Minneapolis Mayor Labels ICE As An ‘Occupying Force’
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey doubled down on his civil war-like rhetoric against the Trump Administration by declaring the surge of federal immigration agents in the city as an “occupying force.”
“We are doing the work to keep people safe in our city, and specifically, it is our local police officers. It is the state of Minnesota and our governor. We are doing everything possible to keep the peace, notwithstanding this occupying force that has quite literally invaded our city,” Frey told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on Sunday morning.
The statement came just hours after a day of several violent assaults targeting right-wing activists, conservative counterprotestors and perceived U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the Twin Cities region. In one example, a group of leftists assaulted a man wearing a camo jacket after labeling him as an ICE agent.
They soon found out that the man was a fellow anti-ICE activist, but not before throwing him to the ground and assaulting him.
In the most serious incident, controversial right-wing activist Jake Lang was beaten and allegedly stabbed while staging a provocative rally outside Minneapolis City Hall. Lang required staples in his head after being assaulted with a wooden flag pole, while he credited a protective chest plate with saving his life from the stab wound.
Still, Frey has claimed the protests in Minneapolis are “peaceful” while attempting to blame the escalating violence on the federal government.
“I mean, we’ve got 600 cops in the city of Minneapolis, and we’re talking about 3,000 plus ICE agents and border control that have come in. They’re not making our city safer,” the mayor told CBS News.
Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz have repeatedly inferred that they are “at war” with the federal government and have urged protesters to flood the streets.
The mayor has claimed that Minneapolis Police Officers can and will arrest ICE officers for perceived offenses. After an ICE-involved shooting of a Venezuelan illegal alien who participated in a group attack on an agent with a shovel, Frey claimed that Minneapolis residents are urging police to “fight” immigration agents.
“And we’re in a position right now where we have residents that are asking the very limited number of police officers that we have to fight ICE agents on the street, to stand by their neighbors,” he said, drawing a puzzled reaction from Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.
“We cannot be at a place right now in America where we have two governmental entities that are literally fighting one another. Why are we put in this position? We’re put in this position because we have approximately 600 police officers in Minneapolis, far fewer that are able to work at any given time. And there are approximately 3 ,000 ICE agents in the area, 3 ,000,” the mayor continued to rant.
On Friday, it was revealed that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation into both Frey and Walz for obstructing federal agents. The mayor attempted to sidestep the investigation by claiming that he was being targeted for political beliefs.