CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings had to explain to the network why immigration enforcement proceeds without disruption in most states but repeatedly breaks down in Minnesota.
Nearly 3,000 federal agents from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol have flooded Minneapolis and St. Paul since early January as part of an aggressive immigration enforcement operation. Jennings said on “The Arena with Kasie Hunt” that coordination between local authorities and the federal government functions fine across the country. Minnesota, though, stands apart because top Democratic officials refuse to work with federal authorities.
“I’d be frustrated too if I were faced with this wall of propaganda every single day. And if I were faced with these recalcitrant Democrats in Minnesota, who simply won’t cooperate with the federal government,” Jennings said when asked how President Donald Trump feels about recent events in that state.
That resistance, Jennings said, creates confusion and chaos.
“All over this country, states and cities all over the country, you have cooperation going on between the locals and the federal government. You don’t see any chaos. You see very orderly transitions of illegal aliens into federal custody. They go into deportation. It works just fine,” Jennings added. “The only difference in Minnesota is you have Walz and Frey and Flanagan and the rest of these local Democrats who don’t want to cooperate. They think Minnesota should exist in some state of secession where federal laws don’t apply to people inside the state of Minnesota.”
Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a Dec. 7 interview that city police would not cooperate with the federal immigration enforcement operation. During a livestream, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz urged residents to film ICE agents and accused Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem of carrying out an “occupation” of the state, claiming agents were “dragging pregnant women.”
Jennings said the turmoil surrounding immigration enforcement in Minnesota stems less from federal policy and more from political resistance.
“It is causing chaos, and if I were the president, I would be frustrated about that too,” Jennings said. “Narratives aside, he’s the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, and he has to enforce the law in all 50.”
The Department of Justice has opened a probe into whether Walz and Frey obstructed federal law enforcement. The inquiry follows rising tensions sparked by a federal immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis that included the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer on Jan. 7. The shooting resulted in anti-ICE protests.
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