U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, who voted for a punitive immigration bill last year called the Laken Riley Act, reversed herself Monday, March 2, writing in a Star Tribune commentary that she regrets her vote.
Craig represents the 2nd District but is running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate against Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who’s been hammering Craig on her vote on the Laken Riley Act, which was named after a nursing student at Augusta University who was murdered by an undocumented immigrant in 2024.
The law, which was the first legislation signed by President Donald Trump during his second term, allows for the detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants who are merely accused of crimes, including violent crimes but also nonviolent offenses like burglary, theft and shoplifting.
Craig, who has moved to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, writes that her doubts about her vote crept in while she “stood side by side with protesters on the streets of Minneapolis and opposite dozens of armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the Whipple Federal Building after Renee Good’s killing.”
Even if the Laken Riley Act wasn’t the cause of Operation Metro Surge — and the resulting wave of illegal detentions, violations of constitutional rights and the shooting of three people that came after the Trump administration sent 3,000 immigration officers here — Craig acknowledges in the piece that “any bill that gives ICE new authority in this administration was the wrong decision. And I regret my vote. ”
Flanagan released a statement saying, too little, too late: “Craig was the only Minnesota Democrat to vote with Donald Trump to empower ICE and stood by that vote for over a year. No amount of regret can reunite families, save children from indefinite detention, or make our communities whole again.”
Flanagan and Craig are running to replace U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, who announced she’s retiring at the end of the year. They are battling for convention delegates in preparation for the state Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party convention in May, where about 1,300 delegates will decide whom to endorse before the August primary officially advances the party standard bearer.
Michele Tafoya, a retired sportscaster, is running for the Republican nomination against Royce White, an antisemite who was soundly beaten by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar in 2024.
Near the end of her piece, Craig writes: “Most Minnesotans believe that the Trump administration and ICE’s tactics have gone way too far. Most also want to protect our borders. I still believe we can do both.”
Craig doesn’t address another key aspect of the Laken Riley Act, which, as the New York Times reported, empowers state attorneys general the right to sue the U.S. government “if an immigrant with uncertain or contested legal status who is paroled into the country commits a crime that harms either the state or one of its residents physically or financially.”
The National Immigration Law Center charges that the provision will hobble administrations of both parties as they make immigration policy because of an expected blizzard of litigation. “Administrations would likely stop even trying to issue new immigration policies when faced with endless litigation over every single memo and regulation.”
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