‘This must end’: Republican state representative calls for end of Minnesota ICE surge

NINA MOINI: A Republican State Representative has joined calls from Democrats for an end to the heightened presence of federal immigration officers in Minnesota. In a statement, Representative Nolan West placed some of the blame for the situation with Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. But he wrote on social media, quote, "It's clear that operation Metro Surge is causing more harm than good. It puts law enforcement officers' lives at risk, and it feeds the chaos destroying our state." Representative West represents an area of the northern Twin Cities suburbs, and he joins me now.

NOLAN WEST: Hello. Yeah.

NINA MOINI: I don't know if you've been listening to the show so far, but there have been two Minnesotans who've been killed this month, obviously, by federal agents. Many members of law enforcement that have said they're facing massive strain on their resources, confusion, and they have asked, as well, for meetings with President Donald Trump, asking some of them for a summit to get together and get organized. What were you hearing or seeing that made you decide it was time to share your statement with the public that this must end?

NOLAN WEST: Well, what made me finally just be like, I gotta say something-- because I really have no control over this, other than my voice-- but it was frustrating to see, the total lack of even considering compromise from either side and then a lot of statements making things even worse.

And just seeing that the trend line was going to be more violence, I just looked at it and thought, there are only two options here, vastly increasing violence or an end to the operation because I don't think anything in between would really stop all this conflict and provocative situations trying to make that situation explode into viral moments that can be posted.

So to me, there was only one option. And I'm encouraged today by what was just covered in your program, hearing that the governor and the president had a productive conversation. And it seemed like they were targeting the solution, that, to me, is what most normal Americans, Americans who don't live in politics, support, which is refining the focus of any deportations to those who are criminals and not trying to deport 300,000 people in 24 hours or whatever we have seen from this Surge operation.

NINA MOINI: And Governor Walz, you mentioned. We just talked about this. And President Trump did talk. And Tom Homan is coming to oversee these operations, who's the border czar for President Trump. I want to talk a little bit more about what specifically you'd like to see moving forward from Governor Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey. You said they're incapable of stopping the mob, even if they wanted to. What did you mean by that?

NOLAN WEST: Well, based on what I'm hearing so far, maybe I would amend the statement. I don't think they can stop them. But if this reaching out is genuine and going to work towards a solution, well, then they do want to. But what I meant was the rhetoric kept on escalating the situation. There would be something about wanting to bring the temperature down, and then the next words out of the mouth would be like, this is a brutality operation, not an immigration operation or something like that.

So now that we're focusing on actually being introspective about your own side and how, well, maybe we have not been perfect, is a huge step in the right direction. And what I would like to see is-- we needed a new, fresh person. So Tom Homan coming in, I think is a good thing because I don't think we were going to see-- because nobody retracts statements anymore in politics.

So I don't think we were going to be able to walk back from that with the previous leadership. So having Tom Homan here with a fresh face and with essentially what it looks like direction from the president to find a solution to this, I think literally in the last two hours, I'm much more hopeful than I was for the last two weeks.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, things are changing really fast. I am curious to what you mean when you reference the mob. Who are you referring to?

NOLAN WEST: So I'm referring to those who are deliberately trying to provoke these violent encounters because it's not-- protesting, it is 100% your right. And filming law enforcement is 100% within the right of an American citizen at an appropriate distance. But filming is a right. And what I mean by why I characterize it in that way is we do have people who are deliberate. Oftentimes, they actually even come from other states to do this because it's all about social media clicks these days, but to try and create situations that are bad for everyone involved, protesters and ICE agents in general.

NINA MOINI: DHS has been sharing lies and misinformation, the White House as well, altered images at times. They've not shared, DHS, their arrest data or plans for how long this operation might last. How, if in any way, would you call on DHS and federal partners to the state to better cooperate with the state and local leaders?

NOLAN WEST: Yeah, we need more cooperation. And the statements from DHS are just irresponsible. I 100% agree there, especially when you're speaking on behalf of an organization. You have to realize your words really matter when they don't just belong to you. You represent an entire department. So especially-- there's been plenty, but especially in reaction to the Pretti shooting, it's just ridiculous things to say, when what they should be saying is, we've had a tragic loss of life and a use-of-force incident. We are going to investigate and get to the bottom of this and have no further comment at this time.

