{"id":9049,"date":"2026-01-09T20:42:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T20:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/01\/09\/trumps-focus-on-minnesota-boils-over-with-ice-shooting-theyre-trying-to-break-us-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T20:42:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T20:42:36","slug":"trumps-focus-on-minnesota-boils-over-with-ice-shooting-theyre-trying-to-break-us-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/01\/09\/trumps-focus-on-minnesota-boils-over-with-ice-shooting-theyre-trying-to-break-us-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s focus on Minnesota boils over with ICE shooting: ‘They’re trying to break us’ – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Two days before Christmas, with federal agents ramping up immigration arrests<\/a> in Minnesota, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stepped to a microphone and issued a warning. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am increasingly concerned because of the chaos that is being caused by these ICE agents,\u201d Frey said. \u201cSomebody is going to get seriously injured or killed.\u201d <\/p>\n

Two weeks later, with some 2,000<\/a> federal agents \u2014 more than three times<\/a> the number of police officers employed by the Minneapolis Police Department \u2014 <\/strong>deployed to the state, that very thing happened. A federal immigration officer fatally shot Renee Nicole Good<\/a>, a 37-year-old mother and U.S. citizen, on Wednesday, unleashing a national furor, pitting federal and local officials against each other and drawing thousands of people<\/a> to the streets in protest. <\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s deadly confrontation was the culmination of weeks of intensified scrutiny, verbal attacks <\/strong>and even conspiracy theories directed at Minnesota and Gov. Tim Walz by President Donald Trump, his administration and his allies. <\/p>\n

Exactly why the president has been so fixated on Minnesota isn\u2019t totally clear, though local officials and strategists working in state and national politics have pointed NBC News to Trump\u2019s long-running \u2014 and unsuccessful \u2014 attempts to win the state and his personal disdain for Walz. Many said it\u2019s a case of Trump going after deep-blue cities in part due to their immigration policies.<\/p>\n

A central focus of the administration\u2019s attacks on Minnesota has also been the Justice Department\u2019s yearslong fraud investigation that has involved some members of Minnesota\u2019s Somali community. <\/p>\n

In 2022, during President Joe Biden\u2019s administration, federal prosecutors announced initial indictments<\/a> in what they called a $250 million scheme to defraud a federal child nutrition program. They described Aimee Bock<\/a>, who is white, as the mastermind of the operation. A jury convicted her in March. So far, prosecutors have charged 92 people<\/a> and dozens have been convicted<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But conservative influencers have latched onto the scandal to push unsubstantiated claims<\/a>, and Trump has used it to make disparaging remarks<\/a> about people of Somali descent. <\/p>\n

For Minnesotans, the result of all this attention has largely been disgust, fury and exhaustion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trying to break us,\u201d said Democratic state Rep. Emma Greenman, whose district is roughly a mile from where the shooting occurred. She said she believes the administration targeted the state because it is \u201ca successful story of multiracial democracy and immigration \u2014 and it inherently represents a threat to authoritarian power.\u201d<\/p>\n

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC News that Trump \u201cloves Minnesota and the people.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a state where he received historic Republican support, and he has long called out Walz for his incompetence and terrible leadership.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI wish they would just leave us the f— alone,\u201d Democratic Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota told NBC News on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Asked why Trump was so fixated on the state, Smith replied, \u201cI wish I knew.\u201d <\/p>\n

‘He’s never gotten Walz’<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Trump has called Walz \u201ccorrupt<\/a>,\u201d \u201cwhacked out<\/a>\u201d and \u201cgrossly incompetent<\/a>.\u201d On Saturday, the president shared a video on social media that promoted a conspiracy theory<\/a> about a Democratic lawmaker in the state who, along with her husband, was assassinated in June. The video falsely implied that Walz had something to do with the killing. <\/p>\n

Trump has also repeatedly made derogatory comments in recent weeks about Somali immigrants in Minnesota, calling them \u201cscammers\u201d and \u201clowlifes.\u201d<\/a> While the fraud investigation into the use of federal social services funds in Minnesota has received bipartisan support in the past, Somali Americans who run child care facilities, which have been the subject of fresh allegations in the scandal, in the state say they\u2019ve been harassed and threatened<\/a> since a conservative influencer\u2019s lengthy video<\/a> on the issue went viral. <\/p>\n

