Transcript · Minneapolis City
Minneapolis CityTranscriptMonday, January 12, 2026
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[0:00] Let me welcome all the, ladies and gentlemen, the press.Thank you all for being here today.
[0:05] My name is Keith Ellison.I'm the attorney general for the State of Minnesota.
[0:09] And I'm so honored to be joining in partnership, with the City of Minneapolis under the leadership of my friend Jacob
[0:17] Frey and the City of Saint Paul, under my under the leadership of MayorHer, who, is also a dear friend of many years.
[0:25] We've come together and we're here to announce a lawsuit
[0:29] we're filing against the United States Department of Homeland Security,to end the unlawful, unprecedented
[0:35] surge of the federal law enforcement agents into Minnesota.
[0:41] Because this has to stop.
[0:44] It just has to stop.
[0:45] We allege that the obvious targeting of Minnesotafor our diversity, for our democracy
[0:52] and our differences of opinion with the federal governmentis a violation of the Constitution and of federal law.
[1:00] We allege that the surge, reckless impact on our schools,on our local law enforcement is a violation
[1:07] of the 10th Amendmentand the sovereign laws and powers of the Constitution grants to states.
[1:14] We allege that DHS’s use of excessive and lethal force,their warrantless racist arrests, their targeting of our courts.
[1:27] Our churches,
[1:28] houses of worship and schools are a violation of the AdministrativeProcedures Act on Arbitrary and capricious federal actions.
[1:37] And we ask that the courts will endthe surge of thousands of DHS agents into Minnesota.
[1:45] We ask the courts to end the DHS unlawful behavior in our statethe intimidation, the threats, the violence.
[1:52] We ask the courts to end the tactics on our places of worship,our schools, our courts, our marketplaces,
[1:59] our hospitals, and even funeral homes.
[2:03] The deployment of thousands of armed,masked DHS agents to Minnesota has done our state serious harm.
[2:11] This is, in essence,a federal invasion of the Twin Cities and Minnesota, and it must stop.
[2:17] DHS agents have sown chaos and terror across the metropolitan areaand in cities across the State of Minnesota.
[2:25] Schools have gone on to lockdown.
[2:27] Entire districts have had to cancel school for tens of thousandsof students to ensure safety and offer online education
[2:36] because of these students’and the parents’ fear of coming into the school.
[2:41] Local businesses are struggling.
[2:43] Revenues are down and some retail stores, daycaresand restaurants have actually closed because people are afraid to go out
[2:52] and to do their shopping, whether they're immigrantsor whether they are citizens of many generations.
[2:58] This surge has made us less safe.
[3:01] Thousands of poorly trained, aggressive and armed agentsof the state of the federal government have rolled into our communities,
[3:09] overwhelmed our local police departments and law enforcementagencies should be focused on our public safety.
[3:15] But instead, many are dealing with the aftermath of DHS agentschaos and violence.
[3:21] I want to thank our law enforcement officers for doing a tremendous jobunder very difficult circumstances, not the people,
[3:29] but the federal government.
[3:32] Minneapolis Police have had to respond
[3:33] to more than 200 - 20,excuse me, 20 ICE related incidents like witnesses seeking people
[3:40] being pulled into unmarked vehicles by men in masks, or ICEabandoning vehicles on the street with people detained inside.
[3:48] This is an unlawful commandeering of police resources. In just two days,
[3:52] responding to the chaos ICE has caused by it has costthe city $2 billion in law enforcement and overtime expenses.
[4:00] Two days,
[4:01] and I wish I could stop there, but I can't because these poorly trained,aggressive and armed agents of the of the federal state
[4:08] have terrorized Minnesota with widespread unlawful conduct.
[4:12] They're acting they're they're making unconstitutional arrestsand using excessive force.
[4:18] DHS agents have barged into restaurants asking to access secure areas.
[4:23] And when asked to present a warrant,which is required by law, they respond, we don't need one.
[4:30] DHS agents have arrested peaceful bystanders.
[4:33] They have fired chemical irritants at people obeyinglawful, lawful orders while exercising their First Amendment rights.
[4:41] They have even done so at some of our most sensitive places,like Roosevelt High School here in Minneapolis.
