Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis who has gained popularity in recent weeks for his response to federal law enforcement, encouraged students to hold the federal government accountable during a Georgetown University event Feb. 26.
The GU Lecture Fund, a student organization that brings speakers to campus, hosted Frey for a conversation on the ongoing presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis. Frey questioned the constitutionality of ICE detainments, highlighted the economic turmoil generated by the ongoing occupation and encouraged students to engage with politics to hold leaders accountable.
Frey said his legal background allowed him to navigate the Trump administration’s actions without causing further harm to the city.
“I think these last couple of months have reaffirmed, in my mind, the importance of being able to think strategically and legally,” Frey said at the event. “There could have been quite a few routes that we would have gone down had I not fully understood the playing field and the law, and would have been wildly problematic for our city.”
The Trump administration ordered ICE agents to Minnesota in December 2025 as a part of Operation Metro Surge, which focuses agent efforts towards the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Residents of Minneapolis led widescale demonstrations against ICE’s presence after federal agents fatally shot Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, two Minneapolis residents, in January.
Frey said detainments made by federal agents unconstitutionally targeted Somali, Latino and Hmong communities.
“We had ICE agents and border patrol in our city, again, at the rate of three to four thousand people,” Frey said. “We only have six hundred police officers.”
“They were there for a period —these roaming gangs of agents marching down the street and discriminating on the basis of, ‘do you look like you’re Somali? Do you look like you’re Latino? Do you look like you’re Hmong?’ And then indiscriminate pickups thereafter,” Frey added.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it would begin reducing the presence of ICE agents in Minnesota earlier this month following public outrage at the fatal shooting of Pretti by federal agents.
Frey said despite the departure of ICE agents and a decrease in ICE detainments, many citizens remain afraid.
“I’ll just give you the update — the numbers are dramatically down right now from where they were,” Frey said. “We have not had a confirmed serious ICE action in the city for maybe four or five days at this point, which is good news that they seem to be exiting. Operation Metro Surge seems to be ending, but I understand that people are still going to be concerned.”
Frey said he tried to keep the issue of ICE’s presence in Minneapolis nonpartisan, viewing the occupation as unconstitutional.
“Never once throughout this occupation have I made this a Democrat or Republican issue,” Frey said. “Because it’s not. It is not a Democrat or Republican issue to think that constitutional rights should apply to everybody, it’s not a Democrat or Republican issue to believe that freedoms and liberties should be philosophies that you’ve got regardless of the color of your skin.”
Frey said the presence of federal agents affected Minneapolis’ economy, resulting in the loss of at least $203 million to residents, businesses and the city.
“The recovery is real. We’ve had $203 million worth of damage in our city,” Frey said. “We’ve had $81 million worth of small business losses. January alone, $10 to $20 million of losses per week. We’ve had $47 million worth of wages that have been lost and 76,000 people are experiencing food insecurity. These are very real.”
Frey said it is important for students to stay engaged with politics to push back against the Trump administration’s actions.
“The kinds of actions that we’re seeing, they are unconstitutional, they are anti-American, and there needs to be such a force of benevolence in our streets and in our legal system to push back on the kind of stuff that’s happened, and otherwise, you do end up with the kind of autocracy that I think we’re all concerned about,” Frey said.
