Democratic leaders from Minnesota on Friday denounced President Trump’s immigration crackdown in the state, describing it as the equivalent of a military occupation during an unofficial congressional hearing. Local officials said it had made their communities less safe and made residents feel threatened, especially after the killing last week of Renee Good, 37, by a federal agent in Minneapolis.
Local officials and activists told Democratic members of Congress that convoys of federal agents were violating constitutional rights, profiling residents of color and wrongfully detaining U.S. citizens as part of a Trump administration campaign of political retribution.
“There is no modern precedent for this level of federal overreach, violence, lawlessness carried out in the name of immigration enforcement,” Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat who represents part of Minneapolis, told a panel of two dozen Democratic members of Congress meeting at the Minnesota Senate Building on Friday morning.
Congressional Democrats have faced mounting pressure from their base to respond to the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign in American cities, even as White House officials have accused local and state Democratic leaders of encouraging attacks on immigration enforcement agencies, blaming them for the violence.
Minnesota officials have pushed back, blaming the administration’s heated rhetoric and the aggressive tactics of immigration agents for stirring up opposition. “I am making a direct appeal to the President,” Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota posted on social media on Thursday after Mr. Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act and send in federal troops. “Let’s turn the temperature down. Stop this campaign of retribution.”
Immigration has continued to be a vexing issue for Democrats, and the party has struggled to reach a consensus on immigration policy after the 2024 election. But Democrats have increasingly pushed for limits on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as their tactics have escalated and resulted in confrontations and shootings. Polls indicate that a growing number of Americans have become increasingly concerned about ICE’s actions.
The hearing on Friday was organized by Ms. Omar and Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington State, leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Though organized like a regular congressional oversight hearing, its proceedings will not be part of the official congressional record, and the panel does not have subpoena power.
Ms. Jayapal said the proceedings were part of a series of unofficial hearings that she has held to document the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.
Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis and Kaohly Her, the newly elected mayor of Saint Paul, told the panel that ICE agents had been knocking on doors and questioning residents on the streets about their citizenship status, in operations that did not appear to be methodical or planned out, despite Trump officials’ assertions that they were hunting criminals.
“This is not about safety,” Mr. Frey said, “and I think the main message here is this is not sustainable.”
Jazmine Ulloa is a national reporter covering immigration for The Times.
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