Tenuous trust between police and residents could be undermined by an immigration crackdown that pits federal and local officials against each other.
Joe Rogan slams ICE tactics on podcast
Joe Rogan called ICE operations dangerous on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, and condemned the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good.
Explosive flashes and fireworks rattled the frigid windows of Michelle Gross’s north Minneapolis home.
“It looked like a war zone outside,” Gross said of the clash between grenade-throwing federal agents and firecracker-setting demonstrators after a man was shot and killed on Jan. 14. “I really felt like the federal government was out to get us. I never thought they’d say something like this.”
Gross, 68, a longtime leader of the nonprofit group Communities United Against Police Brutality, said he is starting to feel better about the Minneapolis Police Department six years after George Floyd was killed.
But now, she said, trust will erode unless we see police stand up to ICE and other federal authorities.
“I think the Minneapolis Police Department, which is in dire need of restoring its reputation, could be a hero if it stood up to the federation,” Gross said. “Some feel that by standing by, they are letting ICE attack their communities, or that ICE is helping them.”
Conflicts between citizens and federal agents across the country have put local police forces in a difficult situation. If they side with immigration officials, they will alienate local residents who are needed as crime-fighting allies. If they side with the locals, they will be confronted by larger and better-armed federal forces.
Courts may eventually resolve some of the power imbalances, but in the meantime local police must walk a tightrope.
“We understand that when it comes to local law enforcement, their hands are tied to some degree and they don’t want to get caught up in something like this, but at the same time, we don’t want to close the door to at least have effective communication with federal agents and ICE and CBP agents who are operating in their jurisdiction,” said Jill Snyder, a former New York City police officer and senior fellow in residence at the R Street Institute for Public Policy. “I have a lot of empathy for local law enforcement right now.”
Federal and local officials act like adversaries
As tensions persist in Minneapolis, Snyder said he is concerned about other ICE operations, including in Portland, Oregon, where more than 1,100 immigrant arrests have been made since January 2025 and where two protesters were shot and killed by federal agents earlier this month.
Her concerns extend to Maine, where federal authorities said they arrested more than 100 people in the first three days of what they called “Operation Catch Today.”
In both of these states, local law enforcement agencies do not cooperate with federal officials. In Maine, a new law that prohibits law enforcement from searching, detaining, arresting or searching people solely for immigration purposes went into effect several months earlier than originally planned.
“It is clear that the relationship between local law enforcement and the Department of Justice has become adversarial, and these tensions appear to have been intentionally created and incited by the federal government,” said Stacey Young, a former Justice Department official who served for 18 years as a senior prosecutor in the Civil Division and later as a senior prosecutor in the Civil Rights Division. “The decline in trust in American communities like Minneapolis and Portland will continue.”
Snyder, who also teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, said the public doesn’t understand the difference between local police and federal agents and is likely to paint them with the same brush.
Snyder worries that when agencies work in silos or cross-purposes, it can do more harm than good, especially for local police.
“This could make people less likely to call 911 if they’re the victim of a crime, it could make them less likely to cooperate if they were a witness to a crime, and police really rely on that kind of information from the public when trying to solve crimes,” Snyder said. “Right now, it seems like more people are skeptical of everything law enforcement does.”
Minneapolis still recovering from George Floyd murder
Minneapolis police have been working to improve relations with residents since the 2020 shooting of George Floyd.
“There has been good progress between the (Minneapolis) police and the community,” said Democratic state Sen. Aisha Gomez, whose district includes the south Minneapolis district where ICE officers shot and killed Renee Nicole Good on January 7. “But it will only take another really bad incident to challenge what has been done.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told CNN on January 22 that the city has long worked with federal agencies, including the ATF, FBI, DEA and U.S. Attorney’s Office, to combat violent crime. Frey cited partnerships that are working particularly well in north Minneapolis, where mass shootings are currently at record lows.
“If this (situation with immigration officials) was about security, there would be a lot of opportunity to partner and do that. But this is not about security, this is not even about immigration,” Frey said. “What we’re seeing now is political retaliation and creating chaos in the streets. No, it’s not helpful.”
In a Jan. 15 statement, Minnesota Republican Leader Harry Niska, a Ramsey suburb, accused the state’s Democratic leadership of making “extreme and reckless statements” and said unnecessary tensions between local and federal officials could easily be eased.
“Here in Minnesota, the solution is simple,” Niska said. “Ignoring federal law and demonizing federal law enforcement is not working and will only make the situation worse.”
Either way, local police are somewhere in the middle, trying to strike a “delicate balance,” said Michael Burbank, vice president of law enforcement initiatives at the Center for Police Equity.
“We need more communication, more compassion, more transparency to help people understand what’s going on for everyone,” Burbank said. “And there will probably be less rhetoric, from both sides.”
He noted that the department has been under intense scrutiny since former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was charged and later convicted of killing George Floyd.
Police departments in Minneapolis and nearby St. Paul have a combined 1,400 officers. There are reportedly 3,000 immigration officers currently in the region.
Minnesota Senate President Bobby Joe Champion recalled being asked by a resident in the area where a second federal officer shooting occurred in the north Minneapolis neighborhood on January 14th, whether the city would survive this unprecedented crisis.
“I told them I think we can get through this, but the question is, what are we going to be like when we get to the other side?” Champion said as he tried to calm residents in his north Minneapolis neighborhood in subfreezing temperatures. “And I’m not just talking about what’s happening in Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota, I’m talking about the entire country.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told CNN on January 22 that he had seen several videos of federal agents using force against residents in a manner that was “completely inconsistent with Minneapolis Police Department policy and Minnesota law enforcement training in general.”
The chief said these actions impact the relationship between all law enforcement agencies, including the Minneapolis Police Department, and the community.
“This town’s police department has worked hard over the past five years to rebuild the trust that was completely lost in 2020,” O’Hara said. “Those police officers have lived for years in a time where they couldn’t even go into local businesses and feel welcome.
“They felt excluded everywhere they went in this city,” O’Hara continued. “They have worked very hard to change their relationship with the community and the concern is that what is happening here today is putting their hard work at risk.”
