Massachusetts Representative Ayanna Pressley traveled to Minneapolis on Wednesday in “solidarity” with immigrants who have been targeted by Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown, calling on her Senate colleagues to vote down a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security that would send more money to Immigration and Customs Enforcement “because Congress should not be funding this campaign of terror.”
Speaking at a press conference alongside Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, Pressley also said DHS secretary Kristi Noem should be impeached.
“She is a dangerous cocktail of authority, bigotry and incompetence,” Pressley said. She also reiterated her previous support for abolishing ICE altogether, and said that the federal immigration agents who “brutalized and executed our neighbors” be held to account “for their crimes.”
Pressley’s visit comes as tensions continue to rise over the ramped-up ICE enforcement throughout the Twin Cities. It also follows the shooting death of 37-year-old Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse who was shot and killed by federal agents over the weekend.
Trump has signaled a willingness to deescalate in Minnesota, though witnesses on the ground say little has changed in the city.
ICE also launched a major operation in Maine last week targeting Portland and Lewiston, which are home to large Somali populations.
“To be clear, none of it has kept anyone safe because it has nothing to do with public safety,” Pressley said of the immigration enforcement operations. “It has everything to do with power, with control, with intimidation, and oppression.”
Toward the end of her remarks, Pressley went even further in her criticism of the president: “Donald Trump is a dictator, and the only way to beat a dictator is with defiance.”
Pressley pushed for the Senate to reject a DHS funding bill unless changes are made to how immigrant agents operate. The bill was rejected by nearly all House Democrats last week, but won enough votes to move to the Senate.
A majority of Democrats in the Senate have signaled that they will oppose the package when it comes up for a vote later this week, setting up the potential for a partial government shutdown if a compromise is not reached.
“We are calling on all senators, Democrat and Republican, to vote no, because Congress should not be funding this campaign of terror,” Pressley told reporters.
Omar, who migrated to the United States as a child after her family fled due to violence in Somalia, spoke a day after a man confronted her during a town hall in Minneapolis and squirted her with a liquid, which was later identified as likely to be apple cider vinegar. The man, 55-year-old Anthony Kazmierczak, has a criminal history and has made online posts supportive of Trump.
Omar has been a frequent target of Trump’s since she joined Congress in 2019. Prior to Wednesday’s briefing, Omar and Pressely took a tour of Karmel Mall, a shopping center in Minneapolis that acts as a hub for the area’s Somali and immigrant populations.
According to Pressley, businesses at the shopping center, which are majority immigrant owned, “are losing $30 million a month” as foot traffic has dropped since ramped up immigration enforcement tactics in the area.
“Not only is the federal operation hurting businesses, the president’s reprehensible rhetoric has led right-wing grifters to show up here and terrorize our community,” Omar said on Wednesday. “It is indefensible.”
Kaitlin Lewis can be reached at Kaitlin.Lewis@globe.com. Follow her on X @kblewey.