Day: January 28, 2026
Sundance VIPs take 10-minute protest break in between screenings
What one report called “arguably the shortest of protests in recent memory” rocked the Sundance Film Festival for about 10 minutes on Sunday evening, as around 100 people gathered in Park City to voice their opposition to the ICE raids in Minnesota.
The diminutive demonstration echoed statements made by big-name festival attendees like Edward Norton and Olivia Wilde
‘Turn on your phone light for a minute or two.’
‘Melt’ down
Actress Natasha Lyonne posted a promotional flyer for the event, called “Sundancers Melt Ice,” which read, “Join us tonight to remember Alex Pretti and Renee Good” and “quietly register our collective protest.”
Pretti was recently shot and killed by federal agents during a violent scrum, while Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent as she hit him with her car.
“Turn on your phone light for a minute or two,” the flyer added. “Silent, respectful, together.”
Chants encounter
The 10-minute event included protesters chanting “Love melts Ice! Love melts Ice!” according to Deadline, which noted that actor Elijah Wood (“Lord of the Rings”) turned out to offer his support.
“The folks who have been unlawfully gunned down in Minnesota — it’s awful,” Wood said.
“Here we are at this film festival that is about bringing people together; it’s about telling stories from all over the world. We’re not divided here; we’re coming together,” he continued.
Christina House/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Sign decline
The film festival is no stranger to progressive protests; in 2024, demonstrators flooded the streets of the small town to protest on behalf of Palestine, holding signs like “stop the genocide” and “end the occupation.”
“Ceasefire, now!” was chanted by the group, followed by “Free Palestine!”
In 2017, Sundance saw what is recognized as likely the largest protest to take place in Park City, when between 5,000 and 7,000 showed up on Main Street for a “Women’s March on Main,” the day after President Trump was inaugurated for his first term.
Minnesota’s ‘worst of the worst’: DHS highlights arrests of repeat offenders, violent criminals in Operation Metro Surge
The Department of Homeland Security highlighted several of Monday’s “worst of the worst” arrests in Minnesota.
As part of the DHS’ Operation Metro Surge, federal authorities have captured kidnappers, pedophiles, and other violent assailants, according to a press release obtained by Blaze News.
‘Our law enforcement officers are risking their lives to arrest these thugs — some RELEASED from Minnesota jails — and are saving countless American lives by getting these criminals out of our country.’
DHS reported last week that it had made 3,000 arrests over the last six weeks as part of the ongoing operation.
“The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) highlights more worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens arrested in Minnesota yesterday during Operation Metro Surge, including those convicted of kidnapping, child rape, assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm, assault, and possession of fraudulent documents,” Tuesday’s release reads.
Among those arrested on Monday was Bee Yang, an illegal alien from Thailand. Yang was issued a final order of removal in 2015 after he was convicted of numerous crimes, including first-degree kidnapping, assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm, robbery with a dangerous weapon, breaking and entering, felony larceny, and larceny of a motor vehicle.
Bee Yang, Image source: Department of Homeland Security
Federal agents arrested Wilson Johny Encalada Molina, an illegal alien from Ecuador. He was issued a final order of removal in 2023 after he was charged with third-degree rape of a child under 17 years old, malicious punishment of a child, and endangering the welfare of a child.
Wilson Johny Encalada Molina. Image source: Department of Homeland Security
Ian Mwangi Irungu, from Kenya, was also nabbed by immigration agents. He was previously convicted of selling heroin and dangerous drugs.
Ian Mwangi Irungu. Image source: Department of Homeland Security
Melvin Yobany Hernandez Espana, from Honduras, was previously convicted of assault.
Melvin Yobany Hernandez Espana. Image source: Department of Homeland Security
Immigration agents captured Sergio Quintero Romero, an illegal alien from Mexico with a final order of removal from 2012. He was previously apprehended by law enforcement three times for illegally entering the U.S. Romero was also accused of attempting to defraud the immigration system by presenting a fraudulent lawful permanent resident card to an immigration official.
Sergio Quintero Romero. Image source: Department of Homeland Security
Federal law enforcement officials also nabbed Oliverio Otoniel Francisco-Esteban, an illegal alien from Mexico. He was issued a final order of removal in 2015. DHS reported that Francisco-Esteban has been removed from the U.S. five times, and he was previously convicted of three counts of driving under the influence of liquor, possessing fraudulent immigration documents, illegal entry, and re-entry. Francisco-Esteban currently has an outstanding warrant in Ohio for failure to appear.
Oliverio Otoniel Francisco-Esteban. Image source: Department of Homeland Security
“Just yesterday, DHS law enforcement arrested several repeat offenders including a criminal illegal alien convicted of kidnapping, robbery, felony larceny, and assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated in the Tuesday press release.
“Our law enforcement officers are risking their lives to arrest these thugs — some RELEASED from Minnesota jails — and are saving countless American lives by getting these criminals out of our country. 70% of all ICE arrests nationwide are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S. Check out more of the worst of the worst we arrested in Minnesota at wow.dhs.gov/Minnesota,” McLaughlin added.
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Anti-ICE influencers explained: How women get radicalized
As the BLM-fueled chaos of 2020 appears to be repeating itself in 2026, the same demographic appears to be falling hardest for it: liberal white women.
And it only makes sense, as according to a Gallup poll graph, the partisan gap between men and women has almost doubled in the past 25 years — with women moving radically leftward, while men have stayed relatively the same.
BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey explains that the answer as to why this is happening is “not entirely simple.”
However, one reason is that women seek social cohesion, while men are more likely to form an identity outside of a group.
“We’ve all had those moments where we just want to be agreeable. Like, we feel compassion for this person. We want to feel polite. We don’t want to be at odds with them, especially when we’re in conversation,” she explains, using an example from her own life.
Stuckey recalls recently getting her hair done by a hairstylist who was very sweet. When the hairstylist began trying to discuss horoscopes with Stuckey — who doesn’t believe in horoscopes — Stuckey just nodded her head and didn’t say anything.
“You take that, like, one awkward scenario and you extrapolate that, or you make that bigger in how you live your life and make even big political decisions — you can see how that leads someone in the direction of following the cultural zeitgeist, which is progressivism,” Stuckey explains.
Though according to researchers in a study Stuckey reads, these traits “were naturally selected to yield better results in raising children.”
“So there is good reason why we like cooperation. These are not all bad things. These can help in being good moms,” Stuckey says.
“That is part of the psychology, I think, of what is going on here. And that is so like Satan, by the way, to manipulate women and to use really good things about ourselves and to use them as a hook for propaganda and to ask the age-old question, ‘Did God really say?’” she continues.
“It’s just that all of these good things about us make us more susceptible to lies,” she adds.
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