrated his first year back in office, and to declare plans to protest again over the next three years.

The rally was organized by a coalition of progressive organizations after a call to action from the Women’s March

Protesters walk down Polk Street during an anti-ICE march at City Hall on Tuesday. Photo by Mariana Garcia.
Mission Local logo, with blue and orange lines on the shape of the Mission District

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People protest in front of a government building; signs read messages about saving trees and bees, and someone is dressed in a green dinosaur costume.
Costumed protesters stand at Civic Center Plaza for an anti-ICE protest on Tuesday. Photo by Mariana Garcia.

Some held signs opposing the U.S. military intervention in Venezuela. Others demanded the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Many carried posters featuring Renee Good, the woman who was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota, earlier this month. Protesters chanted her name on several occasions throughout the afternoon.

Elizabeth Oliver, right, a sophomore at Mission High School, leads protesters in a chant. Photo by Mariana Garcia.

“In 2025, we were caught on the back foot,” Arthur Wolf, from 50501 San Francisco, told the crowd in front of City Hall. “But we built power. In 2026, we solidify our power and we fight back.”

A Venezuelan flag flies in front of City Hall on Tuesday. Photo by Mariana Garcia.
A woman who identified herself as the “Unorganized Artist” holds a Trump puppet while wearing a Vladimir Putin mask at Civic Center Plaza on Tuesday. Photo by Mariana Garcia.

Also in attendance was District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen, who talked about a resolution she introduced at last week’s meeting of the Board of Supervisors, demanding that state and federal partners push for a third-party investigation into all ICE-related deaths nationwide, and calling for a moratorium on ICE detentions until the results of the investigation are made available and corrective action is implemented.

“In this moment, it is more important than ever to continue to stand together, to go against these terror attacks against our communities,” Chen said, drawing cheers from the crowd. 

Back to the Picture SR

After gathering at Civic Center, protesters marched downtown before ending their march in front of the San Francisco Federal Building. Organizers estimated the number of protesters at 1,500.

Protesters walk down Market Street during an anti-ICE protest in downtown San Francisco on Tuesday. Photo by Mariana Garcia.
Protesters hold anti-ICE banners during a protest in front of the San Francisco Federal Building. Photo by Mariana Garcia.

Similar demonstrations were held across the country, including in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., and organizers encouraged people around the country to walk out of their jobs or classes to participate — and to plan resistance to the Trump administration.

“On January 20, we call on our communities to organize teams,” read the call to action. “Call your neighbors and classmates, and turn your back and walk out on fascism. Host mutual aid planning meetings, organize public service, but walk out to block the normal routines of power, and make the stakes real. This is a protest and a promise.  In the face of fascism, we will be ungovernable.”

1-1-26 to 1-31-26
A man raises his fist and shouts at a rally in front of a government building, wearing a t-shirt with a graphic and text, surrounded by other people, some holding papers and a guitar.
Jim Martinez, a San Francisco resident, chants at an anti-ICE protest on Tuesday. Photo by Mariana Garcia.

Stella Gamez, a senior at Mission High, walked out of her class on Tuesday afternoon with several of her classmates to join the protest at City Hall. Her teachers were understanding, she said.

“I came here for the abolishment of ICE. They need to get out of all our states,” she said. “They’re making these lies against my people. And I don’t appreciate that.”

High schoolers joined an anti-ICE protest as part of a walkout against ICE at Civic Center Plaza. Photo by Mariana Garcia.

Leila Salazar, executive director of Amazon Watch, a nonprofit organization advocating for the environment and indigenous rights in the Amazon Basin, attended the rally with her daughter. “Every single day of this year has been marked with chaos caused by the U.S. federal government,” she said. “This is not the world that we want to live in.”

Valencia Cyclery 62325
Protesters march down Market Street in downtown San Francisco on Tuesday. Photo by Mariana Garcia.

Organizers encouraged the crowd to join a general strike on Jan. 23 by staying home from work or school and refraining from shopping.

The strike was endorsed by ISAIAH, a nonprofit coalition of Minnesota faith and community groups, and several unions, as a show of defiance against the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent, and ICE’s continued presence in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Achieving a general strike is very difficult to do; by definition, enough people have to participate so that economic activity in an area is almost entirely halted. (In San Francisco, the best-known historical example is the 1934 Waterfront Strike). A long list of businesses in Minneapolis have already announced that they are closing on the 23rd.

Anti-ICE protesters march down Market Street. Photo by Mariana Garcia.
A group of ten people standing outdoors in a park with a city skyline in the background.

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