Chad Wolf told Newsmax on Friday that anti-immigration enforcement "chaos agents" in cities such as Minneapolis are undermining public safety.
He called on local officials to tamp down volatile confrontations with federal law enforcement.
Wolf, acting secretary of Homeland Security in President Donald Trump's first term, was asked what would be required to "have a chilling effect on those chaos agents who think they run the streets," noting reports of expanded checkpoints in Minneapolis.
"What it's going to take is actually local police and local leaders doing their job," Wolf told "Rob Schmitt Tonight" and guest host Bianca de la Garza. "The checkpoints are a joke, right?
"I mean, it's not as though they're going to stop ICE from going into a neighborhood. ICE would simply just get out of the car and arrest these individuals.
"So, the only people that they're inconveniencing, stopping, harassing are the residents in that community.
"Obviously, the mayor and others need to figure out how to do their job and get these folks out of the streets. It's ridiculous."
Wolf's remarks come amid ongoing tensions in Minneapolis and other cities over immigration enforcement operations, where local "ICE-watching" and protests have at times escalated to violence and deadly encounters between federal agents and civilians.
The Department of Justice on Thursday announced the arrest of a 37-year-old Minneapolis man who allegedly cyberstalked and threatened to kill or assault Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and other federal law enforcement personnel.
Prosecutors said the suspect, Kyle Wagner, who identified himself as an antifa supporter, used social media to encourage violent actions against federal agents and dox an ICE supporter.
Wolf stressed that cooperation between federal and local law enforcement is key to curbing violent rhetoric and actions that put both officers and civilians at risk.
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