[4:52] They have detained law abiding citizens, leaving them handcuffed forhours just because of the color of their skin or what they're wearing.
[5:01] Or they speak English with an accent.
[5:04] And on January 7th, 2026, a DHS agent shot and killed
[5:10] Renee Nicole Good, leaving her children
[5:16] without a mother and her six year old son without either parent.
[5:23] This has to stop.
[5:25] So let's be clear it never should have started.
[5:28] These agents have no good reason to be here. Minnesota.
[5:31] Minnesota's non-citizen immigrant population is just 1.5%,which is a half, which is half the national average.
[5:40] Our state's percentage is lower than Utah, Texas and Florida.
[5:44] But none of those states have thousands of federal agentsswarming their streets or harming their people.
[5:51] The administration says that they're focused on finding criminals.
[5:55] Worst of the worst, they say.
[5:57] But many of the people that DHS is arresting in Minnesotahave no criminal history.
[6:03] That fits a pattern.
[6:05] In 2025, 93% of the people arrested by ICE had no violentcriminal history, 65% had no criminal convictions at all.
[6:15] And randomly stopping people in the streetbecause their skin color isn't,
[6:19] the one that they expect or want,isn't doing a thing to help public safety.
[6:27] I've heard the administration talk about fraud.
[6:29] No, not the 43 fraud convictions the president has or the $43million fraudsters the president has pardoned
[6:38] that instead saying that ICE is here to look for fraud somehow.
[6:43] You know, we work with federal government all the time.
[6:45] And if the federal government wants to help uswith forensic accountants, we're open to that conversation.
[6:52] But these ICE agents who are engaged in the behaviorthat they're engaged in are not helping public safety at all.
[7:02] Immigration enforcement agents aren't trained to investigate fraud
[7:06] and randomly stopping people on the streetbecause you don't like their accent isn't going to stop fraud.
[7:12] So enforcing federal immigrationlaw and fighting fraud are just pretext for this surge.
[7:18] The real reason? It's no secret.
[7:20] Donald Trump and his administration have been targetingpeople, cities and states that don't agree with them politically.
[7:29] He singled out Minnesota countless times.
[7:32] He's called us corrupt and crooked.
[7:34] He's attacked our funding to the tune of billions of dollars,which we are challenging.
[7:39] And we fought back.
[7:40] Of course, he's attack programs that Minnesotans rely onand try to shut them down and pay taxes for.
[7:47] And he's attacked Minnesotans with despicable, racist,xenophobic language.
[7:53] The truth is, Donald Trump doesn't seem to like our state very much.
[7:58] But what's that about?He doesn't like our best in the nation safe and secure elections?
[8:04] And sometimes, he doesn't like who we choose in them.
[8:07] Just last week, Trump claimed that he won Minnesota
[8:12] three times,
[8:14] when in fact he's never won Minnesota.
[8:17] He doesn't like how we take care of each other,or how we make sure our kids have enough to eat.
[8:22] He doesn't like the strength that immigrant communitiesbring to our state, and he doesn't seem to like that
[8:27] we protect our neighborsno matter where they were born. In short, Trump's tar-
[8:32] Trump's tar-
[8:34] The Trump administration's decisionto target Minnesota and Twin Cities is motivated by a desire
[8:39] to retaliate against Trump's perceived political opponents,who are the people of the State of Minnesota and Twin Cities,
[8:45] rather than any good faith concernsabout immigration enforcement, public safety or law enforcement.
[8:51] In conclusion,
[8:54] I didn't have the pleasure and the benefit of knowing Renee Nicole Good,but her friends and family knew her as someone who was kind,
[9:03] someone who loved her family deeplyand someone willing to stand up for her neighbors.
[9:10] That sounds like the Minnesota that I know.
[9:14] The administration wants to paint false political narratives about us,but we know who we are and we know our rights.
[9:20] The Constitution gives Minnesota the sovereign authority to protecthealth and well-being of every single person who lives in our borders.
[9:29] The Constitution gives us the right to vote for who we want, prayhowever we want, and be whoever
[9:34] we want without fear of being racially profiled, assaulted,or killed in our own communities.
