Coffee Break: Democrats React to Minnesota on ICE

Democrats react to the ICE-engendered crisis in Minnesota with their usual aplomb, savoir-faire, organization, coherence, and discipline.

I kid, I kid. Sorry for the cheap cynicism, but it’s difficult to watch congenitally impotent, institutionalized politicians and a propagandized populace attempt to deal with the deliberate provocations of the Trump regime without resorting to snark.

On Monday I attempted to summarize the precipitating causes of the ICE crisis in Minnesota as well as give some of the political and demographic backstory.

Yesterday Yves posted Common Dreams’ report on the federal lawsuits filed by Illinois and Minnesota “in hopes of ending deadly operations by President Donald Trump administration’s intended to hunt down and deport immigrants.”

In hopes and prayers, perhaps.

Updates on Trump vs Minnesota

Today I’ll cover:

• The latest moves of the Trump Regime
• Some stumbles on the way to the crackdown
• Democrats react and how
• Intra-Democratic party politics in Minnesota
• Some calls for more serious and effective action from unexpected quarters
• Not All Democrats
• The connection to the geo-politics of Somaliland

And Trump Just Don’t Stop

Yesterday, teh Donald took to Truth Social to post a screed that ended with “FEAR NOT, GREAT PEOPLE OF MINNESOTA, THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!” Here’s the full statement.

On the 8th, the Trump regime issued a new policy that “members of Congress need to schedule any visits to Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities 7 days in advance. Any exemptions to the rule have to be approved by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem” the new policy bypasses a court order that had blocked officials from restricting such oversight visits.

The new policy was not widely reported until the 11th.

Trump’s spokesgal Karoline Leavitt posted the following on X yesterday (note the link to Fox News, synergy!)

🚨🚨🚨NEW: President Trump ends temporary protected status for thousands of Somalis in US

'Somali migrants with TPS will be required to leave the country by March 17'https://t.co/Bth3c5xDlF

— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) January 13, 2026

NBC explained some details and had a quote from DHS boss/ICE Barbie Kristi Noem:

The Trump administration is ending temporary protected status for Somali immigrants, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed in a post on X on Tuesday.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services confirmed on X that “Somali nationals with TPS are now required to leave the United States by March 17, 2026.”
…
In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said, “Temporary means temporary.”

“Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status,” she said. “Further, allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests. We are putting Americans first.”

This Kristi Noem:

pic.twitter.com/VnezlBGVYS

— Nat Wilson Turner (@natwilsonturner) January 14, 2026

Regarding the slogan, “ONE OF OURS, ALL OF YOURS”:

“The phrase evokes the Lidice Massacre in June 1942, where Nazis retaliated for Reinhard Heydrich’s assassination by wiping out the Czech village. SS forces shot nearly all men over 14, sent women to Ravensbrück camp, and scattered children—some gassed at Chełmno, others Germanized. They then razed the site, killing about 340 in a symbol of terror tactics.”

FWIW Lead stories has “fact-checked” the above claim and found “No, that’s not true” but it’s clear from the article they just did Google searches and did not consult any actual historians.

The Metro has a quick rundown of some of the other times the Trump regime has echoed not-see rhetoric and I’ve previously posted about White House Deputy Fuhrer Chief of Staff Stephen Miller plagiarizing Joseph Goebells.

So yea, nothing to see here folks, listen to the “fact-checkers” and go back to sleep.

ICE-ing Ain’t Easy

But not all runs smooth for the Trump juggernaut.

Ken Klippenstein has revealed multiple internal ICE documents revealing that “DHS is privately divided and hesitant about the latest deployments. According to documents leaked to me, not only is the Department seeking “volunteers” for the apparently unpopular mission, it is urging its agents to maintain a low profile and comply with the use of force policies.”

And Raw Story is reporting that “A Department of Homeland Security whistleblower has released the identities of about 4,500 ICE and Border Patrol employees Tuesday in what has been called potentially the largest agency data breach for the department.”

