Minnesota senior U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar says Minneapolis is once again at the center of American heartbreak, and there needs to be a restoration of trust between local and federal law enforcement authorities.
In an interview on Sunday with WCCO, Klobuchar says a start would be to pull back ICE agents that have been making arrests in recent weeks.
"I think the most important thing is to restore the balance by having this surge of officers, the ones who are on the streets, the ICE agents that are outnumbering our police two-to-one, they simply need to go home," said Klobuchar.
Minnesota's junior U.S. Senator Tina Smith has joined Klobuchar in urging the justice department to reverse its decision that cuts out state officials from the investigation into Renee Good's shooting death at the hands of an ICE agent.
"We have never before cut out the state," she said. "Just for sake of trust in the outcome, we have to have a fair investigation."
Klobuchar says we are seeing the results of having about twice the number of ICE agents in the Twin Cities than the combined police forces of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Anti-ICE protesters assemble across the US
Thousands of people marched in Minneapolis on Saturday to protest the fatal shooting of a woman by a federal immigration officer there and the shooting of two people in Portland, Oregon. Minnesota leaders urged demonstrators to remain peaceful.
The protest was one of hundreds planned for towns and cities across the country over the weekend. It came in a city on edge since the killing of Renee Good on Wednesday by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
“We’re all living in fear right now,” said Meghan Moore, a mother of two from Minneapolis who joined the protest. “ICE is creating an environment where nobody feels safe and that’s unacceptable.”
On Friday night, a protest outside a Minneapolis hotel that attracted about 1,000 people turned violent as demonstrators threw ice, snow and rocks at officers, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said. One officer suffered minor injuries after being struck with a piece of ice, O’Hara said. Twenty-nine people were cited and released, he said.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stressed that while most protests have been peaceful, those who cause damage to property or put others in danger will be arrested. He faulted “agitators that are trying to rile up large crowds.”
“This is what Donald Trump wants,” Frey said of the president who has demanded massive immigration enforcement efforts in several U.S. cities. “He wants us to take the bait.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz echoed the call for peace.
“Trump sent thousands of armed federal officers into our state, and it took just one day for them to kill someone,” Walz said on social media. “Now he wants nothing more than to see chaos distract from that horrific action. Don’t give him what he wants.”
“We will fight with peaceful expression, in court, through public debate, and at the ballot box. Keep the peace. And keep the faith,” Walz said later in another post.