A University of Minnesota student group that 16 months ago stormed a campus building in an anti-Israel raid has emerged as a key organizer behind anti-immigration protests targeting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) near campus, culminating in the arrest of dozens of demonstrators last week, according to university officials and law enforcement records, The Washington Free Beacon reported Wednesday.
The group, known as Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Minnesota (UMN SDS), organized a Jan. 28 protest outside the Graduate by Hilton Hotel on campus, which demonstrators alleged was housing ICE agents.
University police declared the gathering an unlawful assembly after protesters breached barricades, created excessive noise, and confronted law enforcement officers. Sixty-seven people were arrested.
Among those taken into custody was Jack Louis Nimz, a public school teacher and president of the national SDS organization. Nimz was also arrested in October 2024 during an illegal occupation of a university administration building, Morrill Hall.
In the 2024 anti-Israel incident, masked members of UMN SDS stormed the hall, barricaded exits, smashed windows, vandalized security equipment, and caused more than $67,000 in property damage, according to university estimates.
Staff members were trapped inside the building during the occupation, and several Jewish students sought refuge at the campus Jewish center amid safety concerns. Police arrested 11 individuals, including Nimz. The university did not divest from Israel, one of the protesters' demands.
University officials said the Jan. 28 demonstration marked the third protest in three weeks organized by UMN SDS outside the hotel. Earlier last month, three individuals were arrested after demonstrators damaged property and created what the university described as "hazardous conditions for the public and law enforcement."
The following week, the group promoted another protest on social media, vowing to return "louder than ever," The Washington Free Beacon reported.
UMN SDS has also conducted weekly "rapid response trainings" on campus and organized student walkouts, according to its online postings. In recent months, the group's public activity has focused almost exclusively on opposing ICE.
Following the October 2024 incident, Hennepin County Jail records show that Nimz and another protester, Teiryn Cooper Glick, were booked on misdemeanor charges of unlawful assembly and disorderly conduct. The remaining individuals arrested were not booked into the jail system.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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