Did the minnesota protestors against ice in 2026 chant "burn kristi noem"?
Executive summary
A review of contemporary reporting finds no evidence that Minnesota protesters chanted the phrase “burn Kristi Noem”; major outlets covering the demonstrations document chants such as “ICE out,” “Justice for Renee Good,” “Hands up, don’t shoot,” and other anti-ICE slogans but do not report incendiary calls for violence against Secretary Noem [1] [2] [3]. The sources examined also show heightened federal response, official condemnations, and competing narratives that may shape how protest language is amplified or suppressed [4] [5] [6].
1. What the reporting actually records about protest chants
Multiple news organizations that filmed or reported on the Minneapolis–St. Paul protests around the death of Renee Good detail chants aimed at ICE and demands for justice—examples repeatedly cited include “ICE out,” “Justice for Renee Good,” and “Hands up, don’t shoot,” as captured in livestreamed footage and published dispatches (The Guardian, Daily Mail, BBC report footage and reporting of those chants) [1] [2] [3]. Local and national outlets covering demonstrations, strikes and gatherings also documented anti-ICE slogans and Spanish-language refrains like “Chinga La Migra” at other events in Minnesota in recent weeks (Bring Me The News) [7].
2. The absence of any documented “burn Kristi Noem” chant in the collected reporting
Across the set of articles provided—international outlets (The Guardian, BBC), U.S. national papers (The New York Times), local reporting and aggregated accounts—there is no instance recorded of protesters chanting “burn Kristi Noem” or similar calls advocating violence against Kristi Noem; none of the cited pieces transcribe or attribute that phrase to demonstrators [1] [8] [2] [3]. That absence in multiple independent reports is itself a meaningful signal: major, on-the-ground video and textual coverage of the events focuses on anti-ICE rhetoric and the name of the victim, Renee Good, rather than threats directed at the Homeland Security secretary [1] [9].
3. Officials’ framing and why false attributions can spread
High-level officials and allies have framed the protests as chaotic or criminal—statements that can encourage selective amplification of hostile language when it appears and sometimes lead to unverified attributions (Noem’s comments about arrests and federal action are widely reported) [10] [9] [5]. Meanwhile, outlets and partisan platforms differ in what they emphasize: for example, the Daily Mail foregrounds dramatic imagery of a church disruption and lists chants recorded in video, while The Guardian and BBC emphasize legal probes and broader protest context [2] [1] [3]. Those different editorial choices and political stakes create fertile ground for misreporting or viral claims that may not be present in primary-source footage [6].
4. Competing narratives, agendas and the limits of the dossier
The Trump administration’s allies and Minnesota critics portray the protests as lawless and use charged language to justify stepped-up enforcement, while local activists and civil rights groups frame actions as accountability efforts after a fatal ICE shooting—each side has incentive to highlight or downplay specific slogans or incidents [6] [11]. The sources reviewed document federal mobilization, legal scrutiny, and community strikes in response to the shooting but do not exhaust every piece of video or social media chatter that might exist; therefore this analysis is limited to the contemporary reporting provided and cannot prove no such chant occurred in every venue or private clip beyond these outlets [4] [12].
5. Bottom line and recommended next steps for verification
Based on the reporting examined, credible coverage attributes chants to ICE-targeted slogans and calls for justice for Renee Good and does not record protesters chanting “burn Kristi Noem” [1] [2] [3]. To definitively settle the matter beyond these sources, consult primary-source video archives and raw livestream footage from organizations on the ground (Black Lives Matter Minnesota, local livestreamers), social-media video timestamped to the events, and official transcripts from law-enforcement or court filings that reference audible chants—materials that go beyond the secondary reporting collected here [1] [13].