Influencer Jake Lang's 'March Against Minnesota Fraud' draws small crowd

(This story was updated to accurately reflect the most current information.)

MINNEAPOLIS — Conservative influencer Jake Lang was met by counter-protesters in Minneapolis on Saturday, some of whom sprayed him with silly string and water.

Lang, a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter, who has nearly 74,000 followers on Facebook, organized the “March Against Minnesota Fraud” to start at roughly 1 p.m., Jan. 17, outside Minneapolis City Hall.

The protest comes after former First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said that since 2018 at least half of the $9 billion paid through Minnesota's Medicaid waiver programs could be fraudulent.

Included in the fraud scandal are the leaders of the Minnesota nonprofit Feeding our Future, who were convicted for their roles in a scheme that stole $250 million from a pandemic relief program meant to feed children. More than 70 people were charged in the case.

Conservative influencer Jake Lang organized the “March Against Minnesota Fraud” on Jan. 17 in downtown Minneapolis. It garnered less than a dozen attendees, but a larger counter-protest formed.

Allegations of widespread fraud brought Minnesota into the national spotlight by President Donald Trump and U.S. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn. Conservative influencer Nick Shirley released a video in late December that shows him visiting multiple Twin Cities daycare centers, which he alleges are abandoned despite receiving public funds, according to USA TODAY.

The video went viral with more than 140.5 million views on X, bringing more attention to Minnesota's fraud scandal. One of the daycares had a spelling error in its signage, calling itself the "Quality Learing Center." Three of Lang's supporters held a replica "Quality Learing Center" sign, including Mike Anderson of Greater Minnesota, who said he wants people to immigrate to the country legally.

Anderson, a supporter of Lang, said he agrees with the deployment of ICE agents, and said he believes agents are doing their jobs to enforce immigration laws. Anderson said he is engaged to a Canadian immigrant, who, he said, went through the process to legally immigrate, so he thinks it's not fair for undocumented immigrants to not go through that same process.

"These people are skipping the line," Anderson said.

Lang stood in front of Minneapolis City Hall around 1 p.m., where he made a fist bump in the air. A counter-protester was next to him and attempted to block Lang with a trash can cover with a fist painted on it. At one point, Lang grabbed the trash can lid and bent it. The counter-protester bent it back into shape. Such interactions led Anderson to call counter-protesters aggressive.

"They're being so aggressive and violent toward other protesters," Anderson said. "They're getting in our faces and stuff."

The counter-protest, organized by People’s Action Coalition Against Trump, rallied about 150 people across the street at the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis, which is different from the federal immigration courthouse at Fort Snelling where protests have consistently taken place this month. A group of roughly 15 counter-protesters were on the same side of the street as Lang.

A group of counter-protesters on Jan. 17 outside the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis. They opposed conservative influencer Jake Lang's "March Against Minnesota Fraud."

Counter-protesters voiced frustrations about U.S. Immigration and Customs agents being employed in mass to the North Star State. On Jan. 4, days before an ICE agent shot Renee Good in south Minneapolis, more than 2,000 ICE agents were deployed to the state. The Department of Homeland Security has since said it plans to send hundreds more.

Those who oppose ICE, including Minnesota resident, Gage McClean-Coyer, allege the agency uses aggressive tactics. Clashes between ICE agents and Minnesotans have taken place across the state, including in St. Cloud where on Jan. 12 ICE agents deployed pepper spray after the "community responded" to an attempt to allegedly detain one person. On Wednesday night, a second ICE-involved shooting took place in Minneapolis, where a man was shot in the leg after three men reportedly hit him with broom sticks and shovels.

Those opposed to the ICE surge say instances of violence scare minority communities, McClean-Coyer said, which is why he decided to attend the counter-protest.

"If they (ICE detainees) are of illegal status, (and) if they are a criminal and they (ICE) have evidence of that, I think there's a way to detain them in a more strategic way that doesn't involve terrorizing communities," McClean-Coyer said.

Lang and his supporters left the protest shortly before 1:30 p.m., as counter-protesters followed through downtown Minneapolis. Counter-protesters eventually regrouped outside the Hennepin County Government Center, roughly a block south of the original protest site.

On Jan. 4, Lang, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Florida, stood in front of the headquarters of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC in Washington, D.C. and made several threats against AIPAC-funded politicians and said several antisemitic tropes, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Corey Schmidt covers politics and courts for the St. Cloud Times. He can be reached at [email protected].