Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) talks with MS NOW host Jen Psaki about how his city is dealing with the deadly shooting by a federal ICE agent and his vehement opposition to how immigration agents are “terrorizing” communities.

JEN PSAKI, HOST:  As peaceful protests continue to grow in Minneapolis tonight, and as this incident becomes a national flashpoint, local leaders, though, are resoundingly rejecting the Trump administration’s narrative here.  Here was Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey earlier today.  Fair warning he uses some curse words very appropriately here.   (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAYOR JACOB FREY (D), MINNEAPOLIS:  They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense.  Having seen the video, myself, I want to tell everybody directly, that is bullshit.  This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying.   There’s little I can say, again, that will make this situation better, but I do have a message for our community, for our city.  And I have a message for ICE.  To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis.   (END VIDEO CLIP) PSAKI:  Very well-stated there.  Joining me now is the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey.   I’ve been thinking today, as so many of us have been, about the City of Minneapolis, and the last time we spoke, it was in the wake of the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School.  And many people in the community knew Melissa Hortman and her husband, and I just can’t imagine what the city has been going through over the last six months and you’ve been leading it.  So help us, first, just understand, I know you’ve been spending time with people in the community.  How is the community doing tonight?   FREY:  You’ve got to understand that obviously Minneapolis has been through so much, not just over the last year, but over the last five.  But we are tough.  We are strong.  We are resilient.  We’ll get knocked down seven times, but we get back up eight.  And when somebody comes for one of us, they’re coming for all of us.  And that’s exactly what is happening here.   You’ve got these thousands of ICE agents that are coming in, not for safety reasons, not for fighting crime.  They’re coming in to terrorize our communities.  And what you see right now, and I think what you’ll continue to see throughout the presence of ICE is we’re going to grin down this bear.  We’re going to fight for justice.  We’re going to do everything possible that we can to stand up for each other.  And we’re also going to do it peacefully.   We understand that right now the Trump administration is looking for any excuse whatsoever to deploy the military, an occupying force, even more ICE agents or border control.  We’re not going to give them that excuse.  Of course we speak out.  We express our First Amendment rights.  We stand up for our neighbors.  And I think we all realize right now, both in our city administration but throughout our entire residency, we all know what’s at stake.   PSAKI:  We just showed some images of what appear to be large scale peaceful protests tonight in response.  We have reporters on the ground, of course, covering them.  Tell us what the scale of those are.  What are you hearing about what’s happening on the ground?  How did they originate?   FREY:  Well, look, I won’t speak to the work that those that have been organizing is doing right now.  I won’t speak to that.  What I will say is there is a broad message that is going out, and that message is pretty clear, which is, don’t take the bait.  We’ll stand up for justice.  We’ll stand up for what is right.  And we also recognize what the Trump administration is trying to do here, because it appears that they wanted a moment like this.   The chief and I have been saying not just privately but publicly for over a month that something like this was going to happen, either a civilian resident, a police officer, or even an ICE agent was going to get shot, killed, or very badly injured.  And look, it happened.   And no, it did not happen because our community member is a domestic terrorist.  It didn’t happen because they went through what appeared to be like a three- or a four-point turn.  That’s the furthest thing from any intentional use of force that I could possibly imagine.  This happened because the way that ICE is conducting themselves is not constitutional.   This happened because you’ve got people that are coming into our city tearing apart communities, really hurting a whole lot of small and local businesses, dragging pregnant women through the street, and then detaining people simply because they look Somali or look Latino.  And so to the extent you’ve got people that want to document the horrific stuff and the unconstitutional conduct that is taking place, yeah, I get it.   We should be adding a little bit of sunlight to disinfect what’s going on with this federal administration.  And I hope that the call here is not just to Minneapolis residents, but anybody who’s watching throughout the country, Republican or Democrat.  You know, this is about the endurance of our republic right now.   This is about having the courage of our convictions to say, you know what?  This is not who we are.  To find those better angels to do right by our society and to make sure that when people come for our immigrant community, our country is made up of immigrants, and we stand by them.   PSAKI:  We wouldn’t know what happened today without citizen activism and without citizens taking recording from many angles.  It’s kind of incredible.  That’s how we know how many of these things happen.  You called the Trump administration’s portrayal of what happened today B.S.  I think I just tried to outline why it’s B.S.  We’ve — again, we showed the video.  I think a lot of people watching have watched this video.   This is your community.  I mean, what stuck out most to you specifically when you watched that video this morning?   FREY:  Well, I won’t pre-empt the investigation that is going to take place in part through the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.  But, look, I’ve got two eyes.  I saw the video that all of you saw as well.  The notion that this was domestic terrorism is garbage.  It’s B.S.  It’s whatever other superlative you want to attach.  But that ain’t a factual or valid narrative.  And we should all just be acknowledging, you know, the truth.  The truth matters here.   And our call has been twofold.  Our call has been, first, you know, ICE get out of our city.  