Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called on his peers at a national gathering on Thursday to resist the Trump administration's anti-immigration tactics, warning that the cost of inaction could be high. "If we do not speak up, if we do not step up, it will be your city that is next," Frey said in a speech at the US Conference of Mayors' winter meeting in Washington, the New York Times reports. He received loud applause from the group as he accused the Trump administration of staging an "invasion" of his city, where two citizens have been killed this month by federal agents, per the Guardian.
"We are on the front lines of a very important battle, and it's important that we aren't silenced," Frey said. "This is not a time to bend our heads in despair." Minneapolis, where data showed crime declining, was safer before the Trump administration's immigration deployment, the mayor said. White House border czar Tom Homan has been sent to the city, where he said Thursday he was planning a "drawdown." Change wasn't evident on the streets, per the Times, where federal immigration agents seemed to be carrying on with their operation. Frey said he was going next to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers.