WASHINGTON (TNND) — Tensions have continued to run high in response to the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration in Minneapolis after two protesters were killed by authorities with elected officials engaged in a partisan blame game about why the situation has not eased.
Emotions have been running high in Minnesota for weeks as the White House has taken a confrontational approach toward criticisms of the crackdown as the state’s Democratic leadership has repeatedly called on U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement to pull back the thousands of agents that have been sent to the city.
The situation may be on a path to deescalation but that comes after several weeks of heated debate and public statements about who’s to blame for the chaotic environment and whether ICE should maintain its presence there as tensions spread beyond the city with the November midterms quickly approaching.
“It’s all about who’s winning the moment, and the moment is so much bigger than that. That’s the major problem,” said Rob Alexander, a political science professor at Bowling Green.
President Donald Trump sent border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota this week, days after the death of Alex Pretti, a Veterans Affairs nurse who was shot multiple times after apparently recording a woman being arrested by immigration agents with his cellphone. His death came as the city was still reeling from the death of Renee Good, who was shot and killed by an immigration officer in her vehicle.
In a press conference Thursday morning, Homan said the pointed words that have been flying contributed to the problems.
“I begged for the last two months on TV for the rhetoric to stop. I said in March, if the rhetoric didn’t stop, there’s going to be bloodshed, and there has been. I wish I wasn’t right,” Homan said.
Homan also said he was working on a plan to start drawing down the massive law enforcement presence in the state if local authorities would cooperate on allowing immigration authorities into state jails, a signal of a possible off-ramp to weeks of turmoil.
Where blame should fall has been subject to proclamations pointing across the aisle as Republicans accuse Democrats and protesters of aggressive rhetoric and tactics that are creating a dangerous environment for immigration agents to work in, while Democrats blame Trump, White House officials and some Republicans in Congress for spreading false information about the situation on the ground.
A similar dynamic played out in the immediate aftermath of both Pretti and Good’s deaths with administration officials proclaiming both were violent agitators prepared to hurt authorities while critics blasted the White House for deploying an overaggressive law enforcement presence and wreaking havoc.
“Even the calls for change or to dial it down are met with a lot of consternation,” Alexander said. “What is everyone really trying to accomplish? Do they believe anything? Do they believe that the rhetoric is the rhetoric because they think it benefits themselves, benefits their party, or actually tries to make things better? That’s a big question mark.”
Even when tensions seemed to be cooling earlier this week after Trump spoke on the phone with Walz, when he said the two “seemed to be on a similar wavelength,” leaders on both sides of the aisle made pointed public statements about the situation in Minneapolis.
“This tragedy occurred as a result of a deliberate and hostile resistance by Democrat leaders in Minnesota,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters during Monday’s press briefing.
Other officials have been more aggressive in their defense of ICE, describing Pretti as a domestic terrorist” who was “brandishing” a gun, claims that were undercut by videos of the incident.
Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have asked protesters to remain peaceful but have also not held back on their assessments of how the White House was handling the operation in Minneapolis or investigations into the shootings. Both met with Homan since he arrived in Minneapolis and said the conversations yielded progress but still blamed the administration for starting the problems.
“That’s progress, but they started this fire, so we’re not giving anybody credit for putting it out,” Walz told CNN. “But right now, what we need is we need a return to normalcy by the ICE agents out of here.”
Pretti’s death has also opened a new level of scrutiny within Congress about the administration’s immigration enforcement operations, including among some Republicans, that is putting the government at risk of shutting down if lawmakers can’t strike a deal with the White House. Democrats are seeking to put new restrictions on ICE in exchange for votes to maintain funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
Past politics have also come up throughout the period of unrest, including Walz claiming on “The Bulwark” podcast that he would “beat the s—” out of Vice President JD Vance if they were to have another debate.
“Yes, I would beat the s— out of him now if I could, and I would call that out. I mean, that’s just different. In verbally going at it, my argument is much better. Making the case that housing prices are up because of immigration and that we should build on federal lands, it was such a crazy thing,” Walz said.
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