Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, has claimed local and state police in Minneapolis have been told to “stand down and surrender” as anti-ICE protests continue to grip the Minnesota city.
Miller, the architect behind the Trump administration’s anti-immigration agenda, made the claim in a X post Sunday night.
Protests have broken out across the state after mother of three Renee Good, 37, was shot dead by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross earlier this month.
“Only federal officers are upholding the law,” said Miller. “Local and state police have been ordered to stand down and surrender.”
Miller was responding to another social media post by New York Post columnist Miranda Devine, who claimed “local cops have gone AWOL” in Minneapolis.
The senior Trump aide previously said anti-ICE protesters were carrying out “an insurgency against the federal government.”
The Independent has contacted the Minneapolis Police Department and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for comment.
Demonstrators stormed into Cities Church in St Paul Sunday morning to demand that President Donald Trump’s federal immigration forces leave the state, where so far more than 3,000 federal agents have been deployed.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the city was “doing everything possible to keep the peace” and likened federal agents to an “occupying force.”
“We are doing the work to keep people safe in our city, and specifically, it is our local police officers,” Frey said Sunday on CBS News’ Face the Nation. “We are doing everything possible to keep the peace, notwithstanding this occupying force that has quite literally invaded our city,” Frey said.
“I mean, we’ve got 600 cops in the city of Minneapolis, and we’re talking about 3,000 plus ICE agents and border control that have come in,” the mayor added.
The president last week threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to restore order, while Walz has placed the National Guard on standby.
Walz echoed Frey’s call for calm ahead of more protests at the weekend and said the state “has the resources, coordination, and personnel on the ground to maintain public safety and respond if needed.”
“Stay safe and stay peaceful today,” Walz said in a social media post Saturday. “Thanks to local law enforcement for keeping the peace.”
