MINNEAPOLIS (NewsNation) — The violent opposition mounted by protesters in Minneapolis against federal immigration officers is not more violent than other enforcement operations U.S. Border Patrol Commander At-Large Gregory Bovino has witnessed, but it has escalated to anarchy, the face of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown told NewsNation.
Bovino spoke to NewsNation exclusively Friday, referring to federal agents’ operations as “peaceful” despite Renee Good being shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officer last week. Yet Bovino, who is overseeing more than 2,500 federal agents on the ground in Minneapolis, blamed protesters he characterized as “anarchists” as well as Minneapolis Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey for the escalation in tension between residents and federal agents.
Bovino spoke to NewsNation after 14 federal vehicles used by ICE officers and Border Patrol agents were vandalized in a hotel parking lot. But he said that protesters also indiscriminately damaged nongovernment vehicles in their push to keep immigration enforcement from taking place, which is, in turn, harming everyday Americans.
“That should probably wake some people up to the depth and the scope of these anarchists,” Bovino told NewsNation.
Could President Trump invoke the Insurrection Act in Minneapolis?
Bovino would not get ahead of President Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on whether Trump will invoke the Insurrection Act in Minneapolis. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, has warned that he would have the Minnesota National Guard on standby if needed.
Trump told Friday that at this time he “doesn’t think there’s any reason” to invoke the Insurrection Act but warned that “if I needed it, I would use it.”
Minnesota elected officials, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison, said that Trump’s push of federal agents into Minneapolis has nothing to do with immigration enforcement.
“This is a campaign of escalation on (Trump’s) part and retribution on our state,” Morrison said Friday. “The idea that he would threaten the Insurrection Act on one of these United States should horrify everyone in our country.”
U.S. residents are being arrested by federal agents in Minneapolis
ICE officials reported that more than 2,500 arrests have been made since the federal immigration enforcement operation began in early December.
Although the original federal game plan called for federal agents and officers to target what has called “the worst of the worst” and Somali nationals accused of fraud, Bovino acknowledged U.S. citizens have been arrested.
Many of those arrests came after Americans “pushed the envelope” in keeping federal agents and officers from doing their jobs, Bovino said. Like in previous enforcement operations where tear gas and pepper spray have been deployed against protesters, Bovino insists federal agents are using the “least” amount of force possible.
“It’s the anarchists, rioters and some of the protesters who get out of line and use too much force in what they’re doing against federal law enforcement,” Bovino told NewsNation. “Our mission here is legal, ethical and moral. It’s peaceful, and we want to keep it that way.”
Bovino also blamed Frey for fueling protesters’ passion. Last week, Frey said that ICE needed to get the “(expletive) out of Minneapolis” and referred to the DHS narrative of Good’s killing as “bull—-” and a “garbage narrative.” Walz has encouraged residents to film the actions of federal agents as a way of documenting what is happening in local neighborhoods.
A Frey spokesperson did not immediately respond to NewsNation’s request for comment on Bovino’s allegations.
Bovino disagrees with the notion made by Walz and Frey that the presence of federal officers and agents is making Minneapolis less safe. As he did in Chicago, Bovino credited the federal presence for double-digit percentage drops in crime, even though violent crime, including homicides, was at record lows in Chicago in the months before federal officers and agents arrived.
Bovino says that similar drops in serious crimes have been seen in Minneapolis and asks residents to consider evidence that is not refutable.
“If (opposition groups) would take a minute to look at those statistics and take a look at the good that the U.S. Border Patrol, ICE and all the law enforcement do, perhaps they could turn their rhetoric down and join us in this march to make the homeland safe and make the city safe,” Bovino told NewsNation.
However, when asked Friday by NewsNation what her message to local protesters would be in the wake of more than a week of escalation, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, encouraged them “not to let their anger get the best of you.” But she said that residents are justified in documenting what they see, including filming agents and warning neighbors of the increased presence of federal agents.
Omar has been a target of Trump’s in recent months and has pushed back against the president’s criticism of her and his allegations about her legal status to hold elected office in the United States. Despite that, she asks residents to take a measured approach to what is happening around them.
“We are justified in the rage that we feel as Minnesotans with the paramilitary force that is roaming our streets and the brutality with which our neighbors are being treated and the inhumane ways we are being described, ” Omar told NewsNation on Friday. “But giving into that rage gives them the license to terrorize more.”
Judge restricts feds in responding to protesters
A U.S. District judge in Minnesota on Friday granted an injunction restricting the way federal immigration authorities may respond to peaceful protesters.
Judge Kate M. Menendez forbid agents from retaliating against people “engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity” or using crowd control munitions against them.
The ruling comes in response to activists who say federal agents violated their constitutional rights. The activists’ suit predates an ICE officer’s fatal shooting of a motorist in Minneapolis.