Peace in Minneapolis Won’t Come From Stoking the Fire

To think that everything leading up to this started with indifference over trying to resolve a situation that was costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

Weeks ago, ICE agents were brought into Minneapolis to arrest Somali immigrants who were behind a real estate scheme that was costing U.S. citizens a great deal of money. It was a move made by President Donald Trump after Mayor Jacob Frey and Governor Tim Walz didn’t do anything about the situation.

Cue to earlier this month, when 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good attempted to charge at ICE agents with her vehicle. As a result, she was shot and killed, and that’s when things started turning ugly.

Mayor Jacob Frey did nothing to keep citizens calm, instead telling ICE agents—and I quote here—to “get the f*** out of our city.” This, alongside thousands on social media, created a level of tension within the city. As a result, the mayor—and for that matter, Walz and Police Chief James O’Keefe—lost sight of the initial goal. ICE was never there to target citizens. They were there to do the job assigned to them—a job that Minneapolis’ own government couldn’t do for their people.

Tensions continued to rise. People showed video of ICE agents being “brutal” when, in fact, they were just doing their job. Pelted them with snowballs. Even came out to protest against them.

But this weekend, we’ve now hit a boiling point.

This past Saturday, another Minneapolis citizen was shot and killed when he attempted to approach ICE agents with a firearm. 37-year-old Alex Pretti may have had a permit to carry, but certainly had no reason to approach officers the way he did. And now, with his death, it’s gotten truly insane. The National Guard has been called in, and anger against these agents—who, again, are just doing their job—is absolutely insane.

But once again, there’s been very little done to calm the situation.

Do I have all the details about the shooting? Of course not. There are those sharing video after video, swearing they know what happened, but even they are missing the bigger picture. And an investigation is underway by the FBI, so no, it’s not a situation where someone is “getting away with murder.” Far from it.

But it’s leading to questions and, more importantly, even more anger. And the leaders are doing very little to keep things calm.

Frey noted in a statement, “This is a moment to act like a leader. Put Minneapolis, put America first in this moment. Let’s achieve peace. Let’s end this operation, and I’m telling you, our city will come back. Safety will be restored. We’re asking for you to take action now to remove these liberal agents.”

First off, I agree with the sentiment of people “acting like a leader.” But Frey, you should follow your own advice. It’s your statement, “get the f*** out of our city,” that acted like gasoline on a fire to begin with. Not to mention that you have failed to address the original problem at hand—the loss of so much money. Trump, acting like a leader (surprise!), knew that these citizens were suffering, and since you weren’t, well, acting like this leader, he had to take matters into his own hands.

“Safety will be restored.” That includes you, sir. That includes you continuing to poke the bear and see ICE as this gigantic threat when, in fact, you created the tension between your own officers and theirs. We all want the same thing, right? Peace, yes? Then why can’t you follow your own words?

Governor Tim Walz made a statement as well. “Minnesota believes in law and order,” he stated on X. “We believe in peace. And we believe that Trump needs to pull his 3,000 untrained agents out of Minnesota before they kill another American in the street.”

Trump believes in law and order as well, Governor. And he certainly doesn’t use a governor’s media page to slam him left and right. And, for that matter, tell Minnesotans that “we will see this occupation end.” He, too, needs to realize why ICE is here to begin with.

The bottom line is this. All of this uneasiness could’ve been resolved if Frey, Walz, and O’Keefe saw what Trump had in mind—solving a situation that was costing the city billions of dollars. Trump isn’t doing this out of cruelty; he’s doing it out of necessity. Somalis are hurting U.S. citizens in more ways than one, and without everyone on the same page to come up with a complete solution, we’ve now seen disarray.

And that has resulted in the unnecessary deaths of Good and Pretti.

I want the same thing. I’m tired of seeing conflict in Minneapolis. Peace must be restored. But in order to get to that point, there has to be reasoning. Reasoning as to why ICE is there to begin with. It’s not a “terror plot” or something being run by “the Gestapo”; it’s a matter of putting Americans first and resolving a problem that they were doing nothing about. And because of the failure to see everything in front of them, here we are, in the midst of a conflict that needs to be calmed. Before it gets worse.

I just hope we all get on the same page—very soon. ICE agents deserve better. Minneapolis police deserve better. And Minnesota citizens certainly deserve better.

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