Earlier this month, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (MN-05) spoke on the House Floor calling to abolish ICE and end the federal occupation of Minnesota. In 2026 alone, federal immigration agents have fatally shot two Minneapolis residents, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. In her speech, Rep. Omar also demands a full, independent investigation into both shootings. Below is a transcript of her remarks.
“Two of my constituents, Renee Good and Alex Pretti — beloved neighbors and community members were murdered by federal immigration enforcement agents.
“These were not distant headlines. These were beloved community members fighting to protect their neighbors.
“Alex Pretti was a 37-year-old ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA who cared for veterans. He was a healer. He should be alive.
“And Renee Good, a 37-year old beloved wife, mother, community member — should be alive.
“Kristi Noem’s DHS must be held accountable.
“We cannot continue to operate as if this terror is acceptable.
“We cannot allow a federal agency — one that was created for one purpose to terrorize — to function as an occupying force in our communities.
“Real accountability starts with abolishing ICE, impeaching Kristi Noem, and rethinking how we enforce immigration policy in this country.
“And we cannot stop there.
“We must demand that those responsible for terrorizing our communities are investigated thoroughly, not by the agencies that oversee them, but by truly independent authorities.
“We have seen federal agencies block state investigators and stonewall accountability. That is unacceptable.
“Our system of justice cannot tolerate a situation where people are killed, and the only response is silence, spin, or justification from administration officials.
“Minnesota was once known as a place of refuge. It has now been turned into a war zone, by a federal government that has lost sight of the values that make America great.
“Everything we love, our communities, our rights, our Constitution, our humanity is on the line right now.
“We have to fight like our future depends on it because it does.”
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Some of the comments are not characterizing Ilhan Omar’s brief remarks very completely. Note particularly her phrase “rethinking how we enforce immigration policy in this country.” She is NOT calling for open borders or no enforcement of immigration policy. She IS suggesting that rethinking will be required in order to rebuild the enforcement apparatus from the ground up. I agree with the latter.
Woods Halley
I worry that we are headed for a “Defund the Police” moment. That was certainly a winning message for Democrats. Or was it?
ICE needs to be torn down to the foundations and then rebuilt to carefully follow the law, the constitution, and common civility. Anyone who thinks that the vast bulk of the population wants open borders is seriously delusional. A country with open borders is simply not a country anymore, it’s a immigrational swarm.
But, our morally superior progressives will hector this issue until many voters just vote against them out of frustration. Judging the average voter who disagrees with you as being morally deficient is rarely a winning strategy. For those who forget, moral superiority does not implement policy, winning does.
From someone that [Redacted for incivility] we can see why Omar wants to abolish ICE.
Minneapolis Times editors? Anyone wanna do something about this?
Thank you for the heads up.
In this New York Times piece with Mayor Frey…
“The Minnesota Democrat on the battle between his city and the federal government.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/magazine/jacob-frey-interview.html?unlocked_article_code=1.I1A.Dsk-.hz7ijo_Bncw6&smid=em-share
Below Frey’s response to the “Abolish ICE” question..
Excerpt…. ” But unless the argument is that we should get rid of immigration law entirely, which I do not agree with, then you do need some mechanism to enforce. You obviously need to change the personnel and the conduct, which has been egregious. But outside of that, do I favor just getting rid of all immigration and customs enforcement? No, I don’t.”
In terms of the need to “change the personnel”, some news today…
Top Trump immigration spokesperson to leave DHS : NPR
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/17/g-s1-110410/homeland-security-department-mclaughlin-departure
My ongoing concern is that Omar likely hurts Democrats here in MN and in the country. We really cannot have that, especially coming up to the mid terms..
New piece in the Strib…
“As Minnesota goes, so goes the nation…”
https://replica.startribune.com/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=f78ff7f4-52ec-492c-9eac-be50b3ba8f42&share=true
Excerpt….key phrase..” there is still strong national support for border control.”
“The Minneapolis images, said Jacobs, “have burned a deep scar into the country and ignited a deep concern toward Donald Trump and the Republican Party in the day and age when national politics, meaning the president and his approval and general economic sentiment, play a dominant role.” ( Jacobs added that there were dangers for Democrats in poll results, too, because there is still strong national support for border control. If candidates overly play to their base, for instance, “they are going to have a problem with Republicans seizing on language about abolishing ICE and converting it into attacks on attacks on Democrats for favoring an open border and opposing enforcement of existing laws.”) Alongside the searing images are soothing ones.”