The radical Left wants open borders and zero immigration enforcement.
But when it comes to policing their own autonomous zones, they turn into border patrol agents on steroids.
And Minneapolis leftists stopped one driver and demanded he prove this one thing.
Leftist mobs create checkpoints to interrogate civilians
Video footage captured the insanity playing out in Minneapolis where left-wing activists set up their own checkpoints to stop vehicles and interrogate drivers.
The activists established what they're calling an autonomous zone spanning several blocks where residents can't even drive to their own homes without permission from the mob.
Now these amateur border patrol agents are pulling over civilians and demanding proof they're not with ICE or the Department of Homeland Security.
A man driving a large SUV got stopped and immediately the leftist interrogation squad went to work on him.
"Here you go," the man said as he opened the hatch of his SUV to show it was packed with camera equipment.
"Like I said, I don't have to do this, I'm happy to do this."
A woman approached and inspected his vehicle like she had some kind of legal authority.
"So he's got a lot of camera equipment. I think we can say this isn't ICE," she announced to the mob.
The driver explained he'd already tried telling them but nobody believed him until he submitted to their illegal search.
"I tried to tell the first lady," the man said. "Nobody believed me. That's all I can do is tell you."
But the leftist Karens weren't done with him yet.
The audacity of demanding someone rent a different vehicle
Another woman from the mob approached with the most absurd complaint imaginable.
"I'm not here to help you," she told the driver. "I think the fact that you're in a vehicle like this."
"I get it," the man replied, talking over her. "But with all due respect to everybody, I can't help what I got."
The driver had rented the SUV because he needed space for his equipment.
Common sense would suggest that's perfectly reasonable.
But common sense doesn't exist in leftist autonomous zones.
"You can, you can go rent something else," the woman demanded.
These people actually think they can dictate what vehicle someone rents.
"Are you going to pay for it?" the man asked her. "That's not how it works."
"This is my business," the woman shot back.
It's not her business but facts don't matter to the mob.
Leftists turned into the fascists they spent years screaming about
These activists are interrogating civilians over the vehicle they drive, demanding proof they're not federal agents, and lecturing them about their transportation choices.
They've set up illegal checkpoints without any legal authority whatsoever.
The irony is staggering.
Democrats and their media allies spent years screaming about border checkpoints and ICE enforcement as fascist police state tactics.
But hand these same leftists a tiny bit of power in their autonomous zone and watch what happens.
They immediately establish checkpoints, demand papers, interrogate citizens, and threaten anyone who doesn't comply.
The pattern is identical to what happened in Seattle's CHOP zone in 2020.
That experiment in leftist utopia lasted 24 days before police cleared it out after multiple shootings left two people dead and crime skyrocketed 132% in the immediate zone.
Minneapolis residents are living through the sequel.
This autonomous zone emerged after ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Macklin Good during Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration's largest immigration enforcement operation in history.
More than 2,000 federal agents descended on Minneapolis to enforce immigration law.
Leftist activists responded by creating their own lawless zone where they play pretend police.
The volunteers running these checkpoints have zero training, zero legal authority, and zero accountability.
But they're demanding civilians prove they're not federal agents while threatening them over what vehicle they rented.
President Trump should invoke the Insurrection Act immediately.
These leftists need to learn they can't establish their own fiefdoms and terrorize law-abiding citizens.
The man in that SUV showed incredible patience dealing with these amateur tyrants.
He had every right to tell them to get lost and drive through their illegal checkpoint.
Instead, he cooperated and opened his vehicle for inspection like he was crossing an international border.
That's not how America is supposed to work.
Nobody should have to prove they're not a federal agent to drive down a public street in their own city.
The Left's hypocrisy is on full display in Minneapolis.
Sources:
- Amy Curtis, "Left-Wing Mobs in Minneapolis Now Stopping Cars and Interrogating Civilians," Townhall, January 16, 2026.
- NPR Staff, "Events in Minneapolis show how immigration enforcement has changed. What's the impact?," NPR, January 17, 2026.
- City of Minneapolis, "MN Attorney General, Minneapolis and Saint Paul sue to halt ICE surge into Minnesota," Minneapolis.gov, January 2026.
- Eric L. Piza and Nathan T. Connealy, "The Effect of the Seattle Police-Free CHOP Zone on Crime: A Microsynthetic Control Evaluation," Criminology & Public Policy, 2022.
