Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has blasted Donald Trump's administration for claims made about ICE raids in the city.
The mayor, who previously told the Immigration and Customs Enforcement team to "get the f--- out" of Minneapolis, doubled down on his comments, saying that the aim for ICE being in the city had the opposite effect. Speaking to Greg Sargent of The New Republic, Frey said the enforcement of the Trump admin's immigration laws had been divisive and caused greater strain than the administration will admit to.
Frey said, "What we’ve seen over the last couple of months is something wildly different that has terrorized a city, that has led to the detention of United States citizens, and that has ripped apart families.
"And we’re talking about dragging a pregnant woman through the street and detaining a five-year-old kid who has done nothing—not to mention the extraordinary economic impact: $203 million worth of economic impact in January alone.
We’ve had businesses that have closed; small and local businesses have lost more than $80 million in revenue, and hotels have lost quite a bit of revenue. Minneapolis had been on this phenomenal comeback, and obviously, we’re going to get right back to it.
"But for those who say that this ICE invasion was somehow necessary for either the safety or the economic strength of our city, it’s had the exact opposite effect."
Mayor Frey also broke down the economic strain these ICE raids had put on Minneapolis, with hundreds of millions of dollars said to have been lost as a result of the administration's efforts in deploying agents in the city.
"Let’s see: I’ve got 203 million in economic impact broadly. Small businesses: $80 million. Hotel cancellations: it’s more than $5 million—I mean, I imagine it’s definitely up in the tens of millions," Frey said. "More than 75,000 additional people are facing some form of food insecurity.
"Thousands of schoolchildren are in need of support services. The city alone has spent about $6 million, mostly in overtime for police. So the impact here is staggering. The impact is very real; it’s tangible; it’s monetary. And countless people throughout our city are feeling that impact."