Frey states Minnesota will not agree to enforce federal immigration laws

Minneapolis Mayor Responds to Immigration Enforcement Warnings

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has stated he currently has no intention of enforcing federal immigration laws within the city, even after receiving a cautionary message from President Donald Trump, suggesting he is “not playing with fire.”

In an interview with Lulu Garcia Navarro of The New York Times, Frey discussed his stance after being asked about Trump’s previous warnings regarding Minneapolis’s approach to federal immigration enforcement.

“We never signed up to enforce federal immigration law, and we still don’t. Why’s that? Well, it’s not our responsibility,” Frey explained. “I expect police officers to focus on their core duties—keeping residents safe, answering 911 calls, tackling car thefts, and preventing violent crime. That should be their priority.”

Frey made it clear that he doesn’t want Minneapolis police to be tasked with tracking down individuals who are undocumented. He mentioned a hypothetical situation: “I wouldn’t want officers spending their time trying to find a father from Ecuador just picking up his kids from daycare before heading to a long shift.”

The mayor insists that Minneapolis’s refusal to comply with federal immigration laws isn’t a radical concept. He even pointed to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s similar policies as an example of a more pragmatic approach during his tenure.

“Giuliani understood that everyone, including immigrants without documentation, should feel secure enough to call 911 if they witness something bad happening,” he argued. “This isn’t just some left-leaning ideal; it’s common sense.”

Frey also referenced Giuliani’s legal actions from 1996, highlighting that Giuliani defended an executive order that prevented city employees from relaying immigration statuses to federal officials unless there was a criminal charge involved.

Later in the conversation, Frey was questioned about what he believed the federal government expected from him concerning immigration enforcement, and whether he was ready to meet those expectations.

The mayor remarked that the Trump administration had suggested they would be reducing the number of federal resources and personnel in Minneapolis, which he labeled “ridiculous and incredibly disproportionate.”

He pointed out that while the Minneapolis Police Department has roughly 600 officers, there are “around 3,000 to 4,000 federal agents” operating in the city. Frey stated he had been informed that these numbers would significantly decrease, and that the operational methods of ICE and Border Patrol would be notably altered.