Again asking the federal government to “leave Minnesota alone” in remarks Thursday, Gov. Tim Walz also urged protesters angered by the fatal shooting of a woman by a federal officer in Minneapolis to remain calm.

“The way we give them what they want is allow them to use this as an excuse to put more troops on the ground,” Walz said during a briefing at the State Emergency Operations Center in Blaine.

Minnesota has come under increased federal scrutiny in recent months as significant government fraud garnered national media attention. Walz and other Democratic-Farmer-Labor leaders say the administration of President Donald Trump is weaponizing the federal government against the state in an effort to hurt its political opponents.

“We’re exhausted as Minnesotans,” Walz said. “We’re exhausted as Americans, and this relentless assault on Minnesota for whatever reason is just cruel now. It has reached cruelness. So, so please, just give us a break.”

Funding cuts, federal agents deployed

The Trump administration has cut off or threatened to cut off federal funding for state programs, and this week deployed thousands of federal agents to the Twin Cities as part of an immigration crackdown.

“De-escalate this situation by removing yourselves from this situation with these 2,000 agents that were put here,” Walz said.

Protests continued in the Twin Cities Thursday. Walz on Wednesday issued a “warning order” to the National Guard that it might have to deploy in the event of unrest.

Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson also repeated his calls for peaceful and lawful protests.

“Please get together peacefully with others in public areas where pedestrians are allowed. March or walk together in pedestrian areas, please, not on the roadways. Make your voice heard through chants, speeches, displaying signs.”

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Minneapolis on edge

Meanwhile, Minneapolis was on edge Thursday following the fatal shooting of a woman by a federal officer taking part in the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown, with protesters venting their outrage, the governor demanding that the state take part in the investigation and schools canceling classes as a precaution.

State and local officials demanded that the immigration agents leave Minnesota after the unidentified Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good in the head on Wednesday. But Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said agents won’t be going anywhere.

Noem said more than 1,500 people have already been arrested in what her agency says is its largest immigration enforcement operation ever.

Federal building

Dozens of protesters gathered Thursday outside of a federal building on the edge of Minneapolis that is serving as a major base for the immigration crackdown. They shouted “No More ICE,” “Go Home Nazis,” “Quit Your Job,” and “Justice Now!” as Border Patrol officers pushed them back from the gate, doused them with pepper spray and fired tear gas.

“We should be horrified,” protester Shanta Hejmadi said. “We should be saddened that our government is waging war on our citizens. We should get out and say no. What else can we do?”

For Stephanie Abel, the shooting and protests stirred up memories of how Minneapolis felt after police killed George Floyd in 2020. Abel, whose daughter was taking part in the demonstration, said she’s started carrying cash and making sure her gas tank is full because she thinks Good’s killing could spark the sort of widespread protests that broke out after Floyd’s death, which were sometimes violent.

“I’ve been saying for weeks to my friends and family: Somebody is going to get killed,” she said.

Gregory Bovino, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official who has been the face of the crackdowns in other cities, walked along the long line of officers, looking at the crowd as protesters yelled at him, including a man who shouted, “Border Patrol should be along the border!”

Many activists tried to converse with the officers and persuade them that the job they were doing was wrong.

Site of shooting

At the site of the shooting on Portland Avenue hundreds Thursday gathered to hear speakers. A memorial was set up with flowers, candles, books and other items in honor of Good. Minister JaNaé Bates, co- director for ISAIAH, told a group that Good was “a mother, a U.S. citizen, a Minnesotan, a legal observer.”

“She was not armed, she was not a threat, she was standing for freedom,” Bates said, “and the federal government answered her courage with a bullet.”

The anti-immigration enforcement protests weren’t confined to Minneapolis.

Demonstrations also took place or were expected to Thursday in New York City, Seattle, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Antonio, New Orleans and Chicago. Protests were also scheduled for later this week in Arizona, North Carolina, and New Hampshire.

This story contains information from the Associated Press. 

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