Category: Minneapolis
‘PLAYING WITH FIRE!’ Trump responds to Minneapolis Mayor Frey’s latest act of defiance
Earlier this week, President Trump sent border czar Tom Homan to speak personally with leaders in Minnesota. In the latest update to those exchanges, President Trump called out a top official at the center of the controversy for refusing to cooperate with the administration.
On Wednesday morning, Trump issued a stern warning to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) after Frey indicated on Tuesday afternoon he was not going to enforce federal immigration law.
‘He is PLAYING WITH FIRE!’
Frey posted a short thread to X summarizing his position, stating that Minneapolis “will not enforce federal immigration law, and that we will remain focused on keeping our neighbors and streets safe.”
Trump noted his surprise at Frey’s apparent switchback following a “very good conversation with him”: “Could somebody in his inner sanctum please explain that this statement is a very serious violation of the Law, and that he is PLAYING WITH FIRE!”
President Trump sent Homan to Minnesota on Monday to discuss a solution with Mayor Frey and other leaders in the state. As of Monday, Trump said on Truth Social that “lots of progress is being made!”
Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images
By Tuesday, Homan likewise believed that he had had a “productive” conversation with Frey and Gov. Tim Walz (D). He said that “we all agree that we need to support our law enforcement officers and get criminals off the streets.”
In his message, posted hours before Homan’s, Frey emphasized the safety of the community and the strain on local police officers, stating that his “main ask is for Operation Metro Surge to end as quickly as possible.”
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Activist judge who downplayed Don Lemon’s church antics, summoned ICE director donated to pro-illegal-alien group
The Minnesota-based federal judge who declined to issue arrest warrants for Don Lemon and several of the radicals accused of storming into Cities Church on Jan. 18 demanded on Tuesday that acting ICE Director Todd Lyons “appear personally before the Court and show cause why he should not be held in contempt of Court.”
Despite U.S. District Court Judge Patrick Schiltz’s portrayal in the liberal media as a conservative-minded and “mild-mannered George W. Bush appointee,” it appears that Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin’s characterization of Schiltz as “just another activist judge” is more apt.
‘Another activist judge who is clearly more concerned about politics than the safety of the Minnesotans.’
Bill Melugin of Fox News revealed this week that Schiltz is linked to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, a liberal activist outfit that provides free legal representation to illegal aliens, low-income migrants, and so-called refugees in Minnesota and North Dakota.
The ILCM routinely criticizes the men and women of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, accusing them of occupation, racism, “Islamophobi[a],” and engaging in “execution-style murders.”
After Schiltz’s name was found among the donors and volunteers listed in the ILCM’s 2019 annual report, the judge — dubbed the “latest hero to the anti-Trump resistance” by Politico — admitted to Fox News Digital that he has “donated for many years to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.”
“I have also donated for many years to Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. I believe that poor people should be able to get legal representation,” added Schiltz, who has served as a delegate at Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party conventions.
The donor to the illegal alien support group noted in a Monday court filing that his “patience is at an end” and ordered Lyons to explain on Friday why he should not be held in contempt for supposedly violating an earlier order.
Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Photographer: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Schiltz indicated that Juan Hugo Tobay Robles, an Ecuadorian national who illegally entered the U.S. in 1999 and was detained by immigration agents on Jan. 6, should have been provided with a bond hearing or released earlier this month.
The Bush judge indicated in his Tuesday order that if Robles was released before the hearing, Lyons would not be required to appear. A lawyer for the Ecuadorian told the Associated Press that his client was released Tuesday afternoon.
“Judge Patrick J. Schiltz is just another activist judge who is clearly more concerned about politics than the safety of the Minnesotans,” stated DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Does this judge really think Director Lyons should take time out of his day leading ICE to target the worst of the worst criminal illegals including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and terrorists into our country to testify at a hearing for one illegal alien’s removal proceedings?”
While Schiltz evidently figured that swift and decisive action was required in the case of Robles, he took an entirely different approach in the case of the radicals who assembled on Jan. 18 for a so-called “ICE Out Action,” then stormed a Christian church in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
After the church invasion, the Trump Justice Department promptly filed a criminal complaint in the District of Minnesota charging eight of the suspected invaders with violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinics Entrances Act.
The DOJ’s pursuit of accountability was frustrated at the outset when Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko — whose wife reportedly works for Minnesota’s anti-ICE attorney general, Keith Ellison — declined to support all but three of the requested arrest affidavits.
After Micko threw up additional roadblocks, the DOJ turned to Schiltz for a review of the magistrate’s no-probable-cause finding in hopes that he might issue the warrants.
