Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey drew a distinction between his criticism of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and calling for an end to the agency.
Last week, 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE officer after allegedly “weaponizing” her vehicle and driving into the officer. In new footage released by the Homeland Security Department on Sunday, Good is seen blocking federal vehicles and traffic where ICE was operating before officers approached her vehicle. Frey condemned the aggression on Fox News’s Fox & Friends on Wednesday.
“I do not support abolishing ICE. I … however, I absolutely oppose the way that this administration is conducting themselves with ICE,” Frey said.
The Trump administration is facing a lawsuit from Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the state of Minnesota over Operation Metro Surge, which seeks to halt ICE operations in those jurisdictions.
“We allege that DHS forces use of excessive and lethal force, their warrantless racist arrests, their targeting of our courts, our churches, houses of worship, and schools are in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act on arbitrary and capricious federal actions,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said.
Frey expressed his support for the lawsuit on Wednesday while acknowledging the long history of ICE officers in his city.
“It is the fact that, look, right now, there’s about 3,000 federal ICE agents in our city between ICE and border control. You know how many police officers that we have? 600,” Frey said. “The kind of duress that our city is experiencing because of this is magnified. Again, crime has been down. This is not helping. Chaos has been dramatically increased by the way that these ICE operations are taking place.”
LIBERAL ACTIVISTS USE AGGRESSIVE ‘ICE WATCH’ TACTICS TO TARGET FEDERAL OFFICERS IN MINNEAPOLIS
Other lawmakers have also called for an end to ICE, including Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), who recently advocated the agency’s abolition during a television interview.
ICE operations have led to the arrest of immigrants living in the country illegally with prior convictions for murder and rape across Minnesota. Those arrested have included immigrants from various countries.