Many Democrats in the state have acknowledged that its party leaders have mishandled the situation politically as well. A state audit report<\/a> released in 2024 found that failures by the state\u2019s Education Department led to the misuse of the Covid-era program.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Walz made the surprise announcement that he would no longer be running for re-election<\/a> amid the scrutiny and pressure.<\/p>\n

A former senior White House official who, like others in this article, was granted anonymity to speak candidly, said Trump has long been mystified by why then-Vice President Kamala Harris chose Walz as her running mate in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s never gotten Walz. Never gotten it,\u201d the official said, saying Trump and his team believed someone like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro would have been a stronger choice. <\/p>\n

For some in Minnesota, what made Good\u2019s shooting especially tragic was that they saw something like it coming. Bringing in federal agents, against the wishes of the state\u2019s political leaders \u2014 and many of its residents \u2014 was a bomb waiting to go off, Frey and Walz said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines and conflict. It\u2019s governing by reality TV, and today that recklessness cost someone their life,\u201d Walz said in a news conference. \u201cNow we hear more political rhetoric. Enough. Enough is enough.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Frey called the incident \u201ctotally predictable\u201d and \u201ctotally avoidable\u201d and told Immigration and Customs Enforcement to \u201cget the f— out\u201d of Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

On Fox News on Wednesday night<\/a>, Vice President JD Vance declared that Walz should resign. He also made an admission. <\/p>\n

\u201cLook, I\u2019ve beaten up on Tim Walz enough. I don\u2019t want to do it anymore on your program,\u201d Vance said. \u201cI almost feel bad for the guy, except for the fact that he should have seen this,\u201d he said, referring to the fraud allegations.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, however, Vance joined Leavitt at the press briefing, where he again went after Walz. <\/p>\n

\u201cTim Walz is a joke,\u201d he said. \u201cHis entire administration has been a joke, the idea that he\u2019s some sort of freedom fighter. He\u2019s not. He\u2019s a guy who has enabled fraud, and maybe, in fact, has participated in fraud.\u201d There is no evidence that Walz participated in alleged fraud.<\/p>\n

Leavitt also said the administration wouldn\u2019t be taking its eye off Minnesota. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of Homeland Security will continue to operate on the ground in Minnesota, not only to remove criminal illegal aliens, but also to continue conducting door-to-door investigations of the rampant fraud that has taken place in the state under the failed and corrupt leadership of Democrat Gov. Tim Walz,\u201d she announced.<\/p>\n

Tensions, years in the making <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Trump\u2019s focus on Minnesota can be traced to 2016, when he first toppled the so-called blue wall and won Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania \u2014 and saw Minnesota as potentially within reach. Republicans have not won Minnesota in a presidential election since 1972. <\/p>\n

In the view of one Democratic strategist who has worked in Minnesota, \u201cthe Trump folks thought if they squeezed Minnesota, they could turn it red.\u201d Preya Samsundar, a Minnesota-based Republican strategist, noted Trump\u2019s long-held goal of turning the state red and described the president\u2019s attention and effort as a \u201cpoke in the eye\u201d to Walz.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for a lot of folks, Minnesota is still one of those states that can be attainable with the right effort,\u201d said Samsundar, a former Midwest regional communications director for the Republican National Committee. \u201cI think now a part of the White House\u2019s focus is because Tim Walz was a VP candidate from a state that Trump has wanted to flip for some while.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until abandoning his campaign for a third term, Walz had been positioning himself as one of the Democratic Party\u2019s future leaders, \u201cmaking him a convenient person to go after,\u201d Samsundar added.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Trump\u2019s criticism of Walz intensified after Harris chose him as her running mate. Trump frequently assailed Walz as a \u201cdangerously liberal extremist.\u201d Walz, for his part, emerged as the Democratic ticket\u2019s chief attack dog against Trump, further attracting his ire. <\/p>\n

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After Trump won, he and his allies lumped Minnesota in with other Democratic states that, he said, weren\u2019t aggressive enough on immigration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Minnesota is home to the nation\u2019s largest Somali population<\/a>, and most of them are U.S. citizens<\/a>. Since 1993, thousands of people have fled war and instability in the East African country. <\/p>\n

