Mayor Frey: Imagine If Your Town Was Suddenly Invaded By Thousands Of People That Did Not Share The Values You Hold Dear
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Wednesday night denounced the ICE presence in the city and encouraged protesters to go home, saying “we can not counter Donald Trump’s chaos with our own brand of chaos.”
MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR JACOB FREY: Everybody who’s out there, even people who aren’t living in Minneapolis right now. Maybe you just put your kids to bed. Maybe you’re cleaning up the dishes. I’m sure you love your family. There’s no doubt in my mind that you love your town. Imagine if that city or that town was suddenly invaded by thousands of federal agents that do not share the values that you hold dear. Imagine if your daily routines were disrupted. The local cafe that you eat at was shut down because they’re scared that their own family might get torn apart. Imagine if schools shut down and suddenly parents got to figure out what to do for daycare. This is not creating safety. It’s certainly not creating safety when a huge percentage of the shootings that have taken place so far this year in Minneapolis have been by ICE. So let’s be very clear. I’ve seen conduct from ICE that is disgusting and is intolerable. If it were your city, it would be unacceptable there too. And for anyone that is taking the bait tonight, stop. That is not helpful. Go home. We cannot counter Donald Trump’s chaos with our own brand of chaos. And I have seen thousands of people throughout our city peacefully protesting. For those that have peacefully protested, I applaud you. For those that are taking the bait, you are not helping, and you are not helping the undocumented immigrants in our city. You are not helping the people that call this place home. ICE can leave, and this massive deployment can come to an end. We have filed litigation to hopefully make it so. And at the same time, I’m deeply concerned that we don’t have that kind of time. This is already the second shooting that we’ve had in a week. People are scared. The atmosphere is tense. But again, there is another option. We can stop going down this route together.