In an angry and sarcastic Jan. 23 letter to the Eighth Circuit’s chief judge, Steven Colloton, Schiltz downplayed the church invasion, glossed over the invaders’ intimidation tactics, cast doubt on whether arresting them would deter copycats, emphasized that “there is no emergency,” and noted that if the petition filed by the government seeks an immediate decision, “the petition is frivolous.”
In a separate letter, he suggested there was “no evidence that [Don Lemon and his producer] engaged in any criminal behavior or conspired to do so.”
Sure enough, Schiltz indicated that he would not issue arrest warrants until conferring with his colleagues — a meeting that was supposed to happen last week but was delayed.
Over the weekend, a three-judge Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals panel denied the government’s petition to review the magistrate’s refusal to sign the warrants.
While U.S. Circuit Court Judge Steven Grasz, an appointee of President Donald Trump, recognized that the complaint and affidavit “clearly establish probably cause for all five arrest warrants” and that “there is no discretion to refuse to issue an arrest warrant once probable cause for its issuance has been shown,” the government had “failed to establish that it has no other adequate means of obtaining the requested relief.”
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Peaceful Protest
“Peaceful Protest,” editorial cartoon by Tom Stiglich for The American Spectator on Jan. 27, 2026.
Former Vikings player says ‘demonic’ Minnesota Democrats are upset ICE is ‘deporting their voters’
The enforcement of immigration law is ruining the Democratic Party’s “plan,” according to a former Minnesota Vikings player.
Jack Brewer is an ex-NFL player who spent three years at the University of Minnesota before playing two seasons for the Vikings in the early 2000s.
As Immigration and Customs Enforcement faces near-daily violent resistance in Minnesota, Brewer presented a theory as to why he believes residents are “attacking” law enforcement.
‘There is something wrong in Minneapolis. We need a city-wide behavioral health assessment.’
“We’re deporting their voters,” Brewer stated. “That’s part of what’s happening, and it’s blowing up their whole plan,” he said in remarks to Fox News Digital.
The 47-year-old said his work in third-world countries has taught him that immigration policy must be enforced because of different cultural values present worldwide.
“You can’t allow people to come into your country who don’t carry the same morals and values that you do. That’s what’s happening. Minneapolis is protecting these thugs. It’s unbelievable. These people are demonic.”
“The values are not the same,” Brewer went on. “You cannot let people come into the United States who come from cultures like that, because they bring their culture with them.”
RELATED: ‘Weak, emasculated leader’: Ex-Vikings player blames Tim Walz for Minnesota killings
Photo Courtesy of the Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 Republican National Committee via Getty Images
Brewer also took shots at residents of Minneapolis, where he once played, saying, “There is something wrong in Minneapolis. We need a city-wide behavioral health assessment. People have completely lost reality.”
The Texas native said that he hopes President Trump will send the National Guard into the state, calling for curfews and “real consequences” for “attacking law enforcement.”
Brewer also commented on Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D), saying his governance has been “absolutely ridiculous.”
The football player received a key to the city from Frey back in 2018 but now says he wishes he could “lock” the mayor out.
“I wish I could lock the doors on that city and not let him back in if I had the power,” Brewer said. “He tap-dances for Somalis. He does anything to go against the culture of America and Christianity for them.”
RELATED: Former NFL player says bringing God into schools is the only way to solve racism, economic division
Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images
Brewer called Minnesota the “capital of chaos in America” in June 2025 and hammered Gov. Tim Walz (D) on Father’s Day.
“Tim Walz is the example of a weak, emasculated leader. That is not what God made fathers to be. It’s pathetic,” he claimed.
The defensive back also said at the time that Democrats had gone “so far left” that they attack anyone within their party who does not agree with their principles.
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‘Repulsive’: Critics blast Walz for invoking Anne Frank, comparing ICE enforcement to systematic genocide
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) has repeatedly turned to the 1930s in search of potential analogs for those people and actions today that he finds disagreeable.
Walz smeared, for example, Holocaust survivor Jerry Wartski and the tens of thousands of other Americans who attended a campaign event for President Donald Trump in October 2024, comparing them to the Nazis who rallied at the location in February 1939.
‘Her story has nothing to do with the illegal immigration, fraud, and lawlessness plaguing Minnesota today.’
Walz claimed on May 17, 2025, that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — which was active during his former running mate’s tenure as vice president as well as during the Obama administration — was “Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo.”
In the wake of 37-year-old Alex Pretti’s fatal shooting by a federal immigration agent on Saturday, Walz once again went in search of a damning reference. This time, he likened Minnesota children whose streets are being cleared of violent criminal noncitizens to Jews in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands who were faced with systematized mass murder.
