Guard Members Hand Out Coffee, Donuts to Protesters

The Minnesota National Guard showed up at an anti-ICE protest in Minneapolis on Sunday with coffee and donuts—and a message about optics. Video from the scene shows troops in bright yellow reflective vests handing out refreshments from the back of a vehicle, Fox News reports. A Guard member told WCCO-TV the gesture was meant as a "demonstration of safety and security," amid heightened tensions around federal immigration enforcement operations in the Twin Cities. Earlier this month, the Guard said any deployed troops would wear reflective vests to distinguish them from other agencies in similar uniforms.

Guard members also handed out hand warmers to protesters and others outside the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, CNN reports. The Sunday protest followed the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent in south Minneapolis. Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt and the City of Minneapolis requested Guard assistance Saturday to assist local law enforcement at locations including the Whipple building, KARE 11 reports. "Local law enforcement resources are stretched thin because of the disruption to public safety caused by thousands of federal immigration agents in neighborhoods," the city said.