Amid the ongoing protests against President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown in Minnesota, right-wing media figures have revived thei
Jack Winstanley and Torri Lonergan at MMFA:
Amid the ongoing protests against President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown in Minnesota, right-wing media figures have revived their oft-repeated claim that there are “paid protesters and agitators” who are being compensated for their actions by some outside force. Following the fatal January 24 shooting of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, some right-wing media figures have claimed that Pretti himself was paid to be there. In their search for a bogeyman, right-wing media have even suggested that foreign governments are somehow behind the protests.
Amid ongoing anti-ICE protests in Minnesota and fallout from federal agents killing Alex Pretti, right-wing media figures are reviving their claims of paid agitators
On January 24, Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis fatally shot Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse at a VA hospital. This shooting followed the January 7 killing of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis. Both Pretti and Good were reportedly U.S. citizens with no criminal record who were shot while observing federal immigration operations in Minnesota. White House officials defended the Pretti shooting by labeling him a “domestic terrorist” and a “would-be assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents,” but multiple independent analyses of footage from the scene suggest these claims are false. ABC News reported that “videos appear to contradict, at least in part, claims by federal officials that Pretti ‘approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun’ and ‘attacked’ officers carrying out immigration duties.” [The Associated Press, 1/24/26; Media Matters, 1/28/26; ABC News, 1/26/26; Forbes, 1/26/26]
Right-wing media outlets largely justified the shooting or blamed Pretti for his own death, with some figures breaking ranks to criticize DHS agents’ conduct. In the days following the shooting, figures on Fox News blamed Pretti and said the shooting was justified, while right-wing podcasters argued that Pretti “fought law enforcement” and declared that “the ICE action was 100% justified and totally vindicated.” However, some criticized what they saw as “bad tactics” from the agents and said the shooting was “a mistake.” Going further, Newsmax senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano labeled the shooting “murder,” adding, “There's no justification for that under the law whatsoever.” [Media Matters, 1/25/26, 1/28/26, 1/26/26, 1/26/26, 1/25/26]
The Trump administration has repeatedly claimed that protesters are paid by outside groups in an effort to legitimize crackdowns. Amid the June 2025 anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles, Trump baselessly claimed that protesters were “agitators,” “paid,” and “professionals,” and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard seemingly cited an irrelevant Craigslist ad from pranksters to claim there are “ads put up on Craigslist offering people thousands of dollars a week to go out and conduct these violent and dangerous riots.” Similarly, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy alleged that No Kings protesters were paid, claiming that “it begs the question who's funding it,” and Trump called anti-ICE protesters in Portland “paid terrorists.” Several GOP figures labeled the 2025 No Kings protests as being filled with “paid protesters,” with similar claims being levied against other anti-Trump and anti-ICE protests. [The New York Times, 6/13/25; Media Matters, 10/15/25, 9/29/25]
Right-wing media have long alleged that protests they oppose are led by paid activists. In 2020, right-wing media accused George Soros of funding Black Lives Matters protests, and Rush Limbaugh claimed protesters were paid “actors” pretending to be mothers and veterans. After an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis, Fox News contributor Paul Mauro said being an agitator is “a career path for a lot of people in today’s left,” claiming, “They are drawing salaries that are, at least in part, funded by American taxpayers. They get all kinds of grants, always from the Democratic Party or left-leaning groups that have ties to the Democratic Party.” Right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson labeled Good a “paid agitator.” [Media Matters, 10/7/20, 7/28/20, 1/9/26; Fox News, 1/9/26]
Right-wing media figures and influencers have latched onto chats on the encrypted messaging app Signal as evidence of an organized “Minnesota insurrectionists” group. FBI Director Kash Patel has launched an investigation into the chats, telling MAGA podcaster Benny Johnson that the Bureau is looking into whether they show activities that “illegally entraps and puts law enforcement in harm’s way.” MS NOW reporter Brandy Zadrozny noted that “this kind of community group chat has become common in Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, where neighbors and activists are using the apps to organize and monitor ICE operations amid President Donald Trump’s federal crackdowns.” [MS NOW, 1/28/26; The Guardian, 1/27/26]
January polling has shown that Trump's handling of immigration and federal immigration officers’ conduct is unpopular with American voters. In a poll conducted after an ICE agent killed Good in Minnesota, a New York Times/Siena poll found that 61% of registered voters found ICE's tactics had “gone too far” and that 58% disapproved of how Trump is handling immigration. Pew Research Center's survey of U.S. adults conducted January 20-26 found that 72% say it is unacceptable for federal immigration officers to check immigration status based on appearance or the language they speak, and 61% say it is unacceptable for officers to wear face coverings that hide their identities. [The New York Times, 1/23/26; ABC News, 1/26/26; Pew Research Center, 1/29/26]
Right-wing media figures push the bogus lie that anti-ICE protesters are “paid agitators” financed by liberal groups.
