{"id":436882,"date":"2026-01-29T13:11:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T13:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/436882\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T13:11:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T13:11:08","slug":"nothing-has-changed-minneapolis-on-edge-despite-trumps-de-escalation-vow-minneapolis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/436882\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Nothing has changed\u2019: Minneapolis on edge despite Trump\u2019s de-escalation vow | Minneapolis"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the days after the killing of the 37\u2011year\u2011old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, signs emerged that the Trump administration<\/a> understood how quickly anger at federal immigration agents could ignite across Minnesota and the nation.<\/p>\n

Early in the week, the president touted<\/a> \u201cvery good\u201d phone calls with the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz \u2013 whom Trump routinely disparages \u2013 and the Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey.<\/p>\n

By Tuesday, Gregory Bovino \u2013 the senior border patrol official initially tasked with running the immigration crackdown in Minnesota \u2013 was replaced by Trump\u2019s so\u2011called \u201cborder czar\u201d, Tom Homan. Homan, who served as acting director of ICE during Trump\u2019s first administration, and as a senior official of removal operations under Barack Obama, also had meetings with Walz and Frey to discuss the federal immigration operation. \u201cWhile we don\u2019t agree on everything, these meetings were a productive starting point and I look forward to more conversations with key stakeholders in the days ahead,\u201d he wrote on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the Twin Cities remain on edge following Pretti\u2019s death \u2013 and the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent just three weeks earlier \u2013 as federal officers continue targeting scores of people regardless of immigration status.<\/p>\n

Despite Trump\u2019s claims that he would \u201cde\u2011escalate\u201d the situation with a \u201cmore relaxed\u201d operation, raids have persisted. Just two days after his supposedly cordial call with Frey, Trump lashed out at the mayor on Truth Social, accusing him of \u201cplaying with fire\u201d, after Frey reiterated that local police should not enforce federal immigration laws.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the attorney general, Pam Bondi, also said she was in Minneapolis<\/a>, and claimed 16 people had been arrested for allegedly assaulting federal officers and \u201cimpeding\u201d law enforcement, adding that more arrests were expected.<\/p>\n

Walz, visiting the makeshift memorial where Pretti was killed, told reporters on Wednesday he had seen no evidence ICE was pulling back. \u201cI\u2019m not so interested in a shift in tone,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just need them out of here, and we need accountability for what\u2019s happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the agency does not \u201cdisclose resources or numbers of personnel on the ground\u201d for \u201coperational security\u201d \u2013 declining to say how many border patrol officers had left the city at the time of publication.<\/p>\n

For Elizabeth, a parent in south Minneapolis, \u201cnothing has changed\u201d since Bovino\u2019s departure. Her neighborhood Signal group chat, used to flag ICE sightings, buzzes constantly. \u201cWe\u2019re still seeing the vehicles in the neighborhood,\u201d she said, adding that on Wednesday afternoon she received an alert about increased federal presence at her nearest bus stop.<\/p>\n

Throughout the surge, Elizabeth \u2013 who asked the Guardian to use only her first name to protect her identity \u2013 has continued delivering groceries and shuttling children to school for families too afraid to leave their homes. \u201cMany of them haven\u2019t left their home in seven to eight weeks,\u201d she said, noting that some had fled the city entirely.<\/p>\n

Demonstrators at a rally against federal immigration officials in Minneapolis. Photograph: Julia Demaree Nikhinson\/AP<\/p>\n

Teachers across Minnesota<\/a> are seeing the same fear play out in classrooms. Brenda Lewis, superintendent of the Fridley public school district about 10 miles north of Minneapolis, said she had expanded remote learning for students too frightened to attend in person. \u201cThis is about children, predominantly children of color, being treated as less than human,\u201d Lewis said at the state capitol this week. \u201cOur school district has been directly targeted, and we cannot pretend otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hope that tensions are easing feels distant. In neighboring St Paul, city council member Molly Coleman is still taking shifts to watch for ICE agents at her son\u2019s daycare. \u201cPeople are really guarding against false optimism,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody in Minnesota is under any illusions that we are suddenly safer than we were this time last week \u2013 that constitutional observers are safer, that immigrants are safer, that anybody who looks brown or Black on the streets is safer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coleman said any signs of the administration relenting amount to \u201cone small victory in a much, much longer fight\u201d. She worries about the long\u2011term fallout \u2013 from learning loss to economic strain to the health consequences for families who have missed critical medical appointments. \u201cWe will be dealing with the consequences of this for years,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody knows what that will look like, or is fully prepared for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That climate of fear and volatility has now reached Minnesota\u2019s elected officials as well. On Tuesday, the Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar was attacked by a man spraying an unidentified liquid while she addressed constituents at a town hall. Early reports show that the alleged attacker, Anthony James Kazmierczak, followed several rightwing activists and commentators.<\/p>\n

Despite lawmakers from both parties condemning the assault, Trump remained belligerent and unsympathetic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she\u2019s a fraud. I really don\u2019t think about that. She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her,\u201d he said, without evidence, in an interview with ABC News. Just hours before the attack, Trump had denigrated Omar again. \u201cShe comes from a country that\u2019s a disaster,\u201d he said of Somalia, where Omar fled as a refugee.<\/p>\n

Omar attributed the town hall incident to the president\u2019s persistent rhetoric. \u201cThe facts of the situation are that I wouldn\u2019t be where I am today, having to pay for security \u2026 if Donald Trump<\/a> wasn\u2019t in office, and if he wasn\u2019t so obsessed with me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For Elizabeth, the events of the last week have only reinforced her belief that efforts by the governor and mayor to make headway with Trump are futile. While she still trusts her neighbors to \u201cshow up\u201d for one another while their \u201ccommunity is being held hostage,\u201d Elizabeth sees little chance of meaningful change from the administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re dealing with a bully, and right now, if they leave Minnesota, they lose,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t think he\u2019s going to leave if he\u2019s gonna come across as a loser.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the days after the killing of the 37\u2011year\u2011old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, signs emerged that the Trump…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-436882","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}