[9:41] We're going to defend those rights,because as much as they'd like to believe it,
[9:45] DHS is not above the law,
[9:48] and the people of Minnesota are certainly not beneath it.
[9:53] Let me now bring forward, my mayor,
[9:57] the mayor who's where I go to go home at nightand is doing a wonderful job protecting our city.
[10:03] Mayor Jacob Frey.
[10:11] Thank you, Attorney General Ellison, for your leadershipand your incredible team's work around this issue.
[10:16] Thank you to Mayor
[10:18] Her, of Saint Paul for your partnership.
[10:23] These are not normal times.
[10:26] And so the response that we are asking for from the judicial system andfrom the courts, requires that we file suit at this particular moment.
[10:37] What we are seeing right now is not normal immigration enforcement.
[10:43] We are not asking ICE not to do ICE things.
[10:47] We are asking this federal government
[10:49] to stop the unconstitutional conductthat is invading our streets each and every day.
[10:56] You've seen the videos.
[10:58] At times, there are as many as 50 agents arresting one person.
[11:03] The scale is wildly disproportionate.It has nothing to do with keeping people safe.
[11:09] In Minneapolis,
[11:10] we've done work extensively with the federal governmentunder multiple administrations to keep people in our city safe.
[11:19] We have worked with the DEA, the ATF, the FBI, the attorney.
[11:24] The attorney General's office as well as the US Attorney's officeto successfully drive down crime in our city.
[11:32] We've seen the results of that work. But let's be clear.
[11:35] The stated reason of this federal government for bringing in this fullinvasion of ICE and border control is not safety.
[11:44] If it were safety, there would be other mechanisms to achieve safety.
[11:49] By the way,
[11:52] crime is down in virtually every categoryin virtually every neighborhood of this city.
[11:58] If this were about fraud,then you'd see an invasion, perhaps, of accountants.
[12:02] But that's not what you see.
[12:04] What you see is people being indiscriminately taken off our streets.
[12:09] Discrimination only takes place to the extentthat a determination has made that somebody is Somali or is Latino,
[12:15] or at least they look that way.And then there is virtually no discrimination thereafter.
[12:21] Here's the thing.
[12:22] You can't indiscriminately take people offour streets, American citizens off our streets.
[12:30] You cannot drag pregnant women through the snow.
[12:33] You're not allowed to take teenagers out of their carand detain them when they are, in fact, American citizens.
[12:40] That is against the law. In every state.That is against our United States Constitution.
[12:47] And we're feeling the impact here in Minneapolis.
[12:49] Schools have closed.
[12:50] People are afraid to go to work, shop or seek medical care.
[12:54] 9-1-1 calls are up.
[12:56] Police resources are indeed stretched thin.
[13:00] We have approximately 600 officers in the City of Minneapolis.
[13:05] Mayor Her has approximately 600 officers in the city of Saint Paul.
[13:11] The number of ICE agents in border control are now in the thousands.
[13:17] They are in the thousands.
[13:19] If the goal was immigration enforcement, if the goal were simply to look
[13:25] for people that are undocumented, Minneapolisand Saint Paul would not be the place where you would go.
[13:31] There are countlessmore people that are undocumented in Florida and Texas and Utah.
[13:39] Why are they in these much smaller cities in the middle of the Midwest?
[13:43] The answer is very clear.
[13:45] It is politics.
[13:46] Florida and Texas and Utah are Republican states.
[13:52] The reason that Minnesota and Minneapolis are being targeted
[13:55] is because you've got a Democratic governor,a Democratic attorney general, and you got Democratic mayors.
[14:02] We are doing everything possible to keep our cities safethrough this unprecedented time.
[14:07] And at the same time, we have police officers that are tired.
[14:12] We've seen damage substantiallybecause we're now having to pay a ton of overtime.
[14:19] Millions of dollars of emergency overtime for law enforcement.
[14:23] Emergency operations have been activatedacross our city and state agencies,
[14:28] pulling focus on daily core servicesthat we, by the way, are tasked with providing.
[14:32] Local police officers are being diverted from the very workthat we need to be doing.
[14:37] And small businesses are losing significant revenuewith some, worried that they may not survive this at all.
