The Minneapolis story has not materially changed, but it continues to suck up oxygen because it sits at the intersection of protest, immigration enforcement, and partisan identity. Mayor Jacob Frey’s posture that the city’s problems would disappear if ICE simply left is not a governing argument, but a political reflex. What we are really watching is a federal local clash where each side believes the other is illegitimate. That is why this keeps escalating rhetorically even as the facts stay mostly the same.
What struck me most this week was how Democrats are still dodging the core questions. Senator Ruben Gallego came closer than most by acknowledging that ICE as it exists is not working, while stopping short of calling for outright abolition. That kind of repeal and replace language may be politically safer, but it still avoids the unavoidable follow ups. Do Democrats believe there is an immigration enforcement problem? Do they believe ICE should exist in some form? If so, as Gallego seems to imply, how should it operate, and who should it target? Those answers will eventually be demanded by voters, whether the party wants to give them or not.
