Mpls. to lobby feds on illegal immigration

Minneapolis will lobby the federal government to shield more illegal immigrants from deportation.

The City Council voted unanimously Friday to add the issue to its lobbying agenda.

The action follows President Barack Obama's executive order barring the deportation of high school graduates and military veterans who came to the United States illegally as children and have clean criminal records.

Minneapolis will push the Department of Homeland Security to interpret the order broadly and protect as many people as possible from deportation.

Council Member Robert Lilligren said cities can have an impact on the issue.

"Minneapolis is the first city to pass this," Lilligren said. "Our hope is that other cities pick this up and there would be similar actions taken in other cities so we start speaking with a broader voice and a sort of coalition voice."

Minneapolis spends $170,000 a year lobbying the federal government. That's the largest federal lobbying budget of any city in the state, according to research from the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota.