Mayor Jacob Frey Defends Telling ICE to 'Get the F Out'

"To ICE: Get the f*ck out of Minneapolis! Frey said Wednesday. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite. People are being hurt, families are being ripped apart. Long-term Minneapolis residents that have contributed so greatly to our city, to our culture, to our economy, are being terrorized; and now, somebody is dead. That's on you."

"Of course I bear responsibility to bring down the temperature, that's part of my role as mayor, Frey said before defending his rhetoric. Protests here in Minneapolis are peaceful, Frey said. We had, I don't know, 10,000 or so people that were protesting and marching yesterday. And virtually all of it was a very peaceful expression of First Amendment rights. And, you know, to those that are offended, I'm sorry I offended their delicate ears! But as far as who inflamed the situation, you know, I dropped an F bomb. And they killed somebody. I think the killing somebody is the inflammatory element here not the F bomb which I'm sure we've all heard before."

Mayor Jacob Frey defended his demand that ICE leave Minneapolis after an ICE agent fatally shot a person in the city. He argued that ICE's presence undermines safety, harms people, and terrorizes long-term residents who have contributed to the city. He characterized recent demonstrations as largely peaceful, citing roughly 10,000 protesters and framing the gatherings as an exercise of First Amendment rights. He apologized sarcastically to those offended by his language while asserting that the fatal shooting, not his profanity, was the inflammatory act. He said he would trust FBI findings only if the FBI investigation were conducted jointly with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

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