Second, to our community members, you know, this is our moment to meet a whole lot of hate with a whole lot of love.  This is our moment to do everything possible that we’re pushing for justice when you’ve got an administration that is seemingly trying to deny it.  This is our moment to show who we can be right now.   And I’m confident that we can do so peacefully.  I’m confident that we can express those First Amendment rights without hurting each other or the communities that have been built up so beautifully over the last several years.  And, I mean, I’m optimistic about this city and at the same time, we’re devastated for the family.  We’re devastated for the victim.  And, of course, our city is reeling.   PSAKI:  We still — the victim here is such an important part of this story.  Of course, we still know very little about her.  We know her name is Renee Nicole Good and that she was 37 years old.  I heard the lieutenant governor say she had a six-year-old child.  Have you learned more about her?   FREY:  I have not learned enough about her yet.  We are in the process.  I’ve got my staff, you know, looking for a contact.  And obviously, look, we’ve got to be wrapping our arms around the family, around Renee’s friends.  We’ve got to be doing everything possible right now to show them the kind of love that they deserve, because they do not deserve this.   PSAKI:  There have been — I mentioned this a little bit in the opening, and we’ve covered this on this show a bit, these kind of incredible efforts in cities like Minneapolis and Los Angeles and Chicago of citizen activism, basically warning people about ICE operations, trying to keep people, community members safe.   There — reportedly, there was an effort like that happening in this community today with whistles being blown.  People were saying they were arriving to the community because of that.  Have you learned any more about whether that was why she was there?   FREY:  I don’t know enough information to comment on that yet.  I certainly wouldn’t be surprised that she was standing up for her neighbors, because from the little that I have learned about her, that is something that she would do on a very regular basis.  I wouldn’t be surprised when any of the residents throughout our city would say, you know what?  We care about you regardless of where you come from, regardless of what zip code you grew up in.   You come to Minneapolis.  You contribute greatly to this city.  You start small and local businesses.  Hey, you’re a part of Minneapolis and you make it a better place.  And that’s one of the most frustrating things that we’ve seen from these ICE agents is, again, they are not here to drive down crime or create safety.   By the way, we have worked with a number of different federal agencies and departments in the past to significantly drive down crime.  Crime in virtually every category, in virtually every neighborhood throughout the City of Minneapolis is down pretty substantially right now.  And so if we’re talking about safety, we’re on board.   That’s not what this is about.  This is about terrorizing people.  If they cared about safety, they wouldn’t be going after the dad that just dropped his kids off at daycare, is about to go work a 12-hour shift who happens to be from Somalia or Ecuador.  They’d be focused on violent criminals that do horrific things.   And so, you know, as Democrats, we got to be very clear-eyed.  We are anti-crime.  We are pro-safety.  We’re also pro-abiding by the Constitution, what this administration — which this administration is not doing.   PSAKI:  And the majority of people they’re deporting through some of these processes are not — don’t have criminal records, which is important to continue to restate.   FREY:  Right.   PSAKI:  Let me ask you about the accountability, because I know you’ve said, ICE get out of my city.  I think other mayors like yourself feel that way.  And when you’re in the wake of a tragedy like this morning, it’s so understandable to hear that.  I think a lot of people feel that.  Your chief of police said tonight that the investigation into the shooting will be handled jointly by the FBI and state law enforcement.   We’re just in this crazy period of time, I don’t have to tell you, you’ve been speaking out about this, where you have the president of the United States, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, the attorney general, they are all essentially spewing lies about what happened this morning.  What is your expectation about whether the FBI is going to handle this investigation with the level of thoroughness and fairness that it warrants?   FREY:  My understanding is that the investigation will be conducted both by the FBI, but also the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension at the state level.  And, look, I don’t think anybody knows fully what to expect from this administration.  And I’m not going to venture a guess at this point.   But what I will say is that I believe my own eyes.  I will say that, you know, the way that our law enforcement officers here in Minnesota, in Minneapolis are conducting is going to be fair and righteous.  I mean, we had two cops that were on the scene in a minimal amount of time.  They were in the ambulance with the victim on the way to the hospital.   We’ve done a lot of work over these last five years to improve our police department, to be the change.  And right now we’ve got officers that have both stayed and that are coming on board that want to be an example for so many others to follow.  We’ve got immigrant communities more and more that are saying, hey, I trust the Minneapolis Police Department, you know who I don’t trust?  These ICE agents that are coming in with black vests that are unmarked, that aren’t taking responsibility for their own actions.   This is yet another instance of it.  And sadly, it’s not unexpected.   The chief and I have been talking about this for over a month, that this was a strong likelihood or a possibility.  And — and tragically, it happened.  The way they’re behaving is reckless.  It’s not constitutional.  And everybody should be speaking out about it.   PSAKI:  We will certainly continue to do that.  And I know in days like this there is nothing that eases people’s pain, but I’m sure having somebody who’s leading their city speaking out is — is powerful, and unedited too, I think is important.  Mayor Jacob Frey, thank you so much for joining me.   FREY:  Thank you.  

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