Meanwhile Trump regime demands that the Department of Justice investigate the widow of ICE victim Renee Good has reportedly triggered resignations of at least six DOJ prosecutors, including Joseph H. Thompson, the lead prosecutor of the many fraud cases that served at the pretext for ICE’s invasion of Minnesota. Per The New York Times:

Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, said in an interview that Mr. Thompson’s resignation dealt a major blow to efforts to root out rampant theft from state agencies.
…
Mr. Thompson strenuously objected to the decision not to investigate the shooting as a civil rights matter, and was outraged by the demand to launch a criminal investigation into Becca Good, according to the people familiar with the developments, who were not authorized to discuss them publicly.

Mr. Thompson had originally set out to investigate the shooting in partnership with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, a state agency that reviews police shootings. Senior Justice Department officials overruled the decision to cooperate with the state agency.
…
Mr. Thompson grew frustrated in recent weeks as the immigration surge became a distraction for the office’s work on fraud, undermining the goal the administration said it was trying to pursue, according to people familiar with his thinking.
…
Mr. Thompson’s departure is a major blow to the effort. A self-described workaholic, he has encyclopedic knowledge of dozens of investigations involving a complex web of defendants and transactions.

More than 90 people have been charged since 2022 and at least 60 have been convicted of defrauding programs meant to feed children during the pandemic, aid people at risk of homelessness and treat minors with autism.

As the scandal drew national attention, Mr. Thompson became a high profile figure, earning praise from elected officials across the political spectrum. Several urged him to run for office, something Mr. Thompson — who refuses to discuss his political preferences — has said he has ruled out.

I wonder if Thompson plans to run for office as a Democrat?

If so, I hope he is capable of more serious action than the current party leadership.

Feckless Is As Feckless Does, National Democrats React

The Never-Trump neo-con centrist Substack publication The Bulwark headlined their coverage of Congressional Democrats’ response to ICE’s attack on Minnesota, “Democrats Appear Ready to Duck a Key Fight on ICE.”

Key quotes:

Democrats appear suddenly reluctant to use their leverage to address another issue that is important to their base (and, frankly, a lot of voters outside of it): the money pouring into ICE.
…
I asked a number of Senate Democrats if increasing ICE funding is a red line for them in the upcoming budget negotiations. Most of the lawmakers I spoke with refrained from describing it in that way, opting instead to strongly criticize the agency without specifying what legislative action they might be willing to take to address the problems.

“I just think there are ways we can call out this behavior and the kind of level of disruption that’s taking place in city after city,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.). He mentioned reduced training requirements for ICE officers being a serious concern.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said she does not support increases to ICE’s budget, but offloaded much of the responsibility for whether that happens onto her GOP colleagues.

“Yeah, I would ask my Republican colleagues who are obviously taking the lead on these [appropriation bills],” she said. “Is this what they want to rubber stamp for residential neighborhoods across this country? Thousands of masked, armed agents coming into their communities?”

When asked by another reporter if she wants policy changes for DHS separate from strictly by-the-numbers funding, Baldwin, a member of the Appropriations Committee, suggested that programmatic reforms to an agency would be a separate matter from a debate over how much money to give said agency.

“That’s obviously—I don’t wanna get in the weeds—that’s obviously an authorizing committee issue,” she said. “When we’re talking about appropriations, I call on my Republicans . . . do they wanna rubber stamp this or what?”
…
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security—and one of the party’s most vocal critics of Trump’s authoritarian impulses—said discussions are taking place about the path forward on DHS funding and reform. But he stopped short of making any formal policy commitments.

Politico’s piece “‘Abolish ICE’? Many Democrats are ready to fund it — with conditions” shows that national Dems are still trapped in a morass of kayfabe and pretend:

Behind the scenes, top Democrats are feverishly working to fund the agency — with strings attached.

The mismatch between the anti-ICE rhetoric and the actions of Democratic appropriators reflects a Catch-22 of congressional power: The only way lawmakers can put guardrails on the controversial agency and curb President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda at this moment is to hand it billions of taxpayer dollars.

