Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey sunk to a new low on January 7th after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot a woman who allegedly weaponized her vehicle to physically harm him and other federal law enforcement agents. Before the fatal shooting, this woman, Renee Good, was committing bad acts against ICE agents who were conducting a high-risk law enforcement operation. She blocked an ICE vehicle, refused to obey a lawful order to get out of her car, and then accelerated forward in what the ICE agent who fired the fatal shot considered to be an attempt to run him over. This agent was injured after appearing to have been hit by the car.
Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Kristi Noem said that the ICE agent who killed the female driver was “fearing for his life” and acting in the interest of “his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public” when he fired three “defensive shots.” Mayor Frey called this claim of self-defense “bullsh-t” during his news conference following the shooting.
A full investigation is underway to determine what actually happened leading up to the shooting. However, without knowing all the facts, Mayor Frey launched into an expletive-filled tirade aimed at ICE and the Trump administration.
“Get the f— out of Minneapolis,” Mayor Frey said during his news conference. “We do not want you here.”
Note that Mayor Frey is not telling the illegal immigrants whom he has allowed to roam the streets of Minneapolis to get out of his city. On the contrary, he wants them to stay in Minneapolis, which he has described in the past as “a safe haven for undocumented immigrants.”
Sanctuary city protection for illegal immigrants has gone too far and has jeopardized the lives of innocent Americans. While states and cities do not have an affirmative duty to actively assist federal immigration law agents in enforcing U.S. immigration laws, they cannot cross the line by impeding federal law enforcement or encouraging others to do so. Moreover, once an illegal immigrant charged with committing a violent crime is already in local or state police custody, a handover to ICE upon request should be required. Deliberately ignoring an ICE detainer request and releasing the illegal immigrant onto the streets risks the safety of the ICE agents trying to apprehend the illegal immigrant and the safety of the public at large.
Mayor Frey’s outburst on January 7th occurred just one day after ICE officers arrested a dangerous illegal immigrant released by the Biden administration. This fugitive who is wanted for murder in Ecuador and sexual assault in Connecticut is Tomas Espin Tapia, who also has previous convictions in Ecuador for robbery and extortion. Tapia was issued a final order of removal by an Immigration Judge on February 28, 2025 after he failed to show up for his immigration hearing.
During his January 7th news conference, Mayor Frey declared, “We stand by our immigrant and refugee communities – know that you have our full support.” He made no distinction between legal immigrants and illegal immigrants, much less exclude violent criminal illegal immigrants from his “full support.”
This is just the latest of Mayor Frey’s statements encouraging illegal immigrants to stay in his city while using incendiary rhetoric to denounce ICE, right along with his comrade Governor Tim Walz who called ICE “Trump’s modern-day Gestapo.”
“I want to speak to the undocumented,” Mayor Frey said last year. “We love you; we care about you and the city of Minneapolis, we will stand up for you and we will do anything in our power to help.”
Sorry, Mayor Frey. ICE is not going anywhere. They will continue to do their job and enforce the immigration laws in place, showing no “love” for the criminal illegal immigrants whom you have been sheltering.
On January 5th alone, federal law enforcement agents arrested more than one hundred fifty of the “worst of the worst” illegal immigrants in Minneapolis. Here are just a few of them whom DHS has listed:
Mong Cheng, a criminal illegal immigrant from Laos, convicted of homicide, vehicle theft, possession of stolen property, and assault, and with a previous arrest for arson.
Tong Xiong, a criminal illegal immigrant from Laos, convicted of lewd or lascivious acts with a minor, sexual assault, kidnapping, assault, armed robbery, robbery, and probation violation.
Hoang Xuan Nguyen, a criminal immigrant from Vietnam convicted of rape, second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim under 13, and driving under the influence of liquor.
Blayon Lawrence Yuoh, a criminal illegal immigrant from Liberia, convicted of rape, robbery, sexual assault, larceny, obstructing police, assault, robbery, and possession of stolen property.
Julio Desiderio Naula-Jara, a criminal illegal immigrant from Ecuador, convicted of sexual assault, domestic violence, assault, driving under the influence, and probation violation.
Carmen Mireya Alarcon Rivera, a criminal illegal immigrant from Ecuador convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine on board a vessel and international conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
Jozias Natanael Carmona-Pena, a criminal illegal immigrant from El Salvador, charged with lewd acts with a minor.
ICE’s current enforcement operation in Minneapolis is picking up where it left off last year. In the first week of December 2025, for example, ICE apprehended a previously deported criminal illegal immigrant from Venezuela and Tren de Aragua gang member who was convicted of theft. He was among a group of the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal immigrants that ICE took off the streets.
During his January 7th remarks, Mayor Frey tried to deflect blame for the chaos in his city from himself and Governor Walz where it belongs. “People are being hurt,” he said, “and now somebody is dead.” Addressing ICE, Frey charged, “That’s on you.”
No, what happened is on the mayor himself, Governor Walz, and other leftwing progressive politicians in Minnesota, whose incendiary rhetoric against federal law enforcement personnel doing their job has put fuel on the fire and incited riots.
The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association felt compelled to issue a statement on January 7th warning that “Irresponsible, reckless rhetoric from political leaders attacking law enforcement has real & dangerous consequences for officers on the street. When officers are vilified, demonized, or used as political props, it fuels hostility, emboldens bad actors, and puts lives directly at risk.”
It is such reckless rhetoric that has emboldened “bad actors” and fueled their hostility, resulting in Ms. Good’s case in her untimely death. Exploiting this tragedy as Mayor Frey and his likeminded leftwing progressives are doing is beyond reprehensible.
