Eric Schmitt calls federal immigration agents in Minnesota ‘heroes’

By Fletcher Mantooth

Columbia Missourian

U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt took to the Senate floor Wednesday to defend federal agents arresting suspected undocumented immigrants in Minnesota, calling them “American heroes.”

“We owe them our absolute, unequivocal, unflinching support,” the senator told his colleagues, many of whom are now calling for an investigation into the Department of Homeland Security after two fatal shootings in Minnesota. Schmitt’s fellow Missouri Republican, Sen. Josh Hawley, is one of the senators calling for an investigation.

During the speech, Schmitt blamed heightened tensions in Minnesota on rhetoric by the state’s Democratic leaders, calling out Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

He argued that the Democrats have a “conscious strategy” to cause chaos on Minneapolis’ streets.

“I don’t know if they really believe that we’re at war, or that ICE is the gestapo, or that Minneapolis is under Nazi occupation,” Schmitt said. “But whether or not they believe it, many of the people who hear them, who listen to them, do.”

Schmitt’s strongly worded support for President Donald Trump’s Minnesota “surge” comes as the president himself appears to be backing off in the face of criticism, some of it from members of his own party. Earlier this week, Trump made phone calls to both Walz and Frey. “We’re going to de-escalate a bit,” he said Tuesday in a Fox News interview.

Trump also reined in two of his more outspoken officials, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement commander Greg Bovino, giving Tom Homan, his designated “border czar” and a career immigration official, a lead role in Minnesota.

But Schmitt argued that Trump’s critics are blocking the president from fulfilling his campaign promise to deport people who are in the United States illegally.

“If democracy means anything at all, it means that this administration must be allowed to carry out the agenda the American people voted for,” Schmitt said.

“The deportations must continue,” he added later.

Schmitt called the shootings of two 37-year old U.S. citizens, nurse Alex Pretti on Saturday and mother of three Renee Good earlier in January, “tragic.” But he argued that Democratic officials have created the dangerous conditions in Minneapolis. “It’s not on ICE, it’s not on the Border Patrol and it’s certainly not on President Trump.”

“If it were, we would be seeing the same chaos in every city where ICE and Border Patrol carries out these operations, but we aren’t,” Schmitt said. ”There have been large-scale deportation operations in red states all across the country. Most Americans have probably never heard of them, because they went off without a hitch.”

Trump’s “Operation Metro Surge” in Minneapolis and St. Paul has put more than 3,000 federal agents in the Twin Cities, a number that, according to the Minnesota Star-Tribune, dwarfs the number of local police.

The debate over DHS tactics in Minnesota has set up the possibility of a government shutdown.

The Senate is set to consider a bundle of six funding bills this week, among them a bill to fund DHS operations. Prominent Democrats — including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. — want to amend the DHS funding bill to put restrictions on agents.

They have called for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to split off the DHS bill from the rest, allowing the other five bills to pass and avoiding a large-scale government shutdown.

Schmitt dismissed the effort as “political grandstanding,” arguing that “it would have no real practical effect on ICE operations.” This is because the Trump administration has provided the agency with enough funds to continue operating, at least temporarily.

“The fact is, the Democrats — first of all — shut the government down the first time because they wanted health care for illegal immigrants,” Schmitt said. “Now they want to shut the government down because they want to stop deportation of illegal immigrants. That’s not something we’re supportive of.”