I don't know why that's so hard to say. And they should be cooperating with the state in investigating because nobody should be afraid of investigations. And that's what I find incredibly frustrating, even super recently. But again, Tom Homan doesn't have all this baggage. He's coming with a fresher perspective. So my hope is that we can find a good solution.

NINA MOINI: Is there anything in particular about Homan that you think will be useful or more helpful to the situation?

NOLAN WEST: I think because he's come from the border, and he's the border czar, he has a more professional outlook on this operation. And because he's not a literal politician, I think he has less of the trying to get clicks, doesn't have that ingrained, trying to be provocative. He's the guy here to do a job. He's not a politician here to attract more attention for maybe something else. So that is what gives me a little bit of hope.

NINA MOINI: We've also shared some reporting today that over the weekend, Attorney General Pam Bondi had sent a letter to Governor Walz that laid out conditions to scale down the immigration enforcement activity, asking for three things, it looks like, first, all of the state's records on Medicaid, food and nutrition service programs, including SNAP, second, asking the state to repeal all sanctuary policies and for all detention facilities to cooperate fully with ICE, and third, to access Minnesota's voter rolls. What do you think about that? It sounds like Steve Simon has said no. Keith Ellison has said no. What do you think about that? Do you think that's something that the state should hand over?

NOLAN WEST: Well, I haven't actually read the statement. But I don't think it was an if this, then that kind of statement. It did come at the time when all this was going. But I don't know if it literally said that. I think that may be editorializing by some folks. To that notion, I think that the state needs to cooperate with the federal government. And I think they should.

I don't know about literally every single one of those requests, but they certainly should be providing the information, particularly around SNAP. The federal government funds every dollar of SNAP. And Minnesota, the executive branch, has shown complete irresponsibility when it comes to federal dollars. That's why we have all this fraud in these federal dollars.

So I think that one in particular is something that should be met and agreed to, and we shouldn't be fighting about every single thing between the feds and the state and creating just more animosity and people just creating a worse situation. But the other thing is, I'm not an expert in all areas, so I don't want to comment beyond my lane.

NINA MOINI: And just lastly, Representative West, because you sent this statement out after listening to members of law enforcement-- and it's clear they're really struggling, our state and our local agencies, counties-- what would you like to see happen today? What is one actionable way that there can be a better direction or communication? Because everybody seems to be asking for more direction and communication. But I'm unclear. And I think our listeners are unclear as to what exactly that would look like. Do you have any ideas of what they're wondering about?

NOLAN WEST: Well, a couple things, allowing state investigators to investigate these situations-- totally reasonable. These are investigators. These are not political operatives. This is something that should be investigated. And there should be cooperation from the federal government on that side. Then we've got to talk about the state level. For example, they've pulled resources from state officers or local law enforcement protecting ICE agents in operations. And it's like, well, that creates a more dangerous situation, especially because, as we're seeing, ICE agents sometimes aren't ready for crowd control. That's not out in their repertoire or job description, so cooperating when necessary. And then also when a illegal alien is in custody of local law enforcement for, say, some other charge, they should have an agreement on certain charges that they will hold them, if they have an ICE detainer requests, so that ICE can pick them up in a safe, controlled environment, rather than what we're seeing right now. And to me, that provides a narrowed scope of the operation. It gets less agents on the street, which is a win for one side. And it's increased cooperation, so the operation can be far more effective and less destructive, which is a win for everybody.

So I really do think there is something that everybody can walk away with and everybody can be a little annoyed with. It's sad that it took us to this point because it seemed like we had no movement whatsoever until literally today. But I'm encouraged that it looks like people are considering a real compromise that can be best for all involved.

NINA MOINI: Thank you very much for your time, Representative West.

NOLAN WEST: Thanks for having me on.

NINA MOINI: That was Republican State Representative Nolan West, whose district is in the northern Twin Cities suburbs.