Jaime Arroyo, the first Latino mayor of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, worries about the prospect of federal immigration agents descending on his city. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say this didn’t keep me up at night,” the Democrat said in an interview, decrying what he sees as a “wrong and inhumane” strategy by the Trump administration.
Jerry Dyer, the Republican mayor of Fresno, California, said it’s important that he and his counterparts in other cities speak out against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns. “That’s really all we can do right now,” said Dyer, who served as the city’s police chief for nearly 20 years. “Just allow our collective voices to be heard as mayors to see if we can’t get the administration to listen to us so that there’s a different approach.”
The ongoing unrest in Minneapolis was on the minds of many mayors who gathered in Washington for a conference this past week. Interviews with a dozen mayors from both parties show distress about the Trump administration’s approach and dismay over the recent fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents. Some openly worried about how they could protect their cities if the federal government came to theirs next. Many said they were working on ways to prepare for the possibility of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence in their city.
The federal enforcement operation in Minneapolis has escalated tensions in the city and across the country. The deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti prompted street protests and broader public outrage, including pushback from some Republicans troubled by the Trump administration’s tactics. Trump’s border czar said late last week that his team was working on a plan to “draw down” agents, but that doing so would require state and local cooperation. Such an accord has not yet materialized and a judge on Saturday declined to order the administration to scale back its surge in Minnesota.
After Pretti’s death last weekend, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, a nonpartisan organization of cities with populations over 30,000, released a statement calling what occurred in Minneapolis “unacceptable” and demanding “immediate intervention.” The president of the group, David Holt, the Republican mayor of Oklahoma City, addressed the topic several times during the gathering in D.C., calling what was happening in Minneapolis, a “crisis” and pledging support for Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D), who has clashed sharply with the Trump administration.
“I’m a lay person, if you ask me how should things be done, I don’t know if I can give you that right answer, but I think we all have bipartisan agreement that this isn’t it,” he said in an interview.
Many mayors have said they are taking steps to prepare for the possibility that the federal government could target their cities. Several said they have instructed their local law enforcement not to work alongside federal agents in their immigration enforcement efforts. Matt Tuerk, the Democratic mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania, said he asked judges to allow people to attend immigration hearings virtually to avoid being detained when showing up at the courthouse.
Todd Gloria, the Democratic mayor of San Diego, said he has held exercises with city staff to play out scenarios if federal agents increased their presence there. Rudy Cruz Jr., a Democratic mayor of Socorro, Texas, along the border with Mexico, said he’s having community meetings with residents to make sure they understand their rights.
Other mayors talked about what they see as the chilling effect of immigration enforcement on businesses, schools, health care and public safety. Elizabeth Kautz, the Republican mayor of Burnsville, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, said she carries her passport with her because she believes federal agents won’t know she’s the mayor and she could be stopped.
“You see, if you are not Caucasian and you are Brown or Black you are being stopped, harassed,” said Kautz, who is part Samoan.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson rejected the mayors’ criticism. “ICE officers act heroically to enforce the law and protect American communities — local officials should work with them, not against them,” she said in a statement. “Anyone pointing the finger at law enforcement officers instead of the criminals is simply doing the bidding of criminal illegal aliens.”
Some Republicans voiced support for ICE operations bound by limits. Daniel Rickenmann, the Republican mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, said he supports the federal government removing undocumented immigrants who have committed other crimes, but does not think it should go after everyone in the country who is here illegally.
“I think we ought to figure out a pathway. If you’re a productive part of our community, and you’ve built, you’re part of our neighborhoods, you’re engaged, you have a business, or you’re working for companies, and you’re doing well, why should we not figure out a way?” he said, adding that mayors have a unique vantage point on immigration issues because of their time spent in the community.
Towns just outside Minneapolis are also on edge. Jim Hovland, the Democratic mayor of Edina, Minnesota, a community less than 10 miles south, said he wants his residents to know he and the other nearby mayors are doing something to combat the federal immigration enforcement in his state’s most populous city. Mayors from thirteen cities around Minneapolis created a task force to come up with strategies for how to fight back, he said. But Hovland admitted feeling desperate about the situation.
As he talked about the “fraying of trust” between people and the federal government, Democratic National Committee chairman Ken Martin, who is also from Minnesota, passed by.
“I’ve been thinking of you,” Martin told Hovland.
“It’s really hard right now with Jacob,” Hovland responded, referring to the Minneapolis mayor, Frey. “Even though he knows we’re there for him, it’s just, it is just chaos.”
“I know, I know,” Martin said. “We’ll get through this.”
Frey, who has emerged as an outspoken and sharp critic of the Trump administration’s tactics stopped by the conference to speak Thursday afternoon. His fellow mayors greeted him with a standing ovation. Frey told them they were on “the front lines of a very important battle.”
“This is not a time to bend our heads in despair or out of fear that we may be next,” Frey said. “Because if we do not speak up, if we do not step out, it will be your city that is next.”
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