Frey: Assaulting ICE='Protecting Our Neighbors'; UPDATE: My State Senator: Using Weapons on ICE OK

AP Photo/Abbie Parr

We have reached the point where Mayor Frey and the Democrats will, at times, grudgingly concede that some of the protesters harassing ICE and CBP are assaulting officers, but he justifies it by saying that the people doing so are "protecting their neighbors."

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That's quite a position to take. I'm not exactly clear how different that would be from your average gang going to war with the police when they try to execute a warrant on one of its members. 

Oh, wait. There is a difference: if you are defending an illegal alien, no matter how dangerous to the community, you can do what you want. If the perp is an American citizen, the police have the right to defend themselves. 

Got it. 

The "protesters" who are committing felonies by actively interfering with law enforcement officers arresting people claim that they are justified in using the tactics they do because ICE is an "occupying force" "kidnapping" their "neighbors." First of all, in almost every case, the protesters are NOT protecting their neighbors. People from around the country are paid to come here, follow ICE all over the city, blowing whistles, getting in cops' faces, impeding them, blockading their vehicles, throwing stones, and creating unnecessary confrontations while ICE tries to arrest people about whom they know absolutely nothing. 

Not a damn thing. They aren't loved neighbors, whatever Mayor Frey says. How could they know who they are?

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While it is true that many of the illegal aliens being deported are not violent criminals, it is also true that a substantial fraction of them are the worst of the worst, who are only on the streets in the first place because Mayor Frey and the Democratic political machine prefer they be on the streets rather than get deported. 

Many, in fact, would still be in jail if they were US citizens. They get preferential treatment because they came here illegally. 

“Governor Walz and Mayor Frey REFUSE to cooperate with ICE law enforcement and have released nearly 470 criminal illegal aliens back onto the streets of Minneapolis. We are calling on Walz and Frey to stop this dangerous policy and commit to honoring the ICE arrest detainers of the more than 1,360 criminal illegal aliens in Minnesota’s custody,” said Assistant Secretary @TriciaOhio . “It is common sense. Criminal illegal aliens should not be released back onto our streets to terrorize more innocent Americans.” 

•Leny Odemel Ramirez-Santos, a criminal illegal alien from Honduras charged with sex offense against a child – fondling and driving under the influence of liquor. 

•Edwin Amable Ashca Ninasuta, a criminal illegal alien from Ecuador with charges for lewd or lascivious acts with a minor.

•Lenda Neh Mama Epse George, a criminal illegal alien from Cameroon with charges for cruelty toward a child and domestic violence. 

  •German Adriano Llangari Inga, a criminal illegal alien from Ecuador charged with homicide – negligent manslaughter with a vehicle and driving under the influence of liquor. 

•Puol Both, a criminal illegal alien from Sudan convicted of making terroristic threats, burglary, first-degree aggravated robbery, and larceny. 

•Somsalao Thonesavanh, a criminal illegal alien from Laos convicted of drug trafficking and selling a synthetic narcotic.

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Mayor Frey and the Democrats frame the issue as "defending our neighbors," but once you look at the people who are actually getting arrested, it turns out that they are rapists and paedos and murderers. Many of the illegal aliens swept up, who are not accused or convicted felons, are associates who are hanging out with them. When ICE targets someone for arrest, they are not chosen at random. 

Frey, Walz, and the Democratic Party political machine is actively encouraging people to commit felonies and put their lives in danger to keep these particular people on the street. Every single one of them has been in state or local custody, ICE has requested that they be handed over, and our officials refused. And put them back on the streets. 

ICE is conducting these raids precisely because Frey and Walz chose this path. 

Frey claims he is willing to work with the federal government "when it is about crime," but that really isn't true. He is willing to work with the feds when there is no chance the criminal will be deported—he's happy to incarcerate a rapist who is a US citizen, but if the man crossed the border illegally, all bets are off. He would rather have that person on the streets than on a plane to Bolivia. 

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That isn't hyperbole. It is a fact. When Frey talks about ICE in...Utah, of all places, he leaves out why there isn't chaos there as ICE does its job. He wants you to believe that ICE is only focusing on deporting people from Blue states, but that is completely false. Rather, those states are COOPERATING and in doing so avoiding all the chaos and violence that Frey and Walz clearly want. ICE IS working in the states he mentions. There is no chaos because everybody is working together to ensure everything is peaceful and orderly. 

Now some of my liberal friends will doubt that they WANT the chaos and violence because, frankly, no sane and decent person would. 

Well, sorry folks. They do, and I can prove it. Remember the Summer of 2020? Both men encouraged the riots for days before finally bringing in the National Guard to disperse them. They allowed significant chunks of our cities to burn, including the Third Precinct of the Minneapolis Police. In Seattle, you had the "Summer of Love," where the Mayor defended CHAZ/CHOP, and countless other cities where people ran riot with the permission of the politicians who stood down the police. 

Here in Minnesota, when rioters were storming hotels looking for ICE agents, the police department was directed to leave the area. 

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You have to understand: the model of politics these people have is "uprising." Working through the democratic process does not move them, although they certainly love controlling the levers of power. But what gets their blood flowing is the rage on the streets, and what motivates their voters is righteous indignation. 

When I used to visit the Capitol all the time in Minnesota, I was always struck by the posters in the halls of the Democratic staff. All the imagery was revolutionary. If you listen to Democrats campaign, it's all about peace, love, and understanding; if you visit where they work it's all hammers, sickles, Che Guevara, and raised fists. 

You see this vibe on just about any issue. Our Lieutenant Governor, Peggy Flanagan—you know, the one who encourages these "protesters" to "put their bodies on the line," uses explicitly violent imagery when talking about issues she cares about. Her version of persuasion on these issues is to brandish a knife.

So when you hear somebody like Mayor Frey wax poetic about protecting "neighbors," think about what that means and who, exactly, those neighbors are. He wants you to think about José, who fixed your roof, but that is not who he means. He is talking about protecting the rapists and murderers just as much as José. We know that because he supports keeping all those felons out of the grips of ICE. 

He could hand them over. He could cooperate with law enforcement, as he claims. Instead, he gets all self-righteous about defending Leny Odemel Ramirez-Santos, a criminal illegal alien from Honduras charged with a sex offense against a child. And when pressed on this, his answer is that Leny is our "neighbor."

Yeah, well, Jeffrey Dahmer was somebody's neighbor. So what? 

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It's the "Maryland father" syndrome. Nobody is going after these people because we hate your neighbors. 

The framing these people use is so corrupt. They manipulate us emotionally, while reveling in the political power they get from directing a mob. 

Frey pulls the same crying jags with the Somali fraud scams. He and his wife lived off representing Feeding Our Future for years. Frey hired three of the scammers to work in his office, promoted the program, and is now loudly declaring that without these Somali scammers, Minnesota would collapse. 

As long as they can gin up moral outrage, they are the "good guys." The fact that they have to let rapists and murderers roam the streets simply doesn't matter to them. 

Yes, that sounds awful. Yes, no decent person would do that. Yes, Frey seems like a nice guy. And no, he isn't. This is exactly what he is doing. 

UPDATE: 

My very own State Senator from Minneapolis, who was also once my State Legislator (as was Keith Ellison at one point), says that "neighbors" can use weapons to attack ICE. 

I think that the Democrats have decided that Trump's invoking the Insurrection Act would be politically helpful to them. The confrontation distracts from the fraud scandal and gets their base worked up into a frenzy. Actual violence on the streets will be politically useful to them, as it was post-George Floyd. Minnesota Democrats got a trifecta in 2022, at which time they enacted a raft of radical legislation. 

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | January 14, 2026
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