[14:46] People are scared to take their kids into schoolor daycare to go into work.
[14:51] They're going to have difficulty paying rent.
[14:54] There is no doubt in my mind the kind of action that the federalgovernment is taking is not just mean spirited, it's unconstitutional.
[15:04] And every one of us need to be standing up.
[15:08] Let me give you another example.
[15:09] Just last week, a group of our city's public worksemployees were stopped by ICE agents.
[15:15] Three of the four employees were not white.
[15:18] The ICE agents asked to see the IDs of the three nonwhite employees,and didn't even bother to ask the white employee for the identification.
[15:27] Minneapolis is being treated targeted because we stand up for ourneighbors, and we welcome immigrants because we believe in the law.
[15:36] And as I
[15:36] said, frankly, because we are in a blue city, in a blue state.
[15:42] Donald Trump should know as long as federal agents are in our cityacting unconstitutionally against our neighbors,
[15:50] we will continue to push back with everything we got.
[15:54] And let me just take a momentto say how grateful I am to the residents of our city and of our state.
[16:02] We are not victims in the city of Minneapolis.
[16:05] We've got heroes that are standing up for each other,that are standing by the neighbors that they love.
[16:12] And one thing that I can tell you for certainis that we aren't backing down.
[16:16] We don't retreat in Minneapolis. We don't back down in Minnesota.
[16:21] We stand up against bullies.
[16:23] And right now, what we are asking for is an intervention from the courtto push back on this unconstitutional conduct, pure and simple.
[16:33] I'll now turn it off to Mayor Her.
[16:42] Good afternoon everyone.
[16:44] Today, I'm proud to stand with Mayor Frey and Attorney General Ellisonto fight for our residents.
[16:49] This federal occupation of our cities needs to end immediately.
[16:54] Federal law enforcementis racially profiling our residents, creating mass chaos
[17:00] and undermining the relationship between local governmentand our communities.
[17:04] We will not stand idly by and watch this happen.
[17:08] With this collective action, we are taking a firm stanceto tell federal law enforcement that this cannot happen in our country.
[17:15] It cannot happen in our state, and it cannot happen in Saint Paul.
[17:20] Federal law enforcement is going far beyond what they canand should be doing to enforce immigration laws.
[17:26] They are endangering our community's safety,straining our resources and sowing distrust.
[17:34] While we know we can't control
[17:35] federal agents,we will pull every lever we have to fight back in every way that we can.
[17:41] They've come into Saint Pauland needlessly invaded our neighborhoods and homes.
[17:46] They're targeting us based on what we look and sound like.
[17:49] Our residents are scared, and as local officials,we have a responsibility to act.
[17:55] I want to thank Attorney General Ellison and Mayor Freyfor taking a united stance for the people of Minnesota
[18:01] and to our immigrant and refugee communities. Let me be clear.
[18:05] You are a vital part of our city.
[18:08] You are loved and you are wanted,and you are important to the fabric of our state.
[18:14] As a refugee who came to this country,this is the state that welcome my grandparents here in the late ‘70s
[18:20] allowed our family to break the cycle of povertyin one generation, educated us, allowed us to build wealth
[18:26] and within one generation have a new a new family,a new family members that are educated and a part of this economy
[18:34] and this workforce that we need to continue to make surethat our state stays that, and that can't happen if this continues
[18:40] to run amok of our city and our state.And so, we cannot let this federal administration divide us.
[18:46] We need to come together now more than ever.Thank you. Thank you. Great job.
[18:51] So now we have a few minutes for questions.
[18:55] I want to acknowledge, the the vital presence of President ElliottPayne of our Minneapolis City Council
[19:03] here on behalf of all of the council members,I think, in the council representing the council.
[19:07] Thank you for your presence here, sir.
[19:09] And I also want to say thank you to all of our staff memberswho've worked so hard to prepare us for this moment.
[19:15] They all are very, very critical to, the work that we do every day.
[19:19] And we're grateful to them as well.
[19:21] And they may help us, answering some of your questions.
[19:24] We have about, 15 minutes for questions.
