Minnesota is much in the news these days. Land of a thousand lakes and perhaps more fraud, and home of “Minnesota nice,” that niceness extends mainly to illegal aliens and criminals. Governor Tampon Tim Walz (D-Somalia) who is running for reelection suddenly finds himself the unwanted center of attention because he’s done nothing to identify or prosecute a reported billion dollars in fraud. At least some of that money reportedly went to a Somalian terrorist group, and informed by whistleblowers about the rampant fraud Walz either ignored or persecuted them.

Minneapolis was Ground Zero for the multi-billion-dollar riots of “The Summer of Love,” which coincided with “Defund the Police” hysteria. Walz let Minneapolis burn, abandoned a police precinct to the rioters, and his wife opened the windows on their home, the better to savor the aroma of burning tires and revolution.

Minneapolis did defund their police, and the persecution of multiple officers, which included police brass lying about MPD restraint policies to ensure the convictions of those officers caught up in the George Floyd debacle, convinced many officers to leave. Some retired early, others fled to places that allowed officers to do their jobs and others left the profession entirely. 

Eventually realizing the damage leftist policies had done, the City Council tried to reverse course, but by late 2024, the MPD had lost 40% of its manpower and was unable to recruit even with dramatically lowered hiring standards. There is no indication the situation has since improved.

In the meantime, crime has run rampant, and ICE has turned its attention to Minneapolis. CNN asked MPD Chief Brian O’Hara why he has proclaimed the MPD would not help ICE agents. 

Host Laura Coates asked, “[Y]ou have said that your department is not going to help ICE carry out any raids. Now, critics, they argue that the raids will target dangerous criminals and that police protection could really save lives. But why do you stand firm in not assisting?”

O’Hara answered, “Well, for one, it’s against the law here in this city. But, two, on a more basic level, it’s my mission to deal with crime and violence. The immigration authorities do not respond to domestic violence. They do not respond to shootings and robberies. And I do not have enough cops to deal with the actual crime that’s happening in our community. So, it’s not our job. They’re not going to do our job for us. And, just, frankly, I think the effect on the community, the way this stuff is being carried out, is making people terrified. It’s — I’m concerned that people who may need help are going to be afraid to call 911.”

No one becomes the Chief of Police of a Democrat-ruled city without being willing to toe the Party line, which in Minneapolis means opposing any attempt to enforce immigration law. No law enforcement agency in Minnesota, and no local or state prosecutor has had a hand in investigating, arresting or prosecuting the fraud largely done by Somalis, leaving the Federal Government to pick up the slack.

Certainly, federal agents don’t enforce local laws. That’s no reason for O’Hara to deny them assistance, particularly when they’re removing innumerable violent criminals, people committing domestic violence, shootings and robberies. Refusing to help other law enforcement officers is a grotesque betrayal of the unwritten code of assistance between cops.

O’Hara is right about one thing: he doesn’t have enough officers to do the job, which is of scant concern to the leftists running Minneapolis or Minnesota.

More recently, O’Hara held a bizarre press conference during which he threatened to interfere with and arrest ICE agents: 

Graphic: TikTok Post

“We have experienced reports in this city … where people call to say that there’s folks that are masked, that they’re not sure if they’re law enforcement, that they may be kidnapping people. We have had those reports,” O’Hara said during a baffling news conference.

He issued the bizarre plea Tuesday, when Mayor Jacob Frey accused immigration authorities of “targeting Somali people” based strictly on their appearance and claimed it was “inevitable” that ICE would round up American citizens in the operation.

O’Hara urged citizens to report ICE officers and assured them MPD officers would “intervene” against them. That such intervention would violate federal law seemed not to concern him.  Tom Homan was not impressed:

Graphic: X Post

Caught in disasters of their own making, Minneapolis politicians, including O’Hara, are determined to obstruct the very people trying to help them. For Democrats, that’s the status quo and a sure path to greater evils.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.