Rep. Roach to Newsmax: Minnesota's Frey Is Pandering

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey's apology to a Somali-American constituent amounts to "pandering" and he and other Minnesota Democratic leaders are diverting attention from substantive issues, Rep. Drew Roach, R-Minn., said on Newsmax on Friday.

"It's pandering," Roach told "Newsline."

"You know, him and [Gov.] Tim Walz and Tim Walz's administration, [Attorney General] Keith Ellison, they're incentivized to change the narrative."

Walz and Ellison, both Democrats, have been outspoken in their criticism of federal immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis.

Roach said they "want to continue to talk about this chaos in the street, you know, ICE going after our neighbors, that kind of rhetoric," rather than address other concerns.

Roach argued that the focus on federal immigration enforcement, including recent confrontations involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, serves as a political smokescreen.

Roach also took aim at Don Lemon, the veteran journalist and former CNN anchor, who was arrested Thursday night in Los Angeles by federal agents in connection with his coverage of an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minn., earlier this month.

Federal prosecutors allege the protest interfered with worshippers' rights; Lemon and others were taken into custody as part of that enforcement action. Lemon's attorney maintains he was reporting as an independent journalist.

"I mean, it's incitement," Roach said of protests like the one Lemon covered.

"I mean, at the end of the day, these people, they didn't ask for these protesters, these agitators, agitators to come into a church and disrupt their service."

His comments reflect broader criticism from some conservatives who have portrayed Lemon's presence at the protest as more than journalistic.

The anti-ICE demonstration at the Cities Church in St. Paul involved activists opposing federal immigration enforcement actions, and it drew national attention amid escalating tensions in Minnesota over ICE operations and the fatal shooting of a local woman by an immigration agent.

Federal immigration operations in Minneapolis have drawn national attention after multiple fatal shootings by immigration or border agents, including the high-profile killing of 37-year-old Renee Good earlier this month.

Local officials, including Frey and Walz, have condemned the operations as escalating chaos and undermining public safety, and Frey has at times blasted the presence of ICE in the city.

But Roach said the Democrats' emphasis on federal action is aimed at shifting discussion away from "fraud."

"Because at the end of the day, they want to get off the topic, which is fraud," he said. "Minnesotans have had their tax dollars stolen from them, lined in the pockets of these fraudsters. And that's all under Tim Walz's leadership and Mayor Frey's leadership."

Roach claims that leaders are using immigration and street chaos as a narrative tool to distract voters.

"Of course, they want to stoke the flames on this chaos and have the topics be talked about ICE instead of the fraud," he said.

He dismissed local leaders' framing of recent tensions, calling it "ridiculous" and saying they are "causing more chaos than they are helping."

Frey's outreach to the Somali-American community has occurred against the backdrop of broader debates over federal immigration policy and Minneapolis's diverse population.

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