Not to put too fine a point on it, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Governor Tim Walz are lying sacks of excrement.
Yes, I know you are shocked to hear that. It is shocking to learn that politicians who helped create and maintain a multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme to funnel money intended for American citizens in need to fraudsters would also be liars helping organize resistance to federal law enforcement, but there it is.
It is difficult to overstate how deeply intertwined the state and local governments are with the anti-government activists, but one example should give you an idea: Mayor Frey has allowed them to set up actual checkpoints on Minneapolis streets to stop and search cars and pedestrians, and to turn away through coercion those they deem unworthy to pass.
They say they are doing this to stop ICE from being able to move freely, which is already illegal. But the truth is that they use this power to stop all sorts of people from being able to move freely, whether because they are “suspected ICE,” or especially if they are journalists they deem unfriendly to the cause.
The “activists” have created a database of known or suspected ICE individuals and vehicles, although it is notoriously inaccurate. A New York Times reporter, amusingly, was interviewing some of the ICE Watch patrollers when he heard people calling out the license plate of a “confirmed ICE” vehicle. It took him a while to realize they were swarming HIS rented car.
Oops.
So far, the City of Minneapolis has tolerated the creation of these checkpoints, although Tom Homan announced this morning that he had spoken with the Minneapolis Police Chief, who had agreed to enforce the law and have them taken down. I am skeptical that this will have the impact promised, because some “checkpoints” are no longer permanent barricades, but instead are vehicles parked sideways in the street, and hence mobile.
NEW: The Minneapolis Police Officers Association blasts Democratic city leadership for allowing radical left-wing anti-ICE agitators to set up “mini-CHOP” style autonomous zones, barricading streets and creating lawless areas in Minneapolis.
“The Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis does not support private individuals or groups establishing authorized “checkpoints,” blockades, or patrol zones on public streets… Peaceful protest is a constitutional right. Impersonating law enforcement, conducting stop-and-frisk activities, or physically blocking public roadways is not.”
These “checkpoints” are ridiculously illegal, as well as frustrating, but they have become yet another tactic used to “occupy” a region and establish insurgent control of a geographic area. The insurgents become the law of the land in an area, and even when they move on, they leave behind a legacy of intimidation and destruction. Everybody knows they can return at any time, and have become one of the enforcers of the law — the law as they see it.
“I haven’t seen anything like this” says experienced ICE agent in Minneapolis on the organization and communication systems of activists and agitators who are constantly impeding operations causing agents to move operations on targeted arrests of criminal illegal aliens
On this operation I was embedded in , activists were able to locate the agents and ‘blow up the spot’, forcing agents to move the operation and not make an arrest that day.
These activists are having a real impact on enforcement operations and I got to witness in real time
@DailyCaller
Apparently, some businesses on Nicollet Avenue, where the Alex Pretti shooting took place, are planning to shut down in the near future. The area, often called “Eat Street,” has many restaurants that have already been struggling, and the conflicts in the region are pushing them over the edge.
The city is intervening to punish hotels that have or are rumored to have hosted federal law enforcement. Far from rejecting the occupation of the city by insurgents, the City Council collaborates with them.
After Homan’s meetings this morning, he is announcing a partial drawdown of enforcement officers. I don’t know if this is a partial capitulation, part of a deal with the city or police department, or because they have apprehended a significant portion of their targets.
He looks tired and drawn, but it’s easy to over- or misinterpret isolated actions.
Border Czar Tom Homan tells Antifa and far-leftists who have set up roadblocks in Minneapolis that those tactics will not stop ICE and Border Patrol:
“The only thing you’re doing is irritating your community…I talked to the chief of police and he committed to taking swift action on those illegal roadblocks. They’re illegal and we shouldn’t tolerate them.”
Unfortunately, while the federal government obviously has the capability to impose overwhelming force to resolve the situation, the real war is in propaganda. Winning a propaganda war in this environment is almost impossible, as the activists have the local government, local and national media, and almost every Democrat politician singing from the same song sheet. They can spread the most outrageous lies (Bait Boy, anyone?) and have it repeated endlessly in the media.
“Rank-and-file MPD officers are placed in an impossible position. They are expected to preserve public safety, keep streets passable, and prevent confrontations from escalating. Yet, when officers move in and request the illegal blockades be removed, they are not met with cooperation, but with open hostility…”
Senators can use AI-generated images on the floor of the Senate, and national news organizations can photoshop pictures, and their lies become common “knowledge.”
It’s too early to say whether Homan is making a strategic retreat or just changing tactics. I doubt he is giving up Minneapolis to the enemy.
But as of now, Minneapolis is occupied by an insurgency, and the local establishment is cooperating with them.
