The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported on Wednesday that anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protesters in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region have intensified their actions, going so far as to obstruct Border Patrol agents during routine activities such as restroom breaks.

According to the DHS, these agents encountered “hostile crowds” who consistently “harassed and obstructed” them as they attempted to use restrooms at gas stations.

“At every gas station where the agents stopped, groups of agitators would appear, shouting at them, following them, and trying to prevent their vehicles from leaving, which created dangerous situations,” the DHS detailed in a post on X.

Further incidents included food being thrown at the agents at one stop, and at another, an agent was spat upon. When an officer attempted to detain the individual responsible for the spitting, the crowd reportedly tackled and attacked the agents, encircling them, the department noted.

In a vivid scene captured at a speedway gas station in Minneapolis on January 21, 2026, people confronted U.S. Border Patrol agents from Commander Greg Bovino’s team. (Seth Herald/Reuters)

The department said that the agents were forced to use crowd control measures to disperse the agitators.

The post comes just ahead of Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Minneapolis. He’s expected to meet with local leaders and deliver remarks focused on restoring law and order in Minnesota.

Tensions between federal immigration enforcement and agitators in Minnesota have grown in recent weeks since the fatal Jan. 7 shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good. The incident sparked protests and arguments between Minnesota leadership and the federal government.

When President Donald Trump on Tuesday attended a White House briefing marking one year since his inauguration, he took the time to highlight the “Worst of the Worst” criminal illegal immigrants who had been arrested by ICE in Minnesota.

A woman blows her whistle at US Border Patrol agents at a gas station in Minneapolis, Minn., on Jan. 21, 2026. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

The president also addressed the anti-ICE chaos in Minnesota, accusing those demonstrating of being “paid agitators and insurrectionists.” He emphasized that federal immigration enforcement agents are doing “a dangerous job.”

“These are all criminal, illegal aliens that in many cases, they’re murderers, they’re drug lords, drug dealers, they’re the mentally insane. Some of them who are brutal killers. They’re mentally insane. They’re killers, but they’re insane,” Trump said as he held up mugshots of various arrestees.

A federal agent of Commander Greg Bovino’s team looks on during a stop at a gas station as immigration enforcement continues in Minneapolis, Minn., on Jan. 21, 2026. (Seth Herald/Reuters)

Homeland Security’s “Worst of the Worst” database has information on arrestees, including those who were apprehended in Minnesota. The 42 pages for Minnesota include accused gang members, convicted rapists and convicted murderers.

The administration has largely blamed the anti-ICE sentiment on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both of whom criticized federal immigration enforcement in the wake of Good’s death. Immediately following the ICE-involved shooting, Frey demanded the agency “get the f— out” of his city.