As they negotiate fiscal 2026 funding for the Department of Homeland Security with Republicans ahead of a Jan. 30 shutdown deadline, Democrats are demanding new rules for DHS agents, such as forcing them to use body cameras, refrain from wearing masks and go through more extensive training.

Even as new polling fielded after the fatal Jan. 7 shooting of Renee Good shows that a plurality of voters back ICE’s elimination, top Democrats on Capitol Hill are seeking to restrain the agency under Trump’s leadership — not disband it.

It’s not just national Democrats who don’t have good answers about what to do when ICE invades a Blue City in a Blue State.

Feckless Is As Feckless Does, Local Democrats React

And who can blame them? As Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey pointed out to The Bulwark (video): “You’re basically asking – can our cops arrest ICE agents? Legally? Yes. Practically? It gets kind of hard when they outnumber us and have bigger guns than we do.”

But his actual impotence hasn’t stopped NBC from proclaiming, “Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey emerges as city’s ’emotional voice’ following ICE shooting”

Like fellow “dark woke” Democrats, Frey’s speech was so strong NBC can’t even print his words in full:

(Frey) accused ICE of “trying to spin this as an action of self-defense,” claiming that its interpretation of the video of the incident “is bulls—.” He said the officer who shot the woman was “recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying” and demanded that ICE “get the f— out of Minneapolis.”

Whew. I hope readers of this family blog are not too frightened to continue.

Doesn’t matter what we think though, The New York Times has declared our boy has the stuff in yesterday’s feature profile titled, “The Minneapolis Mayor Who Cursed Out ICE Is No Stranger to Crisis. Most importantly the sub-heading informs readers that “Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, has clashed with his party’s activist wing. His response to ICE has won him new respect at home and new foes in Washington.”

Though President Trump’s allies have portrayed Mr. Frey in recent days as an example of liberal excess, the mayor has long faced the opposite charge inside his heavily Democratic city, where some residents have complained that he was too moderate and too accommodating of the police.

In recent days, as ICE has flooded Minneapolis, Mr. Frey and other top Democrats have been unified in their criticisms of the president and their calls for agents to leave. It is a far different political landscape from 2020, when Minneapolis Democrats were divided over what to do about policing after an officer murdered George Floyd, and when Mr. Frey became a target of left-wing protests.

“Apparently,” said Mr. Frey, who has said he is in his last term as mayor, “I’m like a walking Rorschach test.”

After the murder of Mr. Floyd in the spring of 2020, Minneapolis was in chaos and protesters gathered near Mr. Frey’s home. A speaker asked about defunding the police and presented the first-term mayor with a microphone.

“I do not support the full abolition of the police,” Mr. Frey responded through a face mask, his voice barely audible. The crowd booed. He walked away to chants of “Shame!” and “Go home, Jacob.”

They do at least include some quotes from local critics of Frey towards the end of the piece:

(2017 Mayoral candidate) Nekima Levy Armstrong said Mr. Frey needed to “really show” his power and “back up all that tough talk.”

Dan Engelhart, a Democratic member of the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, said he had never supported the mayor, and “to be honest, I think he’s the worst politician I’ve ever been around in my whole life.” He called for moving beyond “the lowest possible bar and performative speeches.”

This November Substack post from a supporter of one of Frey’s rivals for the position implored Frey to “develop relationships with City Council members, not only those who agree with you, but all of them.”

This is a good time to look at the 2025 mayor’s race to understand how Frey got re-elected. It wasn’t easy.

Frey’s Crooked Path to Re-Election

Last Summer it looked for a few days that Frey was out and that State Senator Omar Fateh might become “The Mamdani of Minneapolis.”

Fateh’s high water mark came in July when he won the endorsement of the Minneapolis Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (effectively the Democratic Party in Minnesota.

Wikipedia more or less ably explains how Fateh won and then lost that prize:

The Minneapolis DFL endorsing convention took place on July 19, 2025 at the Target Center. The convention initially endorsed a mayoral candidate in a contested race for the first time since 1997, with Omar Fateh declared the winner after acquiring 43.58% of the vote in the first round. While this wasn’t enough to reach the 60% threshold required for the endorsement, a second vote was held via raise of delegate badges, which Fateh won. Frey’s campaign appealed his victory to the state party.

