JD Vance has blamed local officials for failing to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement during a visit to Minneapolis, where recent operations have led to the detention of a five-year-old child and the gassing of protesters.
The US vice-president, flanked by federal law enforcement, said he had spoken with immigration agents and local business leaders but not with Governor Tim Walz. His comments came after the justice department issued subpoenas to Walz, Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey and other officials as part of an investigation into whether they conspired to impede federal immigration enforcement.
Walz responded by saying the state would not be drawn into political theatre. He said families were scared, children were afraid to go to school, small businesses were hurting, and a mother was dead, adding that federal energy should be directed towards restoring trust and accountability rather than political retaliation.
Vance said the purpose of his visit was to “tone down the temperature a little bit, reduce the chaos, but still allow us as a federal government to enforce the American immigration laws”. He claimed that the level of violence seen in Minneapolis was unique, and that “lack of cooperation between state and local law enforcement and federal law enforcement” was the cause.
He dismissed reports of the child’s detention and aggression towards protesters as overblown or taken out of context, and accused the media of lying about immigration agents. He called those disrupting ICE operations “far-left agitators” and said local officials should help facilitate arrests of violent criminals. Earlier, at a factory in Toledo, Ohio, he urged protesters to take their grievances to the ballot box, describing physical blockades as “cowardly bullshit”.
