MINNEAPOLIS — The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota has driven outrage among the state’s top Democratic officials, broad concern among progressive residents, and protests by activists and groups left unsettled as federal agents delve deeper into the state’s communities.
For many Minnesota conservatives, it’s a chance to cheer on a president who is delivering on a central message of his campaign and his entire career in politics.
“We’re getting what we voted for,” said Grant Johnson, chair of a local Republican Party chapter in the western Twin Cities suburbs.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “Operation Metro Surge,” which began earlier this month, has resulted in more than 400 arrests. It’s drawn condemnation from some community leaders and many Democratic elected officials.
Minnesota is just the latest Democratic-led state where federal officials have sent in agents. Other high-profile deployments to major U.S. cities, including Los Angeles and Chicago, have resulted in more than 600,000 deportations.
A sampling of Republicans from around Minnesota who spoke with the Minnesota Star Tribune praised President Donald Trump for sending federal agents to the state. Several said they were unhappy with the Biden administration’s approach to immigration and the high number of border crossings.
“I feel sorry for most of the immigrants that came here on the empty promise of open borders and a free lunch in America,” said Kevin Shepherd, executive chair for Senate District 31 Republicans, in the northwest Twin Cities suburbs. “But with all life choices, we have consequences.”
ICE’s presence has mobilized some Minnesotans to document agents’ activities and prompted some school district officials to say they’ll block agents’ access to schools. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey barred ICE agents from staging their vehicles on city-owned parking lots.
That type of lack of cooperation is disheartening, said Peter Trocke, a Mankato liquor store owner and former Nicollet County GOP chair.
“It’s really disgusting, to be honest, that you have people going out and blocking ICE agents or getting in their way, trying to prevent them from doing their job,” Trocke said. “If people are here legally, that’s great, that’s the way it should be. If [criminals] are here illegally … why would you not want these people to be gone?”
Federal officials have called those arrested the “worst of the worst.” They included people from Somalia, Southeast Asia and Central and South America whose convictions include sex crimes, drug trafficking and domestic assault.
The Minnesota Republican Party in a statement said it “welcomed federal immigration enforcement when it targets criminals who endanger our communities” and said Gov. Tim Walz, “ignored years of warnings about fraud and criminal networks operating in Minnesota.”
But ICE’s arrests in Minnesota this year have included non-criminals, too. Roughly 44% of the arrests from January to mid-October are people who have not been convicted of a crime and currently do not face criminal charges, 37% of those detained have a past criminal conviction and 19% have a pending criminal charge, according to the Deportation Data Project.
More recent arrestees include multiple U.S. citizens and an Augsburg college student. Walz has urged ICE officials to review the arrests of citizens and reassess its enforcement strategy.
The ICE campaign came soon after Trump called Minnesota’s large Somali community “garbage” and said he didn’t want them in the country, though most Minnesota Somalis are citizens or legal residents. Trump’s comment drew fierce censure from Democrats but a more muted reaction from high-ranking Minnesota Republicans.
U.S. Rep. Brad Finstad was one of a few elected Minnesota Republicans to push back on Trump’s comments. “To single out one population over another is a broad brush that I would not use,” he told Rochester TV station KTTC.
Finstad was otherwise complimentary of the ICE operation, saying it focused on criminals.
Most ICE activity has been in the Twin Cities so far, but one arrest was reported in Rochester, and recent days have seen interactions between agents and their targets in several suburbs.
In St. Cloud, where Somali residents make up about 8% of the population — the third-highest percentage in the state following Minneapolis and St. Paul — conservatives shared mixed feelings on Trump’s rhetoric but supported the increased immigration enforcement.
Bill Doll, a Republican delegate in central Minnesota, said he “wholeheartedly” supports ICE and wishes the uptick in enforcement action had started years ago.
Sue Ek, a Republican who narrowly lost a St. Cloud-area House race last year and plans to run again next year, said she hasn’t heard of ICE making arrests in central Minnesota, though several activist groups say they are.
“People just need to be here legally. That’s kind of the bottom line,” she said.
Ek doesn’t support Trump’s recent rhetoric, though.
“His quote calling people from Somalia garbage was a huge mistake and it doesn’t represent anybody but himself,” she said. “I would never say that.”
She said she’s heard from fellow conservatives that they are irritated and embarrassed by the remarks.
“Hopefully his people are telling him to not say things like that that could offend an entire culture,” Ek said. “It’s just not productive. It’s certainly not productive for those of us in the trenches.”