Wednesday on CNN’s “The Arena,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) said the Trump administration’s withdrawal of 700 immigration officers in Minnesota was “still not de-escalation.”
Host Kasie Hunt said, “I’d like to start by just asking what you would say back to President Trump. President Trump said in an interview that a softer touch is required. What do you say to President Trump?
Frey said, “He’s right that a softer touch has been required, the drawdown of both federal agents as well as the implementation of body cameras, is obviously a step in the right direction. That being said, the continued presence of 2000 federal agents in a city that only has 600 police officers is still not de-escalation. So we have been very clear that Operation Metro Surge needs to end, the restoration, peace of safety and rejuvenation of small local businesses throughout our city depends on one main thing, which is for ICE to leave. And so that continues to be our position.”
Hunt said, “Sir, how would you characterize. You say it’s not a de-escalation. What is it? What does it mean that 700 of these agents are leaving?”
Frey said, “Well, obviously, there is a deescalatory element if you are decreasing the number of agents that are on the street. That being said, when you have 2000 agents that are still here, approximately 20 times that which we had prior to Operation Metro Surge, that relatively speaking, no, is not a de-escalation. And so we need to understand where we have been, and then where we were just a couple of months ago, you know, look, we’ve had ICE operate in our city for decades. We’ve had ICE operate in our city even during a Trump administration. And this is not about ICE doing normal ICE stuff. The objection is to ice pulling people off the street indiscriminately. It’s these roving bands that were walking through Minneapolis and targeting both Latino and Somali people, without regard for whether any crime had been committed at all. The frustration, of course, comes in the way and the how people in our city have been treated.”
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