The effects of federal immigration efforts this year in Minnesota – both good and bad – have emotions running high all over the country. ICE and CBP, as border czar Tom Homan put it, have arrested many “bad people,” but they also shot and killed two US citizens who showed up to protest their presence. President Donald Trump now says it may be time for “a little bit of a softer touch,” and the administration is pulling 700 agents out of the area. But the damage is done, and Republicans in Congress have expressed concern that the backlash will cost the GOP both the House and the Senate come November’s midterm elections.
A new poll by NPR and PBS News, conducted by Marist University, reveals a sharp divide along party lines on public opinion. Among Democrats, a massive 91% of respondents disapprove of how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been handling its job in Minnesota – and 66% of independents agree. Republicans don’t tend to feel the same way, however, with 73% approving of the agency’s performance.
On Wednesday, February 4, he seemed to pivot a bit from his previously more rigid stance on federal enforcement in Minnesota. “I learned that maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch, but you still have to be tough,” Trump told NBC’s Tom Llamas. This conversation took place several hours after border czar Tom Homan announced the withdrawal of 700 immigration enforcement officials from Minnesota as state and local officials agreed to cooperate on mass deportation efforts.
President Trump admitted that he was “not happy” with the shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. When pressed on it, he said, “No, it should not have happened. It was very sad to me. It was a very sad incident. Two incidents.”
Still, he supports the operation overall, touting its success: “Crime in all cities is down, and you know why it’s down? It’s down because of us.” In his announcement on Wednesday, Homan said the US had arrested many “bad people,” including 14 charged with homicide and 139 with assault, as well as 87 sex offenders and 28 gang members.
“Today’s announcement is a step in the right direction, but we need a faster and larger drawdown of forces, state-led investigations into the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, and an end to this campaign of retribution,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, wrote on X Wednesday. For others, it was too little, too late.
And that too little, too late might also apply to the GOP come the midterm elections in November. Alarm bells rang last weekend when Taylor Rehmet, a Democrat, flipped a state Senate seat in North Texas that President Trump won by 17 points in 2024. Now Republicans are worried the public backlash over the Trump administration’s show of force in the North Star State could drive voter turnout for outraged Democrats and cost the party both majorities in Congress.
The House presently stands at 218 Republicans to 214 Democrats with three vacancies. In the Senate, it’s 53 Republicans to 47 “Democrats” if we include the two independents who caucus with them. As always, all 435 seats in the House are up for grabs in this year’s elections. The electoral map for the Senate is largely considered favorable to the GOP, but Republicans are also defending more seats (22) than their Democratic colleagues (13). Either chamber could flip without a major nationwide outrage to motivate voters. Liberty Nation depends on the support of our readers. Donate now!
According to The Hill, a Republican senator who requested anonymity said that “Republicans are right to be worried about the midterms. You can feel when the water temperature changes, and it feels like it’s going to change in a second.” History shows the midterms are often unkind to the party in power – especially when the previous session was run by a trifecta on both chambers and the White House.
The massive fraud uncovered in Minnesota certainly makes Democrats – who run the state – look bad, to the point that Governor Tim Walz has promised to resign and never run for office again. But that could still prove the lesser outrage compared to the Trump administration’s aggressive moves in the state and the two shootings by federal agents. It may all come down to who crafts the catchier narrative – but it’s a midterm migraine for Republicans either way.
