CNN’s Love-Hate Relationship with Citizen Journalists in Minnesota

By Becket Adams

Sunday, February 08, 2026

 

CNN has a complicated relationship with citizen journalists.

 

Whether the network hates or loves them, it might not surprise you to hear, depends on the beat. Take its recently published 2,000-plus-word profile on two Chicago teens who now dedicate their lives to tailing ICE agents and recording their “hateful” conduct.

 

The gist of the article, as CNN presents it, is this: These two teens, Ben, 17, and Sam, 16, are saints. They have answered the call of civic duty, devoting themselves completely to exposing the wickedness of federal immigration officers. Armed only with a GoPro camera, these amateur videographers and their dedication to exposing ICE’s “blatant disregard for human rights,” especially in Minneapolis, set an example for the rest of us.

 

Elsewhere in Minnesota, there is another amateur videographer. His name is Nick Shirley. Except, instead of documenting alleged ICE human rights violations, he’s committed to investigating the full extent of the state’s Somali fraud schemes, which are estimated to total around $9 billion — that’s $9 billion stolen from both the state and federal governments. In a way, Shirley is like the Chicago teens. He’s an amateur, he has a camera, and he says he feels a civic duty to expose serious, systemic injustice.

 

The main difference between Shirley and the teens, however, is that few in the mainstream press take the former seriously. Mostly, he’s treated with something bordering on contempt, especially at CNN. The Chicago teens, by contrast, are portrayed by the network as scrappy freedom fighters on a mission to take on the machine. This heroic depiction includes several quotes from the brothers, who face little, if any, pushback or even basic fact-checking from their profilers.

 

The quotes include:

 

·         “[Federal agents are] constantly pushing people and beating them up, kneeing them in the face when they’re down on the ground, or shoving their head into ice or pavement so that they’re scraped up.”

 

·         “With the greater number of agents, it felt like an invasion through your streets. Just caravanning around, grabbing any brown or black person walking down the sidewalks.” (The profile includes a flat denial of this from DHS.)

 

·         “Every day we see how blatantly wrong it is and how hateful it is. There needs to be this little sacrifice for people to go out there and document and stand up for what’s right.”

 

Of course, federal immigration agents’ conduct in Minneapolis has faced considerable scrutiny, including now from President Trump himself, who has shaken up the leadership on the ground and pulled back agents after two U.S. citizen activists were killed in confrontations with immigration-enforcement officials.

 

But the above quotes face little scrutiny from CNN, giving the clear impression that the network intends for them to be accepted as fact.

 

Regarding the federal “lawlessness” the boys have personally witnessed and recorded, the profile describes a single incident in which ICE agents restrained and pepper-sprayed a protester. Despite the vivid language used in the article, CNN is still compelled to include this line: “It’s unclear what started the clash, or what led the agents to restrain and spray the protester.”

 

Even though it’s unclear from the video who or what triggered the incident, young videographer Ben can be heard shouting, “This is what happens when they have ICE in Minneapolis. They don’t know how to do their job!”

 

You know what they say: Children are often the best at recording information but the worst at interpreting it. However, in this case, the recording itself isn’t that good either.

 

There are additional problems with the article, including that it describes the teens as “trained” ICE watchers without clarifying who trained them, what the training involved, or if the training relates to their claimed mission. The article mentions a growing “network of 5,000 trained civilians who monitor immigration enforcement.” What that training entails is up to you to figure out.

 

There’s also a disconcerting passage where CNN reports that the brothers’ responsibilities include tailing “suspected federal vehicles,” “writing down license plate numbers,” and “sending immigration agents’ locations in group chats with other observers.”

 

Boy, I’d sure like to know what happens with all that vehicle-tag information, where it goes, who disseminates it, and whether it’s being stored or fed to other activist groups. Unfortunately, those kinds of details aren’t included.

 

Now, unlike its paean to the Chicago brothers, CNN’s coverage of Nick Shirley, who produced a viral video in which he claims to have uncovered evidence of rampant fraud perpetrated by members of Minnesota’s Somali diaspora, was much more incredulous.

 

The video “includes limited evidence for the creator’s allegations,” warned one report.

 

CNN host Elex Michaelson clarified on-air: “CNN is now looking into Shirley’s claims and has not independently verified his accusations.”

 

“YouTube content creator Nick Shirley posted a viral video now that’s claiming to find widespread fraud in Somali-run childcare centers,” warned host Brian Abel. “Shirley has created anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim videos in the past. His latest post [provides] limited evidence.”

 

One report brands Shirley as a “MAGA journalist.” Host Abby Phillip labels him a “MAGA YouTuber,” adding that his videos “are performative.”

 

“YouTube content creator Nick Shirley, who has created anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim videos in the past, posted a video alleging widespread fraud,” she added elsewhere. “. . . It includes limited evidence, though, to support the claims that it makes.”

 

When Shirley himself was interviewed by the network, reporter Whitney Wild demanded of him, like an actual newswoman, “How do you know that you’re right? How do you know that all the allegations that you’re making are true? Are you 100 percent sure?”

 

These are good questions. One can’t help but wonder where this energy was when CNN produced that profile in which the main characters asserted that ICE agents are “grabbing any brown or black person walking down the sidewalks.”

 

Lastly, here’s a quote from a CNN personality about the events in Minnesota. Your task is to guess whom she is talking about: “Like, who gave this guy license to go around . . . these random vigilante justice-seekers who ordained themselves like some sort of law enforcement expert?”

 

That’s a quote from former MSNBC host Tiffany Cross, and, funnily enough, she’s not talking about all the self-declared “legal observers,” the protesters who’ve set up their own roadblocks and checkpoints, the people who’ve chased strangers from public establishments because they think they look like federal agents, or the folks who’ve actively impeded federal officers performing their duties.

 

She’s talking about Nick Shirley (you guessed it!), who knocks on doors and makes supposed daycare workers uncomfortable.

 

Factoring in CNN’s more recent coverage of amateur videographers in Minnesota, the network doesn’t actually seem to object to Shirley’s methods, despite the protests of its personalities. CNN simply objects to the subject matter.