Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, tap-danced around questions concerning his opposition to cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policies under President Donald Trump that were once used by President Barack Obama, during an interview from February 2026. A clip of the interview has resurfaced and is going viral on social media.
Frey made an appearance on CNN’s “The Arena With Kasie Hunt” where the two discussed the administration pulling back 700 federal agents from the city of Minneapolis following two fatal shootings involving ICE officers. During the interview, the mayor continued to offer pushback against what he framed as “coercion” from the Trump administration concerning the issue of immigration enforcement.
However, Hunt took the opportunity to point out that some of the policies supported by conservatives and being enforced by the current administration were also implemented by former President Barack Obama, a deeply well-liked and respected individual among liberals.
“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 commented during the discussion with Frey. “So the policy has clearly been under a Democratic president what now the Trump administration is asking for.”
“I mean, big picture, do you think it’s good policy for the jails to follow an ICE detainer and hand someone over if they’ve committed a crime, and again, this only happens after they’ve served their time, you know, for whatever crime they may have committed against the people of Minnesota,” she added. Frey immediately attempted to dodge the question.
“I mean, look, you’re asking all the right questions here, and while I don’t have full expertise in how the operations at the jail are conducted, again, that’s not our jurisdiction. What I would say is that there are mechanisms to do this lawfully,” he replied. “You know, the federal government could seek some form of federal warrant,” he added, according to Fox News.
“That warrant could run part and parcel with the warrant that already exists at the state level. And if they were to do that, there would be a legal mechanism for detention after bail has been posted. And so, again, we’re getting pretty technical here. 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 explained.
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In an interview with NBC News not long after Frey’s conversation with Hunt, the president clarified that he did not “want” to pull officers from the Democrat-run state, but said it was a trade-off for the release of illegal immigrant prisoners. He did add that the administration would take a gentler approach when arresting illegal aliens in the future. “I learned that maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch, but you still have to be tough,” President Trump remarked.
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