As Trump has ramped up ICE actions across the U.S., the community, mostly based in the Twin Cities<\/a>, has been the target of the agency\u2019s efforts in Minnesota. And Walz hasn\u2019t held his tongue regarding ICE, slamming it last year as Trump\u2019s \u201cmodern-day Gestapo.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a longtime Walz ally, called the governor to remind him to keep in mind what he was dealing with: a Trump administration that lies, according to a person with knowledge of the conversation. <\/p>\n

Pritzker also reupped a playbook he had shared in the past with Walz and other Democratic governors, which was to repeatedly remind his state\u2019s residents that it was their right to protest the government but not to \u201ctake the bait\u201d and descend into violence. That was, Pritzker believed, exactly what the Trump administration wanted so it could declare martial law. <\/p>\n

Later Wednesday, Walz conveyed that to his residents, imploring them not to \u201ctake the bait.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThey want a show,\u201d Walz said at his news conference. \u201cWe can\u2019t give it to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfolding fraud allegations<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, a broad fraud scandal has been unfolding in the state involving the alleged misuse<\/a> of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal welfare funds. The allegations pertain largely to the Somali community. Trump has repeatedly said the Somali community has \u201cdestroyed Minnesota<\/a>\u201c and \u201cour country,\u201d and his Justice Department is sending additional federal prosecutors<\/a> to the state to assist the U.S. attorney\u2019s office there with the ongoing investigations into the matter.<\/p>\n

Republicans in the state and at the national level have blamed Walz for not taking the allegations seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fraud is a powerful issue because it\u2019s a real-life example of what the majority of Republicans and independents already feel is true \u2014 that their tax dollars are wasted by politicians and people taking advantage of the system,\u201d said Matt Wolking, a longtime GOP strategist who was on Trump\u2019s 2020 campaign.<\/p>\n

A state Democratic lawmaker, however, said the Republican attacks all feel \u201cvery personal.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump has vendettas \u2014 he goes after people. Clearly that\u2019s a piece of this,\u201d the person said. <\/p>\n

<\/picture><\/div>\n

\u201cThe city is emotionally fatigued,\u201d added Roy Temple, a national Democratic operative with decades of experience in Minnesota politics, who said that, even six years later, the city is \u201cstill healing\u201d from the George Floyd murder and fallout.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople\u2019s nerves are pretty shot,\u201d Temple said, adding that the ICE raids and the fatal shooting are \u201ctriggering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Complicating part of the picture, however, is the scope and potential severity of the allegations of fraud.<\/p>\n

Other Democrats in the state agreed with the sentiment that Trump was unfairly attacking many elements of Walz\u2019s record and dumping on the Somali community \u2014 while also acknowledging the possibility that Walz hasn\u2019t handled the situation well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been in the air in Minnesota for some time; it\u2019s one of those things that we knew at some point this issue would really kind of percolate to the top. And we\u2019re seeing that happen now, where a spotlight is put on this \u2014 for multiple reasons,\u201d a Minneapolis-based Democratic operative said. The operative added that Walz\u2019s \u201cbiggest problem\u201d with the fraud allegations was that \u201che just didn\u2019t really have any good answers for any of this.\u201d <\/p>\n

At a separate hearing in Congress this week on the Minnesota fraud issue, Democrats fumed about the hypocrisy<\/a> of Trump administration officials who, while complaining about fraud and ICE protests in Democratic areas, pardoned fraudsters<\/a> aligned with the president as well as those convicted of violence against federal officers on Jan. 6, 2021.<\/p>\n

Republicans in the state largely defended Trump\u2019s message \u2014 though not necessarily his tone \u2014 expressing solidarity with efforts to unroot fraud and tackle immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe national attention that the president has brought to Minnesota means that people are listening now,\u201d state GOP Chair Alex Plechash said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
<\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n

Adam Edelman is a politics reporter for NBC News. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n

Natasha Korecki is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Henry J. Gomez<\/p>\n

, <\/p>\n

Jonathan Allen<\/p>\n

, <\/p>\n

Matt Dixon<\/p>\n

and <\/p>\n

Frank Thorp V<\/p>\n

contributed<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two days before Christmas, with federal agents ramping up immigration arrests in Minnesota, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stepped to a microphone and issued a warning. \u201cI am increasingly concerned because of the chaos that is being caused by these ICE agents,\u201d Frey said. \u201cSomebody is going to get seriously injured or killed.\u201d Two weeks later, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}