Minnesota Republicans stand with Trump, ICE after fatal shooting and threat of Insurrection Act

Minnesota Republicans are rallying behind ICE and the Trump administration as thousands of federal immigration agents sweep through the state, brushing aside mounting scrutiny fueled by a fatal shooting and videos of violent arrests.

They say the tense situation unfolding in Minnesota could have been avoided if DFL leaders had cooperated with immigration operations from the start. Republicans have criticized DFL Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for encouraging people to protest.

“As they thumb their nose at law enforcement, thumb their nose at federal officials, that’s what’s causing this escalation. It never would have gotten to that point under my administration,” said Kendall Qualls, a GOP candidate for governor.

But several Republicans candidates for governor would not explicitly say whether they would support President Donald Trump deploying the military to Minnesota to tamp down protests. Their reluctance to endorse Trump invoking the Insurrection Act shows the limits of their allegiance in a politically fraught moment that Democrats hope to use against them in the November midterm elections.

The fatal shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer and the mass mobilization of federal agents in Minnesota have shifted the spotlight away from the state’s Medicaid fraud crisis — putting Republicans on the defensive as a growing number of Americans question the aggressive tactics being used by ICE. New polls have found a majority of Americans believe the shooting of Good was not justified.

“They are going to pay a significant political price,” Minnesota DFL Chair Richard Carlbom said of Republicans.

“The American people are shocked and astonished at the videos we see of ICE agents indiscriminately pulling people over because of the color of their skin, forcing people to produce their documents and, when they don’t do so fast enough, breaking windows, dragging people out of their car and detaining U.S. citizens.”

The only reason that President Trump feels like he needs to insert this [Insurrection] act is because of defiance of Gov. Walz and his sidekick boy wonder, Jacob Frey,” Qualls said.

When asked on Thursday, Jan. 15, he wouldn’t say whether he’d support Trump invoking the Insurrection Act. Nor would state House Speaker Lisa Demuth, a Cold Spring Republican who’s also running for governor.

Demuth said the Insurrection Act “has a place,” but she thinks state and federal leaders need to work together.

“What we don’t need is another failure by Gov. Walz like we saw in 2020,” Demuth said, referring to the riots in Minneapolis and St. Paul after a police officer killed George Floyd.

On Capitol Hill, Minnesota’s four Republicans in Congress refused to comment on Jan. 15 about Trump’s threat to use the Insurrection Act. Rep. Tom Emmer, the No. 3 Republican in the House, ignored the Minnesota Star Tribune when asked, and Rep. Michelle Fischbach said to ask her office when she was approached in person.

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, another candidate for governor, said protesters who commit crimes need to be arrested. Asked if ICE officers should do anything differently, Lindell said, “They’re doing their jobs. They’re getting rid of the illegals.”

As for Trump invoking the Insurrection Act, Lindell said he supports “whatever it takes” to stop protesters who are breaking the law.

“Walz and Frey should be doing something before you’d even get to that,” Lindell said.

Minneapolis attorney Chris Madel, who’s also running for governor, broke away from the pack in his response. If he were governor, he said, he’d ask Trump to scale back the number of immigration agents in Minnesota to decrease tensions, while working with the administration to deport undocumented immigrants with criminal records.

“A true leader doesn’t say, ‘Go out and resist law enforcement,’” Madel said in an apparent dig at Walz. “A true leader leads. A true leader tries to de-escalate tensions, not increase them.”

Carlbom said Republicans should be willing to call out ICE officers who’ve acted inappropriately, including several who recently asked protesters whether they’ve “learned” from the Good shooting.

“ICE should de-escalate the situation and should not be using Renee Good’s tragic death as a ‘lesson learned’ for anyone who is trying to practice their constitutional rights,” Carlbom said.

“Those simple things could be said by those elected Republicans, and yet, they do the exact opposite.”

David Sturrock, a political science professor at Southwest Minnesota State University and a former Republican Party official, said Republicans in the state still have a strong hand to play in this year’s election. He said Minnesota’s massive welfare fraud scandal isn’t going away, even if other issues are currently commanding attention.

“That issue is powerful enough to drive a two-term governor from his re-election,” Sturrock said, in a nod to Walz ending his campaign for a third term. “That should remind them how strong and potent this issue is.”

“You can say that without having to directly criticize the [Trump] administration or the agency,” Sturrock said. “If that’s a somewhat narrow path to thread, I think that’s what they need to do.”