Trump says Minneapolis mayor 'playing with fire' for refusing to enforce immigration laws

ISTANBUL

US President Donald Trump warned Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Wednesday that he is "playing with fire" after the mayor said the city will not enforce federal immigration laws.

"Surprisingly, Mayor Jacob Frey just stated that, 'Minneapolis does not, and will not, enforce federal immigration laws,'" Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, noting it came "after having had a very good conversation with him."

The US president urged Frey's inner circle to explain to him "that this statement is a very serious violation of the law, and that he is playing with fire."

Frey responded on US social media company X, defending his position by saying local police should focus on public safety, not immigration enforcement.

"The job of our police is to keep people safe, not enforce fed immigration laws," he wrote. "I want them preventing homicides, not hunting down a working dad who contributes to MPLS (Minneapolis) & is from Ecuador," he added, referring to Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, an asylum seeker from Ecuador, who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in January.

Frey noted the approach was "similar to the policy your guy Rudy had in NYC," referring to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. "Everyone should feel safe calling 911."

The official White House Rapid Response account disputed Frey's characterization, saying: "No one is asking you to 'enforce fed immigration laws.'"

"We're just asking you to honor ICE detainers and let them know when criminal illegals are in your jail so they can safely pick them up and deport them," it said. "That's it. It's safer for everyone, but you refuse."

Frey said Tuesday after meeting border czar Tom Homan that he made clear that Minneapolis "does not and will not enforce federal immigration laws,” adding, "We will remain focused on keeping our neighbors and streets safe."

The mayor said he talked about the “serious negative impacts” of federal immigration operations in the city with Homan and asked the border czar to end it in a “productive conversation.”

Meanwhile, Homan said they "all agree that we need to support our law enforcement officers and get criminals off the streets."

The exchange comes amid escalating tensions following two fatal shootings of Americans by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis in the US state of Minnesota, which sparked mass protests and prompted Trump to dispatch Homan to manage operations in the state.

The White House said Homan will manage ICE operations on the ground "to continue arresting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens."

Trump urged Minnesota officials on Saturday to let ICE agents do their jobs, claiming that 12,000 undocumented criminals have been arrested, warning that those still present would create "something far worse than you are witnessing today."