Jacob Frey says Minneapolis is suing Trump administration over 'stripped constitutional rights'

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said his city is preparing legal action against the Trump administration, claiming federal immigration enforcement efforts violated residents’ constitutional rights, even as the White House announced a drawdown of agents from the area.

Frey made the remarks during a recent interview with MS Now following an announcement by Tom Homan, who said the federal government was scaling back what local officials had described as a surge of enforcement activity in Minneapolis.

Jacob Frey talks about lawsuits by people of his city

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) said the city has “lawsuits that have been filed on behalf of the hundreds, if not thousands of people that have had their constitutional rights stripped away from them” by the Trump administration during their immigration enforcement surge.

Host Chris Hayes said, “There’s an enormous amount of damage and havoc to your city. There’s two people who are dead.”

He asked, “What does accountability look like?”

Frey said, “Accountability needs to come through the justice system that we have in place. We have preemptive lawsuits that have been filed, response of lawsuits that have been filed, lawsuits that have been filed on behalf of the hundreds, if not thousands of people that have had their constitutional rights stripped away from them.”

“And so, yes, of course, we want to see accountability in our city for the people who have been harmed,” he added.

Minneapolis stood up for the republic, claims Jacob Frey

During the interview, Frey acknowledged that many residents felt relief after hearing that federal agents would be leaving, but cautioned that skepticism remains.

He described the operation as disruptive and claimed it led to economic and social strain across the city.

The mayor also accused the administration of using enforcement pressure to push local governments into adopting national immigration policies.

He claimed Minneapolis residents “stood up” to the effort and suggested that public protests and resistance played a role in prompting the drawdown.

“And importantly, we don’t want Minneapolis just to be a stop along the route to the next location that has this extraordinary invasion that comes into their city and damages the economy, hurts the morale and the public welfare,” he added. “And so, you know, it’s it’s my goal. It’s our goal right now, to say that Minneapolis stopped this from happening again. We stood up for the endurance of our republic.”

Minneapolis invaded by own federal government

He continued talking about the impact of ICE operations on Minneapolis, “never in a million years would I think that a great American city, the city that I love in Minneapolis, would be invaded by our own federal government.”

“Never in a million years would I thought I would see constitutional rights stripped away and I certainly never thought that I was going to get investigated by the Department of Justice,” Frey said.

He added, “A department that at least historically, I have had great respect for under both Republican and Democratic administrations.”