Crackdown in Minneapolis underway following Trump talks with Walz, Frey

By Sarah Roderick-Fitch
The Center Square

A crackdown on protesters in Minneapolis appears to be underway following “good talks” President Donald Trump had with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

The crackdown came as Border Czar Tom Homan was set to arrive in the city amid growing tensions between anti-ICE protesters and federal immigration officials, leading to two deaths in recent weeks.

Trump has characterized the calls as being positive, while reiterating his administration’s demands that the city and state turn over criminal illegal aliens.

It’s unclear whether the calls prompted what appeared to be a crackdown by local law enforcement, clamping down on protesters congregating outside a hotel suspected of housing ICE officials.

However, the Department of Homeland Security posted a video on X showing law enforcement going after “rioters.”

“Local Minnesota Police arrested violent rioters last night. Glad to see some state and local government cooperation. It’s a start,” DHS posted.

Earlier on Monday, the president announced that Walz had reached out to him, requesting the two work together.

In Trump’s Truth Social post Monday announcing Homan’s impending arrival in Minneapolis, the president said the border czar would be reaching out to Walz in an effort to obtain “criminals that they have in their possession.”

“The Governor, very respectfully, understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future. He was happy that Tom Homan was going to Minnesota,” the president posted.

During a press briefing at the White House Monday afternoon, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt expanded on the Trump administration’s demands for Walz and Frey.

Leavitt said the White House is demanding that the Democratic leaders “turn over all criminal illegal aliens currently incarcerated in their prisons and jails,” in addition to “any illegal aliens with active warrants or known criminal history of immediate deportation.”

The second demand is that local and state law enforcement “must agree to turn over all illegal aliens who are arrested by local police.” The third calls on local law enforcement to assist federal authorities in “apprehending and detaining illegal aliens who are wanted for crimes.”

“If Governor Walz and Mayor Frey implement these commonsense cooperative measures that I would add have already been implemented in nearly every single other state across the country, Customs and Border Patrol will not be needed to support ICE on the ground in Minnesota. Ice and local law enforcement can peacefully work together, as they are effectively doing in so many other states and jurisdictions,” Leavitt said during the briefing.

Despite the good call between Trump and Walz, on Monday afternoon, the governor appeared to clap back at the White House’s claims that his state isn’t cooperating with federal immigration authorities in a commentary he penned in the Wall Street Journal, claiming his corrections department “honors all immigration detainers.”