On August 21, 2025, the Minnesota DFL revoked the endorsement following the appeal, citing failures in the voting process. These failures included an error in ballot software usage that resulted in an undercount in the first round and a poorly secured registration spreadsheet. The state DFL placed the Minneapolis DFL on a two-year probation and forbade them from holding a second convention or otherwise endorsing in the 2025 mayoral election. The Minneapolis DFL filed an unsuccessful appeal challenging both the revocation and the bans on future endorsements, citing conflicts of interest and claiming that the committee that made the determination was acting outside of the authority given them in the DFL’s constitution.

The state DFL determined that no errors were made in how the endorsement was rescinded. In October, Fateh’s campaign was fined $500 in court for campaign finance violations after continuing to distribute yard signs that listed the DFL endorsement after it was revoked.

It’s like a pocket history of failed progressive attempts to gain control of the Demoratic party apparatus.

Fateh responded to the screw job to The Guardian:

Fateh believes the revoked endorsement is in part because of the donor class and how it would look to support a progressive candidate with a populist message, especially in suburban and rural areas where the DFL has lost ground.

“The DFL and the Democratic party as a whole like to always say we’re a big tent, we are a wide spectrum, we welcome everybody,” he said. “But a lot of times it seems like when it’s the more progressive wing that they can shut out.”

Minnesota’s leading Somali-American progressive politician talked to The Nation:

The reaction of US Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) was every bit as firm and focused as that of the candidate. “It is inexcusable to overturn the DFL endorsement from Omar Fateh,” she said. “A small group, a majority living outside Minneapolis, met privately to overturn the will of Minneapolis delegates who volunteered, organized, and participated in a months-long DFL process. Unacceptable.”

But it took more than insider political fuckery for Frey to beat Omar in the ranked choice general election. He played some shrewd divide-and-conquer politics as well.

This story from the Suna Times (“Latest Somali News in Minutes”) headlined “Somali Clan Divisions Surface as Jacob Frey Wins Third Term in Minneapolis Mayoral Race” elaborates:

Tensions, celebrations, and disappointment have swept across Somali social media circles following the fiercely contested Minneapolis mayoral election, where the race took on deep clan and community undertones among the city’s large Somali diaspora.

In a dramatic and emotional campaign, Jacob Frey secured victory for a third consecutive term as Mayor of Minneapolis, defeating his closest challenger, State Senator Omar Fateh. What made this election particularly remarkable was the way it highlighted the internal divisions within the Somali-American community — primarily between members of the Hawiye and Daarood clans, who rallied behind different candidates.

According to social media trends, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and her ex-husband Ahmed Hersi emerged as key figures on opposing sides of the political divide. Ilhan Omar, who openly supported Omar Fateh, was backed largely by members of the Daarood clan, while Ahmed Hersi, who mobilized an energetic social media campaign, stood firmly behind Jacob Frey — drawing significant support from the Hawiye community.

Warya TV reported that Frey’s relationships in the Somali community were neither new nor shallow:

When Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey walked into a packed East African event hall on election night and delivered part of his victory speech in Somali, it was not a last-minute attempt to broaden his appeal.

It was the culmination of a relationship that has shaped his political life for more than a decade — and one that helped him defeat his top challenger, state Sen. Omar Fateh, the first Somali American elected to the Minnesota Legislature.

While neither campaign can quantify the exact vote breakdown among Somali American residents, both acknowledge that Frey secured a meaningful share of the community’s support, despite Fateh’s deep roots within it.

It is interesting to ponder what the political situation in Minneapolis would be like if it was Mayor Fateh in the crosshairs rather than the centrist-approved Mayor Frey, but we won’t get to find out in this version of the time-space continuum.

What we can know is that there is ample frustration with the Democrats’ limited response, coming from some perhaps unexpected quarters.

