Vance visits Minneapolis to ‘tone down the temperature’ during immigration enforcement
MINNEAPOLIS (OSV News) — Vice President JD Vance said he visited with business leaders, federal immigration enforcement officers and local law enforcement in Minneapolis Jan. 22 to better understand how an increase in immigration enforcement was unfolding and to “tone down the temperature a little bit, reduce the chaos, but still allow us as a federal government to enforce the American people’s immigration laws.”
Vance’s visit came in the wake of a fatal shooting Jan. 7 involving a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis and protests that have followed.
Immigration enforcement actions have been widespread across all parts of the city, particularly in south and northeast Minneapolis, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said, in an operation the U.S. Department of Homeland Security launched Dec. 1 and dubbed “Operation Metro Surge.”
Some people are afraid to leave their homes, community and religious leaders have said. Food drives and drop offs, pastoral visits and other assistance have followed.
At a 30-minute news conference broadcast by media outlets after his roundtable discussion, Vance stood with a group of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and offered his support. Vance urged greater cooperation in the federal efforts from state political and law enforcement officials.
“We have a ton of resources, a ton of ICE agents in this city right now that I would rather us not have,” Vance said. “I’d love to send these guys home.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey held a news conference broadcast on Facebook after Vance spoke. Frey said he, too, would like to see ICE agents leave the city.
“If you are looking for an easy answer to many of the issues we have faced the last several weeks, it’s for this huge influx of federal agents, ICE and Border Patrol, to go home,” Frey said.
Frey defended Minneapolis’ history of working with federal agencies to bring crime down in the city. Targeted law enforcement works, Frey said.
“What’s changed is the response we’ve been seeing,” the mayor said, with an estimated 3,000 ICE agents in the Twin Cities “without a clear plan.”
Faith leaders urged prayers and a peaceful response to the immigration efforts, including a Jan. 23 multi-faith service at Temple Israel in Minneapolis. Auxiliary Bishop Kevin Kenney of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, leaders of other Christian denominations, as well as Islamic and Jewish leaders were among the participants.
Senior Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman of Temple Israel led the service of prayers and songs.
“We gather in response to the fear and uncertainty that we feel on our streets, in our schools, in our hospitals, in our places of worship and in ourselves,” Rabbi Zimmerman began. “We gather in hope and peace. We do not gather in fear” but rather to proclaim the dignity of every human being, she said.
Bishop Kenney and leaders from other faith traditions shared one line of prayer and lit a candle to demonstrate solidarity.
“Each human is created in the divine eye,” Bishop Kenney said, first in Spanish, then in English.
ICE protestors meanwhile had called for a day of action Jan. 23, which included a large gathering in frigid cold on a road near the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Around 100 participating clergy members were arrested by local law enforcement, according to reports, after they ignored commands to clear the road.
Meanwhile, restaurants and other businesses across Minnesota were closed that day as a sign of opposition to ICE’s actions.
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