President Donald Trump appears to be backing down in Minneapolis — not because the situation has improved, but because Democrat officials who are still openly declaring their opposition to immigration enforcement have apparently pressured him into retreat.
After months of open defiance of federal immigration law, weeks of unrest, and a second fatal shooting involving federal agents, the Trump administration demanded on Sunday that Walz, Frey, and other Democrat leaders “cooperate … to enforce our Nation’s Laws.” In part, he specifically called on state and local prisons to turn over illegal aliens in custody and called on local police to “assist Federal Law Enforcement in apprehending and detaining Illegal Aliens who are wanted for Crimes.” But two days later, the president is reportedly planning to withdraw some forces in Minneapolis.
The Wall Street Journal reported that “The White House said Trump will reduce the number of federal agents in Minnesota if local officials there increase their cooperation with federal authorities.” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a Monday post on X that, following a conversation with Trump, “some agents” will be leaving. However, at the same time, Frey made clear that he would still not “enforce federal immigration law.”
In other words, it seems Frey will get exactly what he wanted (a reduction in agents) with no real change in local policy.
Trump also spoke with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Monday. Trump said the duo “seemed to be on a similar wavelength” and that Trump and law enforcement “are looking for … any and all Criminals that they have in their possession.”
Walz’s office, for its part, put out a carefully worded statement saying the state already cooperates with ICE and that the governor wants fewer agents in the state.
Walz — according to the statement — “reminded President Trump that the Minnesota Department of Corrections already honors federal detainers by notifying Immigration and Customs Enforcement when a person committed to its custody isn’t a U.S. citizen.”
But, as Fox’s Bill Melugin pointed out, Walz’s framing is a misrepresentation of Minnesota’s dangerous sanctuary city policies.
“Yes, his prisons honor ICE detainers by transferring *convicted* criminal aliens after they serve their sentence, but his city and county jails do not,” Melugin wrote. “ICE wants criminal aliens arrested for crimes handed to them instead of being released to streets.”
“Even California prisons honor ICE detainers,” he continued, but “[t]he sanctuary fights are over city and county jails.”
The sheriff’s office of Hennepin County (which includes Minneapolis) does not cooperate with ICE, though other counties do cooperate by identifying “people who are in the country unlawfully and [sharing] that information with federal agents to help facilitate deportations,” The New York Times reported.
What’s more, even though “several sheriffs say they regularly provide ICE with information about inmates the agency intends to take into custody,” ICE agents could be prevented from picking them up due to “short notice after an inmate has posted bail or been released by a judge.” Minnesota’s attorney general issued a memo last year arguing state law “prohibits law enforcement from holding someone on an immigration detainer if the person would otherwise be released from custody.”
It’s clear Walz and Frey have offered nothing they weren’t already willing to give, that is, vague assurances about “violent criminals” and cooperation on cases that aren’t politically toxic. It costs Democrats nothing politically to go after violent illegal aliens. In fact, it helps them because they get credit for “being reasonable.”
But the truth is that both Walz and Frey have helped create this crisis by blatantly opposing federal authority and fomenting violence against ICE agents. For example, Walz positively described Minnesota’s open defiance of federal law as being akin to the third day of the battle at Gettysburg in 1863. He has also accused ICE agents of being “Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo” and came under fire this week for comparing the federal immigration enforcement operations in his state to the persecution of Anne Frank and her family at the hands of Nazis. Frey, for his part, claimed ICE is “quite literally killing people” and “ripping families apart” earlier this month.
It seems Walz and Frey are using the chaos they sowed in Minneapolis to extract concessions from the president — all while demanding federal authorities retreat from enforcing the federal law.
Meanwhile, Trump is rolling over just to get the absolute bare minimum from a mayor and governor who have been in open rebellion against the federal government. Worse, Minneapolis will get to continue its lawlessness, apparently without repercussions. Any retreat from the federal government validates left-wing agitators who have taken over the city of Minneapolis, set up “autonomous zones,” and obstructed federal law enforcement operations.
But the deeper problem is that Trump’s retreat appears to suggest he is considering walking back on his campaign promise of “Mass Deportations” in exchange for partial deportations.
If the federal government limits itself to deporting only the people Democrats are willing to hand over, then the law is simply not being enforced. It would mean that Democrats like Walz get exactly what they want. They get to sound tough and pretend their sanctuary city policies weren’t a disaster while keeping millions of illegal immigrants in place and shielded from deportation.
Walz and other Democrats have made clear they are opposed to federal immigration law. There is no deal to be made with officials who reject the law itself. And there is no obligation for Trump to meet them halfway.
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