Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said during a press conference about an ICE officer shooting and killing a woman on Wednesday in Minneapolis, objecting to federal officials declaring that the officer has absolute immunity:

GOV. TIM WALZ: If you truly wanted to de-escalate the situation, the logical conclusion would be to follow that procedure and allow Minnesota to participate. That’s where we started yesterday. It’s one of the reasons I came out here, and I’m not going to criticize that because that was the proper process. I’m going to have to talk to Minnesotans, and it’s a very difficult task. I think we know what can happen here-to calmly wait until all the facts come out. I think you in this room are seeing the gravity of this situation. By not allowing Minnesota to participate, and with the prejudgment that has already been made by leadership, it creates a very dangerous situation. That’s why, once again, I am going to reiterate to our federal partners: simply let us be part of this. Use our professional folks. They will gain you the credibility and the trust of Minnesotans to believe that the work you are doing is honest and not just a whitewash to backfill a preconceived notion. REPORTER: Is there anything the state could do to put additional protection around schools or to allow for additional e-learning days in situations like this? GOV. TIM WALZ: As we were coming in here, we were discussing that. Someone mentioned Ruby Bridges and the Little Rock example-about escorting people in. We have not determined that yet, but it is a situation we are going to have to explore. The thing that cuts me deeply was watching what happened in our schools and the chaos. I was on with the commissioner this morning as he was talking to folks from St. Cloud to Duluth about what they think about today-whether we should be in classes today and tomorrow in those schools, or whether it poses a potential risk. We’re trying to figure that out. I think many of the lessons we learned during COVID showed that local communities and local schools being able to make these decisions in the long run probably gets us better outcomes. But we are deeply concerned about this. I’m going to come back as soon as we get more information, and we will be in front of you again. I will reiterate: many of you know my wife-the First Lady-is an English and literature teacher. We were talking about this, and she was asked a question: When will all of this end? What Gwen said was, It will end when enough people say it will end. I think that is sage advice. I couldn’t help but think-it scares me a bit-we remembered those words when we read them: The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and your ears. It was their final and most important directive. It certainly feels like that in this moment. I want Minnesotans to know I am not telling you not to be angry, not to be scared, not to feel a little hopeless in this moment. But I would also say this-and I saw it last night, I saw it during George Floyd, I’ve seen it throughout our history. When things looked really bleak, it was Minnesota first that held the line for the nation-July 3rd, 1863. And I think now we may be in that moment again, when the nation is looking to us to hold the line on democracy, to hold the line on decency, to hold the line on accountability. More than that, to rise up as neighbors and simply say we can look out for one another. We can have differences, but we proved to the world over nearly 250 years that our democracy could hold. It feels to me that we are at one of those inflection points-simply asking our government to give us accountability, to listen to local leaders, to ratchet down the rhetoric, to let people feel safe in their person, and to let our kids go to school without fear. Let our kids go to school knowing tomorrow could be a better day. And so we are going to work on that. I will leave you with this. Minnesotans-one last time-don’t give them what they want. Don’t give them the unrest they want. Don’t give in to allowing them to bring more folks in here. Don’t allow them to expand this somewhere else. Rise up. Wrap your arms around your neighbors. Peacefully use your constitutional rights. Let’s start healing.

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