[19:27] And so, I'll, I'll select the first person who I see, Tom?Attorney General Ellison,
[19:33] there's been some success in getting the National Guard
[19:36] out of some states with lawsuits like this,but that was over a question of what the role of the National Guard is.
[19:43] It's pretty clear what what ICE’s role is. Is that going to be make this,
[19:49] legal challenge more difficult?
[19:51] I don't think so, because I since I think that Mayor Frey said it very well,ICE has a statutory responsibility to do a certain job.
[19:59] What our argument is they are exceeding that dramatically,in unconstitutional, unlawful ways,
[20:06] violating our first and 10th Amendment rights, our equal sovereigntyprinciple, and, the provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act.
[20:13] They have to obey the law themselves as they carry forth their statutoryduties.
[20:19] We argue they're not doing that.
[20:20] They have to do they have tothey have to operate within the law and the Constitution.
[20:25] Yes, sir.[Questions] Thank you for being here.
[20:30] Thank you. Is this, litigation aimed at restrainingthe use of crowd controlled weapons?
[20:35] Less lethal weapons?Our whole crew got pepper sprayed today by federal agents.
[20:39] Are you aiming to do anything about that?
[20:41] Well, one thing I'd like to ask you to do is to make a complaintand make sure people know what happened to you and your your crew.
[20:48] The, you know, part of what our case is aboutas First Amendment protection,
[20:52] we believe that the federal governmentis persecuting the State of Minnesota because of our political views.
[20:57] And that goes, and look, the First Amendment, the press is protectedby the First Amendment and is vitally important in this moment
[21:04] when, freedom of the press and every First Amendment rightis under a threat by the federal government.
[21:10] So I might ask you to let us know what happened.
[21:14] But, yeah, you know, we're we're trying to restore lawful conduct
[21:18] and make sure that, the federal government operateswithin the boundaries of the law, which they're required to do.
[21:25] Yes, sir.
[21:26] You know, this is really something that's,obviously really ramped up in the last week. Right.
[21:30] What kind of timeline can we expect on this suit?What are you looking at? What is your office kind of expecting here?
[21:36] Well, we're. We filed a lawsuit already.It's in. It's on file right now. As far as results.
[21:41] Well, you know, you know, it's hard to predict exactlywhat the court schedule will be, but we are anticipating, quick action.
[21:50] I don't know what any of my team members want to. Brian,you want to respond to that?
[21:55] Brian Carter, special counsel to the attorney general.
[21:59] I don't know if we filed quite yet.
[22:01] But we do have a motion for a temporary restraining orderthat's going to be filed today.
[22:07] We're going to ask that the court, hear that motion tomorrow morning.
[22:13] There is another similar motionin, in a separate but related lawsuit that's scheduled for that time.
[22:20] We're going to try and piggyback on that,and we're going to be asking for immediate relief.
[22:25] Brian Carter, everybody. Way in the back.
[22:28] Saint Paul, have any specifics on overtime for police officersin the way that Minneapolis, had some stats?
[22:34] We do know that our, we have had, more,we've had to open our command center in order to monitor the city.
[22:40] We've had to have all of our officers in uniformso that we do have information as well.
[22:45] And we'll be sharing more of that information in the daysto come as it relates to this lawsuit.
[22:51] Yeah.
[22:51] Those overtime costs are likely to reach into the millionsif this continues. Yes.
[22:55] The question is, are those overtime costs for MinneapolisPolice and Saint Paul Police likely to reach into the millions?
[23:02] The answer is absolutely.
[23:04] We have normal core functionsthat we are tasked with doing on a daily basis.
[23:08] We are required to respond to 9-1-1 calls.
[23:11] We are trying to prevent murders from happening and carjackingsfrom taking place.
[23:16] And by the way, the work of our police has been driving downthose numbers substantially.
[23:21] Our police officers have performed admirablybecause they're not just doing their day to day job.
[23:28] They're also responding to countless9-1-1 calls that people are being kidnaped,
[23:33] that agents in unmarked uniforms, in unmarked carsare simply taking people off the streets that are American citizens.
[23:42] They're required to do the work to keep the peace.
[23:45] Our police officers are doing the work to keep the peaceand to keep people safe.
