ST. PAUL — As the legislative session begins in Minnesota, Republican and DFL lawmakers appear to be at odds over how to handle the presence of federal immigration officers in the state.
The issue is a key concern after as many as 3,000 agents were sent to the state by the Trump administration in an effort known as Operation Metro Surge. Amid aggressive operations, two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by agents in Minneapolis in January, causing a nationwide backlash. On Feb. 12, administration officials said the surge would end.
Democrats at the state Capitol are proposing nearly a dozen bills targeting issues ranging from federal officers’ accountability and Minnesotans’ right to privacy to preventing federal agents from entering specific areas.
Bills proposed by DFL Reps. Aisha Gomez, Fue Lee and Sydney Jordan of Minneapolis include prohibiting government entities from acquiring and using facial recognition technology; placing restrictions on tear gas and flash bang grenades; and keeping Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents away from school grounds.
Rep. Leigh Finke, DFL–St. Paul, is sponsoring two bills that ensure ICE agents are easily identifiable, keeping them from being what she described as the “secret police.”
One bill would ban agents from wearing masks and require them to have visible identification, while the other would require vehicles that transport detainees to be marked as law enforcement, and restrict the use of civilian vehicles in ICE activities.
“No more secret police, no more broken families, no more illegal detentions and no more killing of our citizens,” Finke said at a press conference on the eve of the session. “Let’s stand together as a DFL and a Minnesota GOP and say no more.”
Democrats in the Senate have introduced similar bills.
But Republicans seem unlikely to support the DFL initiatives. Instead, Republican leaders say they intend to push a requirement that local governments cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. One of their primary concerns is the handover of undocumented immigrants suspected of violent crimes to the federal government.
“We are perfectly happy and willing to work with Democrats on figuring out ways to have that cooperation,” said Republican Floor Leader Harry Niska.
Reps. Bidal Duran, R–Bemidji, and Walter Hudson, R–Albertville, have introduced bills that would protect the personal information of public safety officers and make protesting at peoples’ homes a crime.
Each party holds 67 seats in the House, and that tie means bipartisan support is required to pass any bill. Both parties have underscored the necessity of working with their colleagues across the aisle to get anything done.
“I am very hopeful that even though we may see different issues differently, this can be a year that we do choose to extend grace and to either agreeably disagree or find compromise where we can,” said Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth.
Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, gave her Republican colleagues a more direct call to action: Either stand with Minnesotans or watch as their neighbors are targeted by the federal government.
“They can continue to be silent while their own constituents, business owners, neighbors, teachers, doctors, children are taken and kidnapped, separated from their family,” Maye Quade said.
“Or they can join the hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans across race, place, political and party affiliation who have stood up against this lawless federal government and demand accountability, demand that we get our neighbors back and help rebuild once this is actually over.”
Report for Minnesota is a project of the University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication to support local news across the state.
