Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., on Tuesday criticized Minnesota officials for what he said was a failure to work with federal authorities and to keep order as protests escalated, calling it "absurd" that cooperation came only after unrest intensified.
Reacting to reports that Minnesota law enforcement had begun assisting and detaining some demonstrators on Newsmax's "National Report," McCormick said officials should have been aligned from the start.
"Imagine that — one team, one fight when you're talking about protecting American citizens, American property. There's no bigger constitutional responsibility," he said. "This is absurd that it got to this point, that we weren't working together."
McCormick, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Armed Services Committee, aimed his sharpest criticism at sanctuary policies he said block federal immigration enforcement.
"When you're talking about sanctuary cities in Minnesota that are not allowing access to their jails, when the most liberal cities in America are putting people in jail, you know, those people are bad people," he said.
He argued that refusing federal access prevents the government from deporting "people who are burdened on society," including "those people who are here illegally who are in those societies."
McCormick also said the policies harm immigrant communities, contending they are left vulnerable when authorities cannot remove offenders.
"Those demographics are being preyed upon by these same people in jail, and they won't even allow us access to those people," he said. "That is the extreme of the extreme. It needs to be dealt with."
His remarks came as Republicans and Democrats demanded answers after a fatal Minneapolis shooting tied to immigration enforcement operations, while protests over those actions drew national attention. Asked about GOP criticism and how Minnesota officials are handling the situation, McCormick said the starting point must begin with full disclosure.
"I think we have to have total transparency. I think that's the first thing," he said. "When things went wrong in the military, when I was in the Marines, people died sometimes, and sometimes it was through no fault of anyone's. It's this bad circumstance."
McCormick argued that even when decisions are made rationally in fast