Removing the letters left the words, PRO ICE, an apparent reference to Lang\u2019s support for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, commonly known as ICE.<\/p>\n
In recent months, Minnesota became a flashpoint as thousands of ICE agents moved into Minneapolis and St. Paul to seek immigrants suspected of living in the United States without authorization. Anti-ICE protesters regularly showed up to record videos of ICE arrests. ICE agents shot and killed two protesters, sparking widespread condemnation, but also support for ICE officers, including from Trump administration officials.<\/p>\n
After knocking over the letters, Lang got into a Dodge Ram pickup truck and left. State troopers later pulled him over and arrested him.<\/p>\n
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WVIA Screenshot<\/p>\n
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Jake Lang Facebook<\/p>\n
Jake Lang knocks over letters in an ice sculpture outside the Minnesota state Capitol on Feb. 5, 2026. The sculpture said Prosecute ICE. Lang turned it into Pro Ice. <\/p>\n
\u201cLang said he was on the Capitol ground exercising his \u2018First Amendment right to artistic expression\u2019,\u201d a trooper wrote in the affidavit. \u201cWhen asked if he had damaged an ice sculpture, Lang said the sculpture was made of ice and could not sustain its structure.” <\/p>\n
Lang overheard a trooper telling a Capitol police dispatcher to save surveillance video.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Lang replied that he had great video of the incident,\u201d the trooper wrote in the affidavit.<\/p>\n
Lang asked for protective custody and asked officers to relay a message to prosecutors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was creating art,\u201d he said. \u201cI was exercising my First Amendment right to artistic expression.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the affidavit, the trooper notes the First Amendment does not extend to \u201cdamaging someone else\u2019s property.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police charged with first degree property damage, defined as damage that reduces an object\u2019s value by more than $1,000. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both.<\/p>\n
Group paid for ice sculpture<\/p>\n
The Common Defense Organization obtained a city permit to display the sculpture between 6:30 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. that day. The group paid $6,250 to a local artist to create the sculpture and another $600 for its removal after the permit lapsed, according to the affidavit. The group had planned to donate the sculpture to a local business so it could be displayed longer.<\/p>\n
At a hearing Wednesday, a judge found enough evidence to warrant a trial. The trial is scheduled for July 27.<\/p>\n
The Jan. 6 riot<\/p>\n
Lang was never tried for attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, because Trump pardoned him and more than 1,500 others shortly after returning to the White House in January 2025. <\/p>\n
Federal agents accused him of “violently engaging with law enforcement officers as they attempted to keep rioters out of the Capitol.”<\/p>\n
Videos showed him carrying a riot shield over his head and slamming it down on the ground repeatedly near where officers lined up, according to the criminal complaint filed against Lang.<\/p>\n
An indictment charged him with assaulting, resisting or impeding police officers; assaulting, resisting or impeding police officers with a dangerous weapon; assaulting, resisting or impeding police officers using a dangerous weapon and inflicting bodily injury on officers; causing civil disorder; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and an act of physical violence on the Capitol grounds or buildings. <\/p>\n