Jacob Frey says Minnesota 'never going to agree' to enforce federal immigration laws: 'It's not our job'
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told The New York Times on Saturday that the city was "never going to agree" to enforce federal immigration laws, and that it's not the city's job to do so.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he still has no plans to enforce federal immigration laws in the city, even after being warned by President Donald Trump that he was "playing with fire" by failing to do so.
During a conversation with Lulu Garcia-Navarro on The New York Times' "The Interview" on Saturday, Frey was asked what he took away from Trump's previous warning about Minneapolis failing to enforce federal immigration laws.
"We were never going to agree, and we have not agreed, to enforce federal immigration law. Why? First off, it’s not our job," Frey asserted. "I want our police officers doing their own work, not somebody else’s. I want our police officers doing the important work of keeping Minneapolis residents safe, responding to 911 calls, stopping carjackings, preventing murders. The work of a police officer in a major city."
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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey steps away from the podium after speaking to the 94th Winter Meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Washington. (Kevin Wolf/AP Photo)
The mayor added that he doesn't want Minneapolis police officers spending their time "hunting down" illegal immigrants in the city.
"I don’t want them spending a single minute hunting down a father that just dropped his kids off at day care who’s about to go work a 12-hour shift, who happens to be from Ecuador," he said.
Frey argued that Minneapolis refusing to comply with federal immigration laws "is not some wild, out there, radical-leftist principle," and is similar to actions taken by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani when he was in office.
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"This is a concept that even Rudy Giuliani as mayor of New York City adopted because he wants everybody, including people that are undocumented, to feel comfortable calling 911 when something goes down," he claimed. "If you see a crime, call 911. Rudy Giuliani, the radical-leftist Rudy, recognized that when he was mayor."
Frey referred to the deployment of federal immigration agents to Minneapolis as an "invasion." (Getty Images)
Frey appeared to reference a policy upheld by Giuliani, who in 1996 sued the federal government to defend Executive Order 124 — a 1989 directive signed by then-Mayor Ed Koch that barred city employees from reporting an individual's immigration status to federal authorities unless the person was suspected of a crime.
Later on in the interview, the mayor was asked what he thinks the federal government is asking him for in terms of immigration enforcement, and what he's willing to give.
"As far as de-escalation goes," Frey told the Times that the Trump administration said "they will draw down the resources and personnel" currently deployed to Minneapolis, calling the amount of agents sent to the city "ridiculous and incredibly disproportionate."
According to Frey, the Minneapolis Police Department has approximately 600 police officers, while "3,000 and 4,000 federal agents" have been deployed to the city. He said that the Trump administration told him that "those numbers will be significantly drawn down" and that "the way that ICE and Border Patrol have been conducting themselves will change dramatically."
President Trump says he spoke with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and announced border czar Tom Homan will meet with him as riots continue amid immigration enforcement. (Getty Images)
"So not these marauding gangs of guys just walking down the street indiscriminately picking people up, but having more of a targeted operation," he told the Times. "This is not about ICE doing regular ICE stuff. What we have seen feels like an invasion."
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
