Fact‑Check Finds No Evidence Minnesota ICE Protesters Are Paid Agitators

PolitiFact, writing for PBS, examined President Donald Trump’s repeated claims this month that anti‑ICE demonstrators in Minnesota are 'highly paid professional agitators,' 'paid agitators and insurrectionists' and 'professional troublemakers,' and found no evidence to support them. The fact‑check notes that neither the White House nor other officials such as DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Vice President JD Vance or Sen. Markwayne Mullin have produced proof that Minnesota’s large, weeks‑long protests are funded operations rather than local grassroots actions. Reporters reviewed viral social‑media posts that purported to show 'paid' protesters and concluded those examples did not hold up, while experts and on‑the‑ground reporting point instead to long‑standing volunteer networks of labor, faith and immigrant‑rights groups organizing walkouts, marches, food drives and mutual‑aid efforts. The analysis situates Trump’s accusations in the broader rhetoric around Operation Metro Surge and recent fatal ICE and Border Patrol shootings, where labeling protesters as paid 'insurrectionists' is being used to justify a hardened federal response and calls in Congress to investigate protest funding. The piece underscores that, as of now, the 'paid agitator' narrative is a political assertion without substantiating evidence, even as it spreads widely in pro‑administration media and social feeds.