Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey got a straightforward question on CNN — and didn’t give a straightforward answer.
Frey joined The Arena with Kasie Hunt on Wednesday to talk about the Trump administration pulling back 700 federal agents from Minneapolis after two deadly shootings last month involving federal officers.
But the conversation quickly shifted to immigration enforcement.
Frey complained about what he called “coercion” from the Trump administration. Hunt pointed out a basic complication for his argument: similar jail cooperation policies existed during the Obama years.
Frey didn’t directly explain why he opposes now what Democrats once allowed then.
“I take your point about the voting rolls for sure, but it is worth noting that during the Obama years, the Hennepin County Jail actually had a policy where they let an [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] ICE agent keep an office there and allowed them to talk to immigrants,” Hunt said. “So the policy has clearly been under a Democratic president what now the Trump administration is asking for.”
Hunt then asked whether it is good policy for jails to follow an ICE detainer and hand someone over after the person has served time for a crime.
“I mean, look, you’re asking all the right questions here,” Frey responded. “And while I don’t have full expertise in how the operations at the jail are conducted, again, that’s not our jurisdiction.”
He added that “there are mechanisms to do this lawfully,” arguing that the federal government could seek “some form of federal warrant” that could run “part and parcel with the warrant that already exists at the state level.”
“But what we can’t have from a legal perspective is a second detention after the obligations under the first detention have been met,” Frey said.
Watch the clip above.
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