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In Minnesota, glossy political mailers, sensationalized television ads, and campaign stunts meant to animate voters in this year’s primary elections all focus on one common theme: immigration.
The August 11 elections come as Minnesotans are learning more about the devastating impacts of “Operation Metro Surge,” which brought thousands of federal law enforcement agents to the state on a mission to crack down on immigrants and refugees regardless of their citizenship status. In response, Minnesotans used their voices and bodies to resist, ultimately forcing the government to retreat after intense clashes between federal immigration agents and protesters, especially in the wake of the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti.
Today, Democratic and Republican candidates across the state are making immigration a central focus of their campaigns. This year’s elections are especially significant as candidates compete in high-profile races for the Minnesota governor, the U.S. Senate, and the state legislature.
“There used to be an adage that all politics is local and that elections were decided primarily by local issues,” Hamline University politics professor David Schultz told Truthout. “Increasingly, however, politics has become nationalized. Although immigration is primarily a federal issue under the Constitution and federal law, it has become an important issue in state campaigns and elections in Minnesota, particularly because of the controversy surrounding Metro Surge.”
For candidates from the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), accountability for the violence of Donald Trump’s Operation Metro Surge has been a top campaign priority.
Cedrick Frazier is a state representative who is running for Hennepin County attorney, the top prosecutor in Minnesota’s most populous county. Frazier’s campaign was already underway when Metro Surge unfolded in late December. However, after Good was killed and immigration agents grew more aggressive, Frazier says he noticed a shift in voters’ priorities and concerns. On the streets, he told Truthout, they were asking questions that most people hadn’t even considered just a month earlier.
“There is not a day that goes by in the campaign that we don’t hear something about the harm the federal agents did, how they were operating when they were here, and questions as to when we’re going to have some transparency and accountability for what was done to our neighbors here in our state,” Frazier said.
Among the other typical platform items for a prosecutor candidate in a large county like Hennepin, Frazier’s campaign proclaims its top priority is standing up to Trump and prosecuting federal agents who have broken Minnesota law.
“What I explain to folks is that those cases are likely to get to the prosecutorial process in the next administration,” he said. “Right now, leaders are collecting the evidence and determining what charges can be brought. It will continue under the next administration because these cases can take some time to wind through the system.”
“What I am preparing for as a candidate, should I win, is to move forward on those cases. I am committed to that,” Frazier added. “The current county attorney, along with [Minnesota Attorney General Keith] Ellison, has already started collecting evidence. They have already started collecting evidence and preparing to look at these cases and bring charges. I am committed to continuing that process when I am in that role.”
Frazier, the DFL-endorsed candidate, is facing off against four other Democrats in the primary: former U.S. Attorney Anders Folk, former Hennepin County prosecutor Diane Krenz, Ramsey County Assistant Attorney Hao Nguyen, and attorney Matt Pelikan. Of these latter four candidates, only Folk has explicitly stated on his campaign website that he plans to “pursue accountability for all violations of law by federal agents during Operation Metro Surge.”
Like Frazier, Abdi Daisane, a candidate for state representative, observed how Metro Surge has shaped local elections across Minnesota. A Somali American whose community was at the center of the immigration crackdown, Daisane told Truthout that many of the voters he’s met — both immigrants and non-immigrants — consider immigration an important election issue. “They saw how this affects their lives,” he said. “They feel that the state could have done more to protect their freedoms, their rights.”
As a result, Daisane has made immigration central to his campaign. “As an elected official, I want to make sure that we’re doing better in protecting the people of Minnesota,” he said. In one of the most contested congressional primary races, Democratic Senate candidates Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and U.S. Rep. Angie Craig have also made immigration a key part of their campaigns. During a recent debate on Minnesota Public Radio, the two explained their positions on immigration enforcement.
“ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] itself has to be ripped apart,” said Flanagan, who was endorsed by national progressive leaders like Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. “We are seeing this essentially lawless entity that has killed 11 people with impunity. It is unacceptable.”
Craig, who once voted for — and later apologized for doing so — Trump’s Laken Riley Act, which expanded ICE’s authority to detain noncitizens, also called for dismantling what the campaign labels the current “Trump ICE.” She has also called new requirements on the agency, including a ban on face masks and mandatory body cameras. That policy change has been put forth by some establishment members of the party, but others to the left say those changes do not amount to meaningful accountability and could even increase surveillance of protesters.
Some voters, like Jonathan Stegall, an organizer and abolitionist in Minneapolis, are skeptical of candidates’ political posturing over ICE and immigration. “There is not actually a whole lot you can do to hold a massive government agency accountable other than take away their money, take away their guns, take away their ability to collaborate with sheriffs, with jails, with cops,” Stegall told Truthout. “Certainly, Angie Craig is not doing any of those things. I don’t think Peggy Flanagan is, for that matter.”
Meanwhile, GOP candidates have intensified their anti-immigration rhetoric — often criminalizing immigrants and refugees and portraying them as a burden on social services. “In the Republican races,” Schultz said, “the debate has centered on which candidate is tougher on illegal immigration and more supportive of ICE and stricter enforcement policies.”
Most of these candidates are particularly focused on ongoing fraud investigations involving many defendants of Somali descent. The investigations first emerged in 2022 when dozens of individuals were charged with stealing millions of dollars intended to feed poor children during the pandemic. Since then, additional fraud cases tied to various social service programs, including government-funded day care and autism services, have come to light. Although the Somalis involved in these cases represent a small fraction of Minnesota’s Somali community, GOP candidates have often used these cases to attack the entire community.
State Rep. Lisa Demuth, a GOP gubernatorial candidate, has used racist and xenophobic language to attack Somalis and other immigrants in TV ads. “Minnesota became a magnet for fraud, fake Somali day cares stealing our money, and handouts for illegal immigrants,” she says in one ad. “When Tim Walz cowered, I ended taxpayer-funded health care for illegal immigrants and said no to tax hikes because we shouldn’t pay for their fraud.”
Former sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya, a Republican seeking a U.S. Senate seat, says in another ad that, as a senator, she would “pass tougher prison sentences, deport noncitizen fraudsters, and strip federal funding from states that won’t do audits.”
Tafoya’s opponent, Adam Schwarze, also targets immigrants in an ad narrated in second person. “Adam Schwarze is running to protect American family values,” it states. “As a Marine and Navy SEAL, he dedicated his career to protecting America. Now Adam Schwarze is fighting a new enemy at home. He’s fighting fraud and corruption, securing our border, deporting criminal illegal aliens, and making life more affordable.”
If immigration issues were once seen as a mere federal issue in Minnesota before the brutal immigration crackdown this winter, they’re now dominating state and local primary politics.
“Immigration illustrates the broader nationalization of state and local politics,” Schultz said. “It has become such a high-profile and emotionally charged issue that it serves as an effective way for both Democrats and Republicans to energize their respective political bases.”
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