[23:50] With 600 officers,we can't do all of those things all of the time. Not to mention,
[23:56] our officers are human beings,and therefore there is a point where they get tired.
[24:00] And when we've canceled all days off, when our chief is workingtirelessly,
[24:06] and he deserves a ton of credit here, too, where we've got officersthat are working incredibly long hours and long shifts.
[24:15] The truth is, is that when you get to a certain point,you start making mistakes.
[24:19] Not because you're a bad cop,but because you're a human being. And so we need relief.
[24:23] We're asking the court for it.
[24:25] But the damage that we are suffering right nowin Minneapolis is not limited to overtime costs.
[24:31] It's schools shutting down. It's businesses closing.
[24:34] It's people being afraid to go out and get groceriesand therefore are going hungry.
[24:39] It's their inability to get money so that they're unable to pay rent.
[24:43] There is a snowball effect that is happening right here.
[24:46] And it's not just because we're in Minnesota and there's a lot of snow.
[24:50] The snowball effect is because what is ICE is doing is intentional.
[24:54] This is intentionally putting us in a very difficult positionthat is not pro business and is not pro safety.
[25:03] The only thing that I can see it being is pro politics,
[25:07] [Questions]
[25:09] A little bit concerned about some of the tactics that have been usedin the streets, which only a couple protestors have done.
[25:15] Some very heavy handed use of force toward them.
[25:19] Are you guys concerned about what you're hearingfrom the public in terms of not only when you talk about pepper spray or,
[25:25] or how people are being tackled and handled or whatyou saw at the high school.
[25:28] Can you elaborate on what you guys are hearing about?Well, I'll let I'll let the mayor's jump in here.
[25:32] But I can tell you that this whole lawsuit is partially driven,not not exclusively, but partially driven by exactly what you just said.
[25:42] And and again, you know, look, ICE was operating here before this surge.
[25:48] We didn't file a lawsuit before. That's right.
[25:51] This is because of this surge.
[25:54] And, you know, quite honestly,
[25:58] you know, it is it's it is because of the accumulated accumulationof so many stories that are just so far out of the range of normal.
[26:09] You know, some of y'all saw the, you know, tape and target.
[26:13] Some of y'all saw that video tape
[26:15] at, at Roosevelt High School.
[26:19] And I can tell you how many people who've called me and said,I am afraid to go to work.
[26:25] And I'm not talking about people who are non-citizens.
[26:28] I'm saying citizens, because when you when when a woman like Renee Goodgets shot down, then everybody, citizens, non-citizens are terrified.
[26:39] And I'll leave it to the mayors to fill in there.
[26:42] I will say that the question is, if we're hearing about it,we are absolutely.
[26:45] I mean, I think that we are really lucky here in, our stateand specifically Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minneapolis,
[26:50] is that we have a strong network of community organizerswho've been working together.
[26:54] We hear almost every instance that happens,you know, whether it's texted to us personally and we're looking into it
[27:00] or whether it's coming into our neighborhood groups.
[27:02] We are hearing it and we are seeing and we are looking into.Every time I get one, I inquire into it to see.
[27:08] But I think that what's more importantall of this is that it's not just the tactics are being used,
[27:12] it's the attack on the American people who are citizens.
[27:15] I'm. I wasn't born here.
[27:16] I'm carrying my ID with me.
[27:17] I'm carrying my passport card and my ID with me all the timebecause I don't know
[27:21] when I'm going to be detained, when I'm going to be approached.
[27:23] The fact is, is that it doesn't have to like the tactic doesn'teven at this point really matter, right?
[27:27] It's the fact that we are being attacked as American citizens rightnow, and we are hearing of it,
[27:31] and we are inquiring into itevery single time we get, we get something sent to us.
[27:37] Last question.
[27:39] A lot of lawsuits against the federal governmentthat have been ongoing, led by your office.
[27:45] We also do have the backdrop of fraud investigations happening as well.
[27:49] Can you just speak about
[27:50] how resources are being doled out in the attorney General's office,and who's being dedicated to fighting the federal government?
[27:56] Our our Medicaid fraud unit is hard at work.
[28:01] We've we've prosecuted and convicted over 300 peoplesince I've been attorney general for Medicaid fraud.
