President Donald Trump has offered Minnesota a reasonable compromise: He will scale back ICE operations in the state if Minnesota officials agree to “turn over all incarcerated or active warrant criminal illegal aliens” and “assist federal authorities in detaining criminal illegal aliens wanted for crimes.”
Nothing doing, says Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D). “Minneapolis does not and will not enforce federal immigration laws,” he said on X after meeting with White House border czar Tom Homan. After Trump warned he was “PLAYING WITH FIRE,” Frey doubled down, declaring that “the job of our police is to keep people safe, not enforce fed immigration laws.”
In fact, his sanctuary policies have done the exact opposite — contributing to the deaths of two protesters, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, who would almost certainly be alive today were it not for Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s (D) refusal to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in targeting illegal migrants with criminal records.
When Trump took office a year ago, Homan made clear that the administration’s intention was not to carry out “a mass sweep of neighborhoods” but rather to “prioritize public safety threats” by detaining and deporting “the worst of the worst” — those charged with or convicted of serious crimes.
Trump was elected with a mandate to do that. In a New York Times-Ipsos poll just before his inauguration, an 87 percent supermajority said they supported removing all migrants “who are here illegally and have criminal records.” Indeed, 63 percent said they wanted Trump to go further and deport all migrants “who are here illegally and arrived over the last four years” under President Joe Biden, while 55 percent wanted to deport “all immigrants who are here illegally” — period.
Over the past year, Homan has been true to his word: Nearly 70 percent ICE arrests nationwide have involved illegal migrants convicted or charged with crimes, according to the Department of Homeland Security. In states where local officials work with ICE, these arrests have taken place without chaos. For example, there have been more than 88,000 ICE arrests in Texas — the most in the country — largely without incident. But in Minnesota, there have been 10 times fewer arrests but far more violent confrontations.
Why? Because when state and local officials won’t help federal immigration officers target those with criminal records, they have no choice but to go into communities to get them. Since Trump took office, DHS reports that Minnesota has released nearly 470 illegal migrants charged with or convicted of crimes back onto the streets — including those charged with sex offenses against a child, lewd or lascivious acts with a minor, domestic violence, drug trafficking, vehicular homicide, burglary, first-degree aggravated robbery and larceny. In all, DHS says Minnesota officials are refusing to honor more than 1,360 ICE detainers.
That has required ICE to carry out large sweeps resulting in collateral arrests of illegal migrants without criminal records — the very people Frey and Walz are purporting to protect with their sanctuary policies — because, as Homan has made clear, while ICE is focused primarily on those with criminal records, they will arrest anyone they find who is here illegally.
Sanctuary policies have also endangered Minnesotans by contributing to deadly confrontations with protesters. As Homan has explained, “when you go in the community and find them, it puts ICE officers at greater risk, it puts a community at greater risk, it puts the alien at greater risk.”
Instead of cooperating, Frey and Waltz have urged Minnesotans to take to the streets and protest ICE. Walz has poured gasoline on the fire by comparing ICE agents to the Nazis who hunted down Anne Frank and are committing “atrocities against Minnesotans,” while Frey had demanded that ICE “get the f— out of Minneapolis.”
Moreover, because they have ordered state and local law enforcement not to support deportations, ICE has been forced to rely on U.S. Border Patrol to protect them as they carry out enforcement operations — and those officers are not trained in crowd control and de-escalation techniques. Frey and Waltz stood by as organized networks have engaged in the coordinated tracking and doxing ICE agents, surrounding and trashing hotels where they are staying, and provoking confrontations that have turned deadly.
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Democrats are preparing to shut down part of the government (again!) to block Congress from passing the DHS appropriations bill. They are overplaying their hand. Last year, Trump secured funding for ICE through 2029 as part of his One Big Beautiful Bill — which means that blocking the DHS spending bill will not affect ICE, but will cut funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration. Just a few months ago, Democrats shut down the government over Obamacare subsides and were forced to capitulate. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
Democrats are misreading the politics of illegal immigration. Yes, polls show that majorities of Americans think Trump’s implementation of his deportation polices has been “too tough.” But a majority supports the deportations themselves, especially for illegal migrants with criminal records. They just want them to be carried out humanely.
If Democrats resist Trump’s offer to do so, they will pay a political price. And for the party responsible for the worst border crisis in American history to block funding for the department responsible for securing the border would be the height of political malpractice.
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