Documents with mugshots labeled “Minnesota Worst of the Worst” are scattered as President Donald Trump speaks during a news briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on Jan. 20, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)
By Nicole Silverio January 23, 2026 at 4:00am
President Donald Trump held up mugshots of illegal alien criminals in a room full of reporters on Tuesday during his surprise visit to the White House briefing room.
Trump held up the mugshots of the “worst of the worst” criminals who have been nabbed by ICE in Minnesota, who have committed crimes such as homicide and sexual crimes.
“Look at this, one after one,” Trump said while holding up the mugshots. “Boy, these are rough characters. These are criminal illegal aliens and in many cases, they’re murderers, they’re drug lords, drug dealers, and mentally insane. Some of them who are brutal killers are mentally insane.”
Holy smokes. President Trump SHOCKS the Fake News with a surprise press briefing appearance.
He’s holding up DOZENS of mugshots of criminal aliens in Minnesota FORCING THEM to see who Tim Walz, Jacob Frey, and they themselves are protecting.
pic.twitter.com/fg4X61p9Uc— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 20, 2026
Tensions have remained high in Minnesota while anti-ICE protests have spread across the state. Minnesota Democrats have supported the protesters, including Gov. Tim Walz, who called on Minnesotans to film ICE agents as they conducted their operations during a Jan. 14 address. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem previously warned in September that filming agents endangers their safety.
The Trump administration sent roughly 1,000 additional immigration officers to Minnesota to protect officers during operations. Around 1,500 troops are on standby for deployment in Minnesota in case Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to nationally deploy troops to quell civil disorder, rebellion, and other instances of unrest.
The anti-ICE sentiment escalated following the death of Renee Good, who got shot by an ICE agent on Jan. 7 after she hit him with her vehicle. Footage from the officer’s perspective showed Good disobeying other officers’ orders to exit the car, and her so-called wife could be heard shouting, “drive baby, drive,” as Good put her car in reverse. She then accelerated forward and hit the officer, prompting shots to be fired.
Trump and his Cabinet have maintained that the officer acted in self-defense. The president wrote on Truth Social that Good acted “very disorderly” and blamed the “Radical Left” for “threatening” and “targeting” federal law enforcement.
Assaults on ICE agents surged by over 1,300 percent since Trump took office on Jan. 20, 2025, while vehicular attacks and death threats also rose by 3,200 percent and 8,000 percent, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
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