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MIKE DAVIS: Why surrender is not an option for ICE's Minnesota mission
By Mike Davis
Published January 28, 2026
Under the United States Constitution, We The People have the most crucial sovereign power: to control our border and populace. Through our elected members of Congress, we decide who gets to come to America – and who must go. We set our national immigration policy decades ago through our elections and our subsequent federal immigration laws. In this last election, we gave President Donald Trump a broad electoral mandate – including a congressional majority – reaffirming his constitutional and statutory duties to mass-expel illegals from America – starting with the most dangerous criminals among them.
For many months after Trump’s inauguration day, Democratic politicians, plaintiffs, attorneys, judges and other activists have conspired to thwart the will of American voters through Democratic judicial sabotage. After a series of legal losses at the Supreme Court, these desperate Democratic operatives are now turning to violence. Indeed, Democrats are openly encouraging their agitators to obstruct – and even attack – federal agents in the line of duty. This is particularly true in Minnesota, after brave independent journalist Nick Shirley uncovered billions in alleged fraud by the Minneapolis Somali community, a key political constituency of Minnesota Democratic politicians. What’s a great way to distract from the biggest scandal in Minnesota history? Riots, of course, driven by the same Minnesota Democratic politicians who benefit from the billions in the Somali fraud schemes.
President Trump says he spoke with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and announced border czar Tom Homan would meet with him as riots continue amid immigration enforcement. (Getty Images)
After days of Democratic-spurred riots, President Trump and Minnesota Gov Tim W.alz had a phone call on Monday. Trump described it as "very good," and Walz expressed a desire to "work together." This detente may be short-lived, as leftist agitators have now turned on Walz and directed their protests to his office. Regardless, ICE’s withdrawal from Minneapolis would be a disaster and cannot occur.
Empowered by seditious rhetoric from insurrectionists like Walz, who has described his state as "at war" with the federal government, leftists have decided that they have the freedom to confront and assault ICE officers with no repercussions – including, this past weekend, biting the finger off a federal agent. Some leftists have died in the resulting fray, the latest being Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old anti-ICE agitator who was shot while resisting officers’ attempts to take his pistol.
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Leftists have impotently tried and failed to legally stop President Trump from fulfilling his campaign promises of a secure border and mass deportations. Now, out of options, they’ve resorted to violence. The last time Democratic-run states took up arms en masse to resist the supremacy clause of the Constitution, nearly 400,000 red-blooded Americans were killed restoring order. But even after the Civil War, America has faced state insubordination many times.
In 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower had to commandeer the Arkansas National Guard after segregationist Democratic Gov. Orval Faubus mobilized state forces to prevent the integration of Little Rock Central High School. In the 1960s, Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson both invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807 to quell violent anti-civil rights rioting.
This undated photo provided by Michael Pretti shows Alex J. Pretti, the man who was shot by a federal officer in Minneapolis on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (Michael Pretti via AP)
Immigration is squarely under the federal domain. Indeed, over a decade ago, the Obama Justice Department successfully sued Arizona for attempting to independently enforce federal immigration law. Now, ICE is in Minneapolis pursuant to this core power. Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson did not cave to threats and violence from segregationist states angry about the federal government enforcing federal law. They stood strong, even deploying the military and federalizing the National Guard when necessary to restore order and preserve the rule of law.
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President Trump faces similar insurrectionist challenges. Just this past weekend, Walz referenced Anne Frank when denigrating ICE. He and other leftists have made the disgusting claim that ICE "kidnapped" a 5-year-old child, after officers took the child to safety when his father abandoned him while fleeing arrest. (Curiously, Walz was silent when the inept Biden administration lost 300,000 children, many to sex slavery, who were brought illegally to the United States.)
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ICE is not the problem in Minneapolis. Leftist violence is. Florida and Texas each have far more people and illegals than does Minnesota. We do not hear about tumult in those states for one reason: stellar state leadership. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis respect the Constitution, including ICE’s law enforcement authority. These governors do not use Holocaust references, and they do not tell the good men and women of federal law enforcement to get out of their cities – in sharp contrast to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. Abbott and DeSantis do not defend the storming of churches by anti-ICE maniacs – in sharp contrast to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. These governors are cooperating with the federal government to fix the existential crisis that dementia-addled Joe Biden caused when he allowed millions of illegals to pour into our country.
Our nation has an immigration crisis thanks to leftist open-borders policies. Minneapolis has a violence crisis thanks to demented and insurrectionist rhetoric from pathetic state and local leaders. Caving to the demands of these seditious conspiracists will not abate the crisis; it will exacerbate it. Spoiled children often think they can get whatever they want if they throw a loud enough tantrum. President Trump, in keeping with one of his favorite 2016 campaign songs, must remind these rioters that "You Can’t Always Get What You Want."
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President Trump must follow the courageous lead of Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson. We will soon find out whether Walz’s sudden cooperativeness is a sincere attempt to de-escalate – or if Walz resumes his role as a modern-day Confederate governor. If Republicans cave to this insurrectionist and seditionist behavior, they will send an unequivocal message to every purple-haired SSRI addict in the country: domestic terrorism works. Caving will incentivize more radical leftist violence across the country. If leftists learn that they can use violence to make ICE withdraw in Minneapolis, they will employ the same strategy across America.
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https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/mike-davis-why-surrender-not-option-ices-minnesota-mission