Chris Madel, a defense lawyer who had been running for governor of Minnesota as a Republican, said he had decided to end his campaign because he had become outraged by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.
The operation “has departed so far from the stated goals that it is simply a disaster,” Mr. Madel said in an interview on Monday, two days after federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, in the city. “People are living in fear, and it needs to end,” Mr. Madel said.
Mr. Madel, who had voiced support for stronger immigration enforcement when he started his campaign, said he found federal agents to be acting lawlessly in Minnesota.
His announcement comes as conservatives are grappling with the limits of federal power and are divided over how far federal immigration officials should go to support the Trump administration’s mass deportation goals. Several prominent conservatives, including former Vice President Mike Pence and Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Jerry Moran of Kansas, have called for a complete investigation of Mr. Pretti’s killing, while others, like Representative Randy Fine of Florida, have defended the agents and doubled down their support for the deportation agenda.
In a social media post announcing his decision, Mr. Madel said he could no longer count himself a member of a party that would seek “retribution on the citizens of our state.”
“It is clear that what is happening in Minnesota is people from the Department of Homeland Security are just stopping people, and in some cases, detaining them merely based on the color of their skin without any reasonable articulation of a violation of the law,” he said.
Mr. Madel also criticized immigration agents pulling over police officers and questioning them in stops that he said were based on their skin color. He said Latino and Asian police officers he personally knows had been stopped ostensibly for speeding, something he said immigration agents do not have the authority to do.
Mr. Madel, who runs a law firm in Minneapolis, has a reputation for being blunt and at times pugnacious in and out of the courtroom. He represented a Minnesota state trooper who was charged with murder in 2024 in a high-profile case that prosecutors ultimately dismissed. In recent weeks, he has provided advice to Jonathan Ross, the immigration agent who killed Renee Good, also a U.S. citizen, in Minneapolis earlier this month.
Last week, Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, filed paperwork to run for governor of Minnesota. Mr. Madel said his decision to end his campaign had nothing to do with the new entrant.
“At the end of the day, I have to look my daughters in the eye and tell them I believe I did what was right,” Mr. Madel said in his announcement. “I am doing that today.”
Ernesto Londoño is a Times reporter based in Minnesota, covering news in the Midwest and drug use and counternarcotics policy.
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