Kash Patel, the Bureau’s director, says that the violent protests are planned and not spontaneous.
By Catholics for Catholics
The FBI has identified the people and groups who are subsidizing the violent, left-leaning protestors who have set their aims at Immigration and Custom Enforcement officers in Minnesota, according to Kash Patel, the Bureau’s director.
Patel confirmed to commentator Benny Johnson that the Bureau is probing the protests and is expanding the investigation into the funders of the unrest.
“We’ve got … investigations ongoing into the funding of this,” Patel told Johnson, saying that the protests are “not happening organically” and that investigators have made “substantial progress” in uncovering groups and individuals who are subsidizing them, according to Newsmax.
Patel also asserted that federal authorities are examining encrypted left-wing chats connected to protest organizers in Minnesota — warning those involved that they “should be worried” if they have violated federal statutes.
The FBI’s director’s comments come as Minnesota has become the hot spot for the heated debate over immigration enforcement. The protestors against ICE have taken the intensity and violence of the protests up several levels, especially after the fatal shooting of Alexi Pretti, 37, by Border Patrol officers during the weekend.
🚨BREAKING: FBI Director Kash Patel just announced the FBI has “FOUND FUNDERS” of the “NOT ORGANIC” anti-ICE riots in Minnesota.
— Bo Loudon (@BoLoudon) January 26, 2026
It’s time for these anti-ICE thugs to be behind bars!
Follow: @BoLoudon
pic.twitter.com/khXnpB7R6J
Videos of the incidents in Minnesota have provoked protests nationwide in cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. But while supporters for the demonstrations depict them as organic manifestations of indignation over what they view as excessive federal force, Patel’s comments and the FBI’s investigative focus indicate that the organizers and backers are part of a concerted scheme.
In addition, federal investigators have also made targeted arrests linked to property damage and threats against law enforcement in Minneapolis, reinforcing the administration’s stance that anti-ICE protests are increasingly violent and planned.
But the opponents of the federal operation, including Minnesota politicians and civil liberties groups, have blasted the shootings and the federal response.
They contend that antagonistic immigration enforcement tactics are rising tensions and stimulating unrest — a narrative that goes contrary to the Justice Department’s framing of protests as potentially criminal and dangerous.
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