The Never-Trumpers and Former Trumpers Are Talking Smack

When you’ve lost Bill Kristol…

Hey, @amyklobuchar and @TinaSmithMN: I'm not a senator, but if ICE thugs were rampaging through the major city in my state, I might try to impede Senate business as usual and bring everything to a halt until I could get answers or force some votes.https://t.co/3gJtlNoNpS

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) January 13, 2026

And it’s not just Bill, his fellow Never-Trumper Rick Wilson put out a stirring call to arms on his Substack:

To stop the immediate crisis, we must weaponize the very “propositional nature” of America. This involves a tactical veto of civil society: a collective refusal by elected leaders, local governments, businesses, the legal community, and civic and religious leaders to facilitate the “will to power.”

By creating friction in the gears of the state, we transform the grim anxiety of the populace into a functional resistance that protects the remaining guardrails of the Republic until the momentum of ICE can be broken at the ballot box.

To end the movement, we must embark on a national lustration, a public and legal purging of the rot. Democrats, once back in power, will return to their mean and try to pass feel-good measures and win over America with policies their technocratic hearts crave. They’ll mutter “let’s put this behind us” and “it’s time to move on” while the enablers and architects of Trump’s violence and viciousness roam free to plot a swift return to power.

It’s like treating cancer with a foot massage; what is required is a national run of political chemotherapy, and there is no substitute for the pain and misery that awaits us in that process.

I have had Kristol and Wilson on my private pay-these-assholes-no-mind list for years but I have to agree with them today. Talk about the political blender in action.

The fact that 2024 Trump-endorser Joe Rogan has come out against ICE (“Are we going to be the Gestapo?” shows there is more opposition than support to Stephen Miller’s efforts to incite enough trouble that POTUS Trump can invoke the Insurrection Act before the mid-terms.

Not All Democrats

In fairness, Rep. Ilhan Omar has been calling for strong measures against ICE:

Demanding accountability for ICE is not radical.

Calling for systematic reforms is not extreme — it’s the bare minimum. pic.twitter.com/HRN5KpPZAy

— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) January 13, 2026

And she’s endorsing even stronger action against the ICE Barbie, in support of Rep. Robin Kelly:

Kristi Noem must be impeached. https://t.co/C3Oq8HXT8s

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 13, 2026

There is so much more to this story, including AOC’s alleged fecklessness on the abolish ICE issue, Bill Ackman’s support for Renee Good’s killer, calls for a general strike, the author of Copaganda explaining why “reforming” ICE is a canard, but I’ll wrap with a pair of tweets and a little bit about possible connections to the breakaway region of Somaliland, because I promised.

First this harsh reminder of the kinetic predicament local officials face in resisting ICE:

In Los Angeles, the National Guard and the USMC helped ICE, DHS, LAPD, and the Sheriff’s Department shoot and brutalize protesters. Not just once. For weeks and weeks and weeks. This is suicidal and naive rhetoric. It’s dangerous. This person is not our ally. Fuck the military. https://t.co/aGlQUBBLsu pic.twitter.com/DqnDqgkKhQ

— Kamille Bidan (@KamilleAEUG) January 14, 2026

And second this bit of AI slop to remind us we’re through the looking glass:

god almighty what the fuck is this pic.twitter.com/zisPsywZJ7

— austerity is theft (@wideofthepost) January 12, 2026

What’s Somaliland Got to Do With It?

I found the timing of Israel’s recognition of Somaliland as an independent nation and the ICE attack on Minnesota a bit more than coincidental, but I had nothing more than a hunch.

But this piece from the crazed neo-cons at the Middle East Forum (backers of Tommy Robinson in the UK among others) made the connection as well.

President Donald Trump will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on December 29, 2025, but the U.S. president appears reticent about recognizing Somaliland, as Israel did on December 26.

Trump should reconsider. For reasons of U.S. national security, but also as he battles rampant Somali corruption in Minnesota and Rep. Ilhan Omar’s efforts to undermine his own policies on assistance and immigration, he could make no better response than to recognize Somaliland independence.

Glad I’m not the only crazy one out there.

Stay safe Minnesotans and everyone.