Minneapolis Mayor Frey: ICE Surge Aims to Silence Dissent

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey sharply assailed Thursday the federal immigration operation in his city, accusing the Trump administration's enforcement push of being less about public safety or immigration and more a politically motivated attempt to silence opposing narratives.

Frey, a Democrat speaking at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C., described Operation Metro Surge as an "invasion" that threatens constitutional rights and local governance.

He framed the federal government's presence in his city as a "siege" and "occupation" that must end.

"What's become clear to me is this is obviously not about safety," he said in comments that partially aired live on Newsmax.

"This is not even about immigration. This is about silencing a narrative or a political position that differs from that of a federal administration."

He said that "our constitutional rights have been trampled," decrying what he characterized as a disproportionate federal presence that he said dwarfs his city's police force.

"It is less safe when families do not feel comfortable going to school or buying food at the grocery store because they're worried that their very family might get ripped apart," said Frey.

The Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have described Operation Metro Surge as the largest interior immigration enforcement operation in U.S. history, aimed at apprehending illegal aliens — including those with criminal convictions — and removing them from the country.

DHS officials have described arrests of thousands of criminal illegal aliens in Minnesota as successes for public safety.

More than 3,000 federal agents from ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and other DHS units have been deployed to the region to carry out a sustained crackdown on illegal immigration, as well as to investigate fraud allegations surrounding Minneapolis' Somali community.

Tensions in Minneapolis have escalated sharply.

Two people — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — have been killed in encounters with federal immigration officers this month, drawing national outrage and intensifying scrutiny of federal tactics.

Operation Metro Surge has prompted lawsuits from the state, the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and civil liberties groups alleging constitutional violations, racial profiling, and arbitrary enforcement, all of which the Trump administration has denied.

State attorneys have argued that Operation Metro Surge unfairly targets Minnesota over sanctuary policies that protect illegal aliens and constitutes retaliation rather than genuine law enforcement.

Frey also said the Trump administration is using the Department of Justice to "silence dissent."

The DOJ has issued grand jury subpoenas to Frey, Democrat Gov. Tim Walz, and Democrat Attorney General Keith Ellison as part of a federal investigation into whether they unlawfully impeded or conspired to obstruct federal immigration enforcement.

"Never in a million years did I think we would be in this place where troops and federal agents by the thousands have been deployed in ... a great American city, where the Department of Justice is used as a weapon to silence dissent, with the very foundational principles of our democracy and our republic ... questioned," Frey said.

"I didn't take this job to get into the business of defending democracy. I did it because being a mayor has always been my dream job," he continued.

"There is great honor in filling potholes. It is noble to keep people safe and to build affordable housing," Frey said.

"That work which we do every single day is foundational to the principles of our republic. And all the same, we find ourselves in a different position right now," he added.

"We are on the front lines of a very important battle. And it's important that we aren't silenced, that we aren't put down."

Frey also criticized White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, saying the federal surge reflects an attempt to govern through raw power rather than law.

He pointed to Miller's recent remarks that the world is shaped by "strength" and "power," which Miller called "the iron laws of the world that have existed since the beginning of time."

"The reality is you can't exercise the extraordinary power that the federal government has to force nationwide outcomes on localized issues, leaving our own citizens as collateral damage in a hostile negotiation," Frey said.

"By their own words, what we've seen this administration push for is this whole concept that might makes right," he continued.

"Stephen Miller has pushed for this concept, calling it the iron law of the world, that might makes right. Stephen Miller is wrong," Frey said.

"Time and again, America has rejected the law of the jungle. Time and again, America has rejected this notion that might makes right," he added.

"That notion and that belief that we are of something greater than simply force has allowed our country to rise in international influence and allowed great cities to be laboratories of democracy."