Do not give up the protest: riots in the United States may spread to new states

Riots are breaking out in the United States amid Donald Trump's struggle with migrants. In Minnesota, protests escalated due to the deportation policy of the White House: police shot dead two activists. The experts interviewed are confident that the riots may well spread to California, New York and Illinois. First of all, "sanctuary cities" and "democratic states" with a large number of migrants fall into the risk zone. Whether the protests will lead to a new shutdown in February and whether to expect another wave of violent clashes in the summer is in the Izvestia article.

Escalation of protests in the United States

Since the end of December, riots have been raging in Minnesota, which began after the largest White House operation to deport migrants. The events have once again exposed the split within the country: marches in support of the protesters are taking place in democratic states, while in republican states they look with approval at the expulsion of migrants from their small homeland.

It all started with the fact that in December, the federal authorities sent strike groups consisting of ICE — immigration and customs police officers to the capital of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Such interference from Washington caused sharp resistance from both the state authorities in the person of Democratic Governor Tim Waltz and local residents. The situation was aggravated by a terrible incident: in early January, ICE officers shot and killed activist Renee Goode, who, according to investigators, tried to run over agents.

For two more weeks, the confrontation between the locals and the police escalated on the streets of the city, after which the Ministry of Internal Security (MIA) The United States announced the detention of about 3,000 illegal immigrants, calling it a "big victory." However, on January 24, a second murder occurred, after which the situation escalated to the limit. This time, the victim of the federal agent was 37-year-old nurse Alex Jeffrey Pretty, who, according to the Interior Ministry, was armed. The recordings from the videos show that the man tried to interfere with the police, after which he was knocked to the ground, and after shouting "He has a gun", he was shot.

At the same time, local police chief Brian O'Hara stressed that Pretty had not previously violated the right to bear arms and acted in accordance with the constitution: he filmed the actions of security forces on his phone and had an authorized weapon with him. After the assassination, Governor Tim Waltz demanded that Trump stop the operation and withdraw "thousands of untrained and brutal agents" from Minnesota.

In response, the US president accused local Democratic officials of "inciting an uprising," and also called ICE employees patriots. Moreover, he again reminded Tim Waltz of the scandal when he was suspected of corruption and fraud with budget money.

— Much of what you are observing serves as a cover for this theft and fraud. The mayor and the governor are inciting the rebellion with their pompous, dangerous and arrogant rhetoric! Instead, these sanctimonious political fools should be looking for billions of dollars that were stolen from the people of Minnesota and the United States of America," Trump said.

The Democrats immediately decided to use the crisis situation in their political struggle against the White House administration. CNN, citing the leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, reported that the likelihood of a partial shutdown has increased in the United States due to the claims of the "blue" to the financing of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

If Congress does not have time to adopt the state budget by February 1, the government will suspend its work again, as it did last fall, American scholar Malek Dudakov recalled in a conversation with Izvestia.

— The shutdown will affect the very departments of the Ministry of Internal Security that conduct deportation raids. Of course, this will be a very strong blow for Trump, especially against the background of the protests, complete paralysis. The American government will be severely limited in its ability to work both inside and outside the country," the political scientist believes.

In addition, before the congressional elections in November 2026, the Democrats will try to initiate the impeachment of Trump in order to lower the ratings of Republicans on the eve of the electoral process.

Which States can repeat the fate of Minnesota

In the current format, with varying degrees of activity, the protests in Minneapolis will continue for a long time, Dudakov is sure. If in winter, due to frost and bad weather conditions, riots will not be so widespread, then in summer the situation may worsen even more.

— Moreover, there will be other reasons. First of all, it is the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States and the FIFA World Cup. I think that the Democrats will, of course, try to coincide their wave of protests and riots with this. Plus, of course, we will try to influence the upcoming congressional elections in November 2026 through protests," the expert says.

Thus, during this time, the geography of the unrest may expand, and the protests may spread to other states. According to Dudakov, a situation similar to Minnesota could repeat itself in any state where Democrats are in power and where Trump decides to send federal police agents to conduct deportation raids. Today, not only Minnesota, but the whole country is in a state of cold, turning into hot confrontation, agrees Lev Sokolshchik, a researcher at the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. This trend will increase over the next 10-15 years.

— The rifts and polarization within the United States are noticeable not only within the "white" and "colored" communities. Society is increasingly divided into extreme liberals and ultraconservatives, into a number of different national groups, each of which has its own interests, the expert believes.

If you believe the forecasts of artificial intelligence, then the states with large immigrant communities are at risk, first of all: California, New York, Texas, Illinois. In addition, a number of other states have already spoken out in support of the protesters in Minnesota: for example, New York and Massachusetts, where riots may also begin.

Finally, a special place is occupied by "sanctuary cities" located in states where local police do not check the immigration status of residents, restrict the transfer of data to ICE, or detain people at the request of the feds without a court warrant. In addition to a number of named states, these are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and the District of Columbia (Washington).

Trump's radical migration policy has previously led to mass protests in a number of states. In June, because of the arrests of illegal immigrants, rallies began in Los Angeles, from where they spread to San Francisco. In response to the riots, Trump sent 2,000 National Guard officers to California, and for the first time in several decades, such a decision was made without prior request from the state authorities and without their consent.