A Minneapolis-area police chief left one political analyst stunned on Tuesday with comments he made about how Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are conducting themselves in the area.
Mark Bruley, police chief for the city of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, spoke at a press conference with local law enforcement officers, telling reporters that his office has received "endless complaints about civil rights violations" stemming from interactions with ICE.
He said ICE agents have pulled guns on off-duty officers of color while illegally demanding their citizenship papers.
"We started hearing from our police officers the same complaints as they fell victim to this while off duty," he said. "Every one of these individuals is a person of color who has had this happen to them."
Bruley's comments were made at a time when tensions between Minneapolis community members and ICE are high.
Jon Lovett, a former Obama White House staffer and co-host of "Pod Save America," discussed the press conference in a new reaction video on Tuesday.
"First of all, I just think it's an extraordinary statement," Lovett said. "You have a police chief who's apparently been a police chief for decades, surrounded by other police chiefs from the region. You see him almost seeming a little bit ... uncomfortable with the position that he's in."
Jon Favreau agreed that the statement must have been uncomfortable for Bruley, who said his police department had a good working relationship with ICE in the past.
"Well, you're a police officer, local law enforcement, and you're going to give a statement that is going to p--- off the federal government, which is extremely powerful and has decided to place itself above the law," Favreau added.
