Minneapolis Mayor on border czar's promise to scale back ICE: 'I will believe it when I see it.'
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Sunday marked two months since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began their surge of operations in the state. Since then, two U.S. citizens have been shot and killed and countless protests have been sparked in reaction nationwide.
Both fatal shootings happened in Minneapolis. The most recent killing of 37-year-old Alex Pretti on Jan. 24 appeared to spark a leadership change. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino left Minnesota shortly after and White House border czar Tom Homan entered.
Homan said that ICE would scale back operations in the state during a press conference last week. He said the same when he spoke with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
“I will believe it when I see it,” Frey said. “It's going to need to be… we need to stop Operation Metro surge. That's what we very clearly asked for.”
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On Saturday, a federal judge denied an injunction spurred by a lawsuit from the state and both Minneapolis and St. Paul to halt federal immigration efforts. Frey said it’s not the end of their attempts to reduce federal activity.
“This litigation is still ongoing. We're not limiting it to the judicial process,” he said.
President Donald Trump also threatened to cut funding from sanctuary cities, with a deadline of Feb. 1. Frey said they’re already planning preemptive lawsuits.
“This coercion that we have seen, we believe strongly, is a violation of the 10th Amendment. Their conduct is a violation of the Fourth and the First, and I can't believe it, even the Second Amendment, now we're seeing especially with the killing of Alex Pretti,” He said.
“So we have a number of lawsuits that are going on simultaneously to prevent this compelling of action that they're attempting right now.”
— Morning Edition, MPR News
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