[28:07] And other people in our office who work on who do agency representation,they're working hard.
[28:12] But we have but but the people who work on what I callfederal accountability, they're busy too,
[28:19] because, the state the federal government has triedto deprive our state of money that we're entitled to by statute
[28:26] that has been appropriated to our state.And if we don't fight for it, we won't get it.
[28:30] And that will deprive the people of the State of Minnesota of resourcesand money that they deserve.
[28:35] And I'm talking about things like Snap benefits, housing benefits,child care benefits, all kinds of benefits.
[28:40] National Institute of Health benefits, FEMA benefitsthat they've tried to unconstitutionally deprive us from.
[28:47] So, do we have resource pressure?
[28:50] Yeah.My folks are working really hard. Harder than they should have to. But,
[28:57] we're also.
[28:57] But we. But we can walk and chew gum,and we're fighting fraud. Every single day.
[29:01] And let me just say this about fraud.
[29:02] Anybody who steals from a program designed to helppoor people is no friend of mine.
[29:07] And I'm all good to hold them accountable.
[29:10] And, you know, the federal government,you know, they're doing all this stuff that we don't need them to do.
[29:15] I wish they'd do some more things we do need them to do.
[29:17] Now, I'm not talking about local federal officials.They're doing their job.
[29:21] We work with the U.S. Attorney's officeand the FBI to fight fraud. And I'm very glad of their partnership.
[29:26] What I'm referring to is the substance of this lawsuit right now.This is not what we need. We don't need this.
[29:32] But we could use we need all the help we can to can get to helpmake sure that every dollar that the generous people of Minnesota devote
[29:39] to helping others gets to those others.
[29:41] [Questions]
[29:45] Are you confident that DHS and the federal governmentwould abide by the judge's orders?
[29:50] And what would be the next?
[29:51] Yes I am. No, I believe that they will abide by the ordersbecause I believe that anybody who stands below
[29:57] an American flag lifts up their hand and swears an oath to supportand defend the Constitution of
[30:02] the United States will abide by the lawful orders of a court.
[30:06] And if they don't, I want everybody in this room to know that they arethe ones who are expressing contempt for the rule of law.
[30:15] Now, having said that, you ask the what if question.
[30:18] Well, you know,there are ample, ways to make, a miscreant violator of a court order
[30:25] obey that court order. One of them is a contempt of court. But, let's not jump there.
[30:31] Let's make let's expect good conduct and obedience to law.And that's what we expect.
[30:36] That's what we expect we're going to get.
[30:37] And I think there's a possibility that Mayor Frey wanted to talka little bit more about what your citizens are going through,
[30:44] or maybe you covered that already. I canI can add. Yeah, but I just think, I just yeah.
[30:49] Well, you want to go for it? Just in general? Yeah.Just just like what people are dealing with. Yeah, yeah. I mean,
[30:58] We don't use the word invasion lightly.
[31:02] What we are seeing is thousands, plural, thousands of federal agentscoming into our city.
[31:10] And, yeah, they're having a tremendous impact on day to day life.And it's a negative one.
[31:15] And whether that's kids that are trying to get to school or businessesthat are trying to open, that's police officers
[31:21] that are responding to 9-1-1 calls, it'sjust about being able to conduct daily life right here in our city.
[31:30] And look in
[31:33] this is not about fraud.
[31:35] When you have a fraudster, you investigate, you charge, you prosecute,
[31:41] you hold the person accountable,and then they get put in jail as an individual.
[31:46] They get put in jail as an individual.
[31:49] You do not hold an entire communityor an entire city accountable for the actions of the fraudsters.
[31:57] That's not a novel concept.That's just the way this works in American society.
[32:02] And we should be abiding by that.
[32:05] Good.
[32:05] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[32:06] And let me say thank you, Mayor
[32:08] Her. Let me saythank you to the men and women of the Independent Press of America.
[32:13] The, the reality is that, the work you do is, is critically importantto get the word out to the people.
[32:21] And we are grateful for it.
[32:22] And with that, we're going to conclude,but I'm sure any of us will be willing to talk to you all offline.
[32:29] Bye bye.