A Minnesota Republican lawmaker is taking issue with President Trump's comments last week referring to Somalis as "garbage."
In a letter, Republican State Senator Jim Abeler (Anoka) asked President Trump to come to Minnesota and meet with Somali people.
"I'm hoping to make a difference in turning down the rhetoric and in turning down the hostility that people feel sometimes," Abeler said on Monday.
Abeler also told WCCO Radio's Chad Hartman that the President calling Somalis "garbage" is just plain wrong.
"I guess I'm just imagining in my own little world that he really can't know these people," Abeler explained. "And I think if he did to get to know them, then wouldn't that be something? And maybe it turns a corner somewhere in his head. And that's really what I'm honestly trying to accomplish."
The president's comments came with a surge of ICE raids targeting Somalis in the Twin Cities.
"Maybe I'm threading a needle here, but I do know it's to be a fact that people are not trash," added Abeler. "The Somalis are an amazing culture, and you know, they really didn't really want to come. They just didn't want to die. And in my letter I mentioned that we're hoping their kids could become 14."
Abeler tells President Trump in the letter that the Somalis he knows are northing of the sort and encourages him to visit Minnesota.
"The rhetoric has gotten so intense on all the sides, and we can't solve any problems because people are so busy trying to outdo the other one with something," the senator told Hartman. "And this is my effort to try to tone down the rhetoric and maybe make a small difference in a very, very important topic."
Abeler adds he has no idea if the president has seen his letter, and so far there's been no response from the White House.
State Senator Omar Fateh, in thanking Abeler for the letter, posted it to social media as well.
Meanwhile Monday, local activist groups are putting the St. Paul Police Department policies under scrutiny following a controversial ICE raid in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood.
They are urging the St. Paul City Council to investigate claims that officers used tear gas and rubber bullets against protesters and journalists during a November 25 ICE raid.
Toshira Garraway is with Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence.
"There's no weight on justice," says Garraway. "The city council and everybody else, the chief of police, the mayor, everybody should be standing up as a human being to say that what happened was absolutely wrong."
She says the department's collaboration with ICE that day violated the city's separation protocols.
Police Chief Axel Henry said in a statement officers were only there to help with crowd control.