President Donald Trump made a Truth Social post citing the thousands of arrests made in Minnesota. Trump’s long post ended in Trump saying "Fear not, great people of Minnesota, the day of Reckoning and retribution is coming."
While federal officials report over 1,500 arrests since December, data shows more than 40 percent of those detained had no criminal history.
This came after a week of protests and ramped up immigration enforcement following the fatal shooting of Renee Macklin Good, a Minneapolis resident, by a federal agent.
MPR News host Emily Bright spoke with Democratic U.S. Senator Tina Smith about the president’s social media post.
Press play above to listen to their conversation, or read a transcript below, edited for clarity.
‘Reckoning and retribution’ — what do you think the president is planning?
Lord only knows what the President is planning. This kind of heated rhetoric that he is using is overtly threatening Minnesota. I mean, he’s attacking Minnesota, and I think that it’s designed to intimidate us and scare us and it’s just sort of stunning.
I’m speechless that the President of the United States would direct this kind of threatening rhetoric at his own citizens, which is what’s happening. As I contemplate what he’s doing, I’m thinking about how Minnesota is responding, and understand that is happening in small towns and communities all over the state.
People are stepping up. They are supporting their neighbors. They are helping figure out how to get groceries to folks that are afraid to go to the grocery store. They are filling in at daycare centers. Minnesota is not intimidated by this — they’re angry. We are angry, but we are not intimidated.
Are you aware, or hearing, anything from your Republican colleagues about ICE action in Minnesota?
I have certainly read what my Republican colleagues in the Minnesota delegation are saying, which is disappointing. I would hope that regardless of what party you’re in, you would reject this sort of rampant denial of people’s civil rights and the way that they're treating — and in some cases the violent way, and in some cases the deadly way — they’re treating Minnesotans and Minnesota citizens.
Nobody should be treated this way. But the fact that this is how they are treating American citizens is shocking. I’m pretty disappointed, honestly, at the lack of shared purpose among both Democrats and Republicans — elected people — about rejecting this. But I can tell you, as I’ve talked to people around the state, this is not really seen as so much a partisan issue for most folks, it’s just seen as a kind of an out of control and very unsafe federal action that is hurting Minnesota.
We learned today that first assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson has resigned, along with other federal prosecutors. This comes after calls from the Justice Department to investigate Renee Macklin Good’s widow for ties to activist groups. What do you make of the DOJ response to Good’s killing?
It’s really incredible when members of the U.S. Attorney’s Office — prosecutors — resign rather than, by all accounts, follow the direction that they are getting from national justice to do something that they think is wrong. That tells us a lot about how far astray this has gone.
What we should be seeing here is a fair and unprejudiced investigation into this killing, and that should be led jointly by the FBI and state investigators. And yet, what we’re seeing is the administration completely short circuiting that. Now it appears they are directing their investigators to investigate the wife of the victim. It’s completely unacceptable.
Is there anything Congress can do to have an impact on ICE operations?
Congress has really important oversight responsibility here, and I am working hard to figure out how to use that authority to hold these bad ICE officers to account. In addition, of course, Congress has budgetary authority, and we need to use it. It’s impossible for me to imagine sending more money to the Department of Homeland Security when they are using tactics that are illegal and unsafe.
The Minneapolis Chief of Police has pointed out how unsafe the tactics are from these ICE agents. And every day we see new information about the things that they are doing that are really hurting people. Those are two examples of the of legislative power that we have here in Congress, that I think that we should be unafraid of using.
Let's be honest, we’re in the minority. We don’t have the votes in Congress. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be fighting for what we know is right, and calling on our Republicans, calling on all members of Congress regardless of their party, to stand up to this kind of illegal behavior.
