Minneapolis mayor urges other cities to stand firm against immigration crackdown
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
By MITCH SMITH, CHELSIA ROSE MARCIUS, ALAN FEUER and CARL HULSE
Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis on Thursday urged leaders from other American cities to take a firm stand against the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign, warning them that “if we do not speak up, if we do not step up, it will be your city that is next.”
Frey was greeted with raucous applause before his address to the United States Conference of Mayors’ winter meeting in Washington. His comments came hours after Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, acknowledged that the immigration crackdown in Minnesota needed to be “fixed” and raised the possibility that federal agents could be withdrawn under certain conditions.
“President Trump wants this fixed, and I’m going to fix it,” Homan said at a news conference in Minneapolis.
The president sent Homan to the city on Monday, placing him in control of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations there as the administration seeks to respond to public outrage over tactics that have led to street protests, violent confrontations and the killing of two citizens by federal agents.
Homan tied a potential “redeployment” of agents in the city to increased cooperation from state officials, particularly regarding violent criminals already in Minnesota jails. Minnesota state officials have said for weeks that they have been cooperating with immigration enforcement, noting that they routinely transfer custody of inmates based on Immigration and Customs Enforcement requests.
The Trump administration continued to face anger over the killings of two Americans, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, by federal agents in separate shootings in Minneapolis this month. In Washington, the prospect of a government shutdown hung in the air as Democrats negotiated with Trump on rule changes to rein in his immigration campaign.
At a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Trump uncharacteristically avoided any mention of his immigration campaign. He skipped Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as he asked Cabinet members for updates on various topics and also declined to take any questions from reporters.
In his remarks Thursday morning, Homan presented himself as a pragmatist seeking common ground with Minnesota officials who have publicly disagreed with Trump. He conceded that not “everything that has been done here has been perfect” and said he had met with local officials, including Gov. Tim Walz.
But there has been little sign of major change on the ground, as federal immigration agents appeared to press on with their aggressive operations Wednesday.
Here’s what else to know:
— Attack on Omar: A newly unsealed federal criminal complaint on the assault on Rep. Ilhan Omar at an event this week said the man charged in the case had squirted a mix of apple cider vinegar and water at her from a syringe. Omar asked for and was granted extra security by Speaker Mike Johnson.
— Maine: Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said Thursday that ICE had ended its “enhanced activities” in the state. “There are currently no ongoing or planned large-scale ICE operations here,” she said in a social media post. There was no immediate response from ICE, which started an operation to detain what it called 1,400 “criminal illegal aliens” in Maine last week.
— Shutdown talks: The Senate voted 55-45 to block a spending package needed to keep the government open past Friday, as Democrats followed through on their pledge to oppose the legislation while they attempt to strike a deal with Trump and Republicans to rein in immigration officers.