After further vilifying federal immigration agents and reiterating his demand that ICE leave the Gopher State, Walz said during a press conference on Sunday, “We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank.”
“Somebody’s going to write that children’s story about Minnesota,” added Walz. “And there’s one person who can end this now.”
Photographer: Jack Califano/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Anne Frank was a Jewish German girl whose family attempted to hide from Nazi forces in the secret annex of an Amsterdam residence. After two years of hiding, the family was captured after the Sicherheitspolizei raided the location in concert with Dutch police. Frank was taken to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945, where she and her sister died in 1945. Her father, Otto, survived Auschwitz, then later saw to the publication of Anne Frank’s diary.
Critics have suggested Walz’s comparison is indefensible.
Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the U.S. State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, tweeted, “Ignorance like this cheapens the horror of the Holocaust. Anne Frank was in Amsterdam legally and abided by Dutch law. She was hauled off to a death camp because of her race and religion. Her story has nothing to do with the illegal immigration, fraud, and lawlessness plaguing Minnesota today.”
“Our brave law enforcement should be commended, not tarred with this historically illiterate and antisemitic comparison,” added the rabbi.
Republican Rep. Randy Fine (Fla.) said that “comparing the removal of illegal immigrants to the Holocaust is antisemitic and repulsive.”
Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Jewish American activist and political commentator at PragerU, wrote, “One million Jewish children were killed during the Holocaust. Illegal immigrants are offered thousands of dollars to take a free flight home. Tim Walz is an evil retard.”
The White House’s rapid response account said that Walz is a “truly disturbed, unstable individual.”
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Rioter bit off part of federal agent’s finger amid Minneapolis ‘rampant assault,’ DHS says
President Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin shared graphic images to social media Saturday evening apparently showing part of a Homeland Security Investigations officer’s finger — in a jar.
McLaughlin said Minneapolis “rioters attacked our law enforcement officer and one of them bit off our HSI officer’s finger.”
‘This avoidable tragedy is a result of the total failure of Minnesota’s city and state officials.’
“He will lose his finger,” added McLaughlin.
One of the photographs appears to show a medic tending to an HSI officer who is missing the end of the fourth digit on his right hand. Another photo apparently shows the missing piece of the finger with its nail intact inside a plastic container.
The alleged incident — which U.S. Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) cited as the latest sign that Trump should invoke the Insurrection Act — came just hours after an armed 37-year-old Illinois native identified as Alex Pretti was fatally shot amid a struggle with federal agents.
Pretti’s ex-wife told the Associated Press that he was a Democratic voter with a permit to carry a concealed firearm who previously took to the streets in 2020 to protest the death of George Floyd. Pretti’s father, Michael Pretti, said he warned his son about protesting, telling him “do not engage, do not do anything stupid, basically.”
The AP added that family members said Pretti was an intensive care nurse at a VA hospital who “cared deeply about people” and was upset by Trump’s “immigration crackdown in his city.”
Photographer: Jaida Grey Eagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Department of Homeland security said its “law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault, an individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted.”
More from the DHS post on X:
Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots. Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject but was pronounced dead at the scene.
The suspect also had 2 magazines and no ID—this looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.
In addition to asking about Pretti’s firearm, Trump wondered, “Where are the local police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE officers? The mayor and the governor called them off? It is stated that many of these police were not allowed to do their job, that ICE had to protect themselves — not an easy thing to do!”
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche indicated that an investigation into the shooting is underway but stressed that “this avoidable tragedy is a result of the total failure of Minnesota’s city and state officials who have resisted federal law enforcement and created this escalation.”
Multitudes of radicals converged on the location of Pretti’s shooting and immediately began clashing with federal agents.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem noted that the protesters who rushed to the scene “began to obstruct and to assault law enforcement officers. We saw objects being thrown at them, including ice and other objects.”
“A rampant assault began and even an HSI officer agent’s finger was bitten off,” added Noem, who faulted Democrat Gov. Tim Walz for branding ICE as the “gestapo” and other Democrats for effectively painting targets on federal immigration officers’ backs.
Walz activated the Minnesota National Guard on Saturday at the request of Democrat Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt also asked for support from the National Guard at the B.H. Whipple Federal Building.
The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that role of the Minnesota National Guard “is to work in support of local law enforcement and emergency responders, providing additional resources. Their presence is meant to help create a secure environment where all Minnesotans can exercise their rights safely, including the right to peacefully protest.”
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DHS: Armed suspect fatally shot by federal agent in Minneapolis; suspect ‘violently resisted’ disarming attempt
The Department of Homeland Security said an armed suspect was fatally shot Saturday by a federal agent in Minneapolis and that the suspect “violently resisted” a disarming attempt.
DHS indicated a firearm and two magazines were recovered.
‘They have encouraged these reckless confrontations and attacks on our agents and officers.’
“At 9:05 AM CT, as DHS law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault, an individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun,” DHS said.
“The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted,” DHS added. “Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots. Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject but was pronounced dead at the scene.”
DHS also said “the suspect also had 2 magazines and no ID — this looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
RELATED: Vance crushes false narrative about ICE ‘arresting’ 5-year-old boy
Gun that the Department of Homeland Security says fatally shot suspect was carrying Saturday in Minneapolis.Image source: Department of Homeland Security
“About 200 rioters arrived at the scene and began to obstruct and assault law enforcement on the scene, crowd control measures were deployed for the safety of the public and law enforcement,” DHS also said.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the fatally shot man was 37 years old, the Associated Press reported, adding that the chief “urged people to remain peaceful and not to destroy the city.” O’Hara said there was limited information about the shooting and called on people to leave the area and said it’s “not sustainable,” the AP added.
Democrat Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as well as Democrat U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith of Minnesota seized on the shooting as another opportunity to demand the ouster of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from the Gopher State.
Walz, who indicated that he has spoken with the White House, stated, “Minnesota has had it. This is sickening. The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.”
Klobuchar wrote, “To the Trump administration and the Republicans in Congress who have stood silent: Get ICE out of our state NOW.”
“Another catastrophic shooting in Minneapolis by federal agents,” wrote Smith. “ICE must leave now so MPD can secure the scene and do their jobs.”
In the wake of the shooting, the Border Patrol Union suggested a shooting likely would have been defensive and condemned the incendiary rhetoric spread in recent weeks by politicians and the liberal media.
“Border Patrol agents are trained extremely well to protect themselves, their fellow agents, and innocent third parties. When a supposed ‘peaceful’ protester brings a weapon (such as a loaded handgun) and brandishes it, there are going to severe consequences and repercussions,” said the union.
“We have pleaded with and warned the media and the politicians that their irresponsible, hate-filled and false rhetoric is going to get people unnecessarily hurt, or worse, killed when they portray our agents and officers as the aggressors,” continued the union. “They have encouraged these reckless confrontations and attacks on our agents and officers who are performing their lawful duties and enforcing the laws that Congress has put on the books.”
Editor’s note: This story was edited after publication to include the age of the fatally shot individual as well as commentary from the Minneapolis Police Chief.
This is a developing story; updates may be added.
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Tim Walz supporters urged to ‘rush’ donations to his legal fund amid DOJ probe
President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice opened an investigation into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and now the Democrat’s supporters are being urged to “rush” donations to his legal defense fund.
‘If you’re with me, please rush a donation to our legal defense fund and help ensure we can keep fighting for accountability, transparency, and justice.’
Reports surfaced last week that President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice is investigating Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and others for potentially violating a conspiracy statute related to statements they made about the deployment of federal immigration agents to the Minneapolis region.
Walz issued a statement following the reports, accusing the Trump administration of “weaponizing the justice system,” adding that “threatening political opponents is a dangerous, authoritarian tactic.”
Frey similarly accused the Trump administration of weaponizing the federal government “to intimidate local leaders for doing their jobs.”
The DOJ issued subpoenas on Tuesday to several Democratic officials, including Walz and Frey.
Tim Walz, Gwen Walz. Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
The subpoenas, which both Walz and Frey confirmed they received, were connected to the DOJ’s investigation into whether the officials conspired to impede federal officers from carrying out their duties, according to CBS News.
On Friday, Alpha News reporter Liz Collin shared screenshots of an alleged Walz campaign notification, encouraging supporters to donate to the governor’s legal fund.
RELATED: Justice Dept. slaps Gov. Tim Walz, AG Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Frey with subpoenas: Report
Photo by Christopher Juhn/Anadolu via Getty Images
“Last week, the federal government opened an investigation into me. … My job is to defend Minnesotans and the rule of law, and I’m sure as hell not backing down. But the road ahead is long, difficult, and expensive,” it reads.
“If you’re with me, please rush a donation to our legal defense fund and help ensure we can keep fighting for accountability, transparency, and justice,” the message reads, featuring a link that redirects to an Act Blue webpage where supporters can donate.
“BREAKING: The DOJ is investigating Tim Walz on baseless charges. Donate now to aid his fight,” the webpage states.
Blaze News has reached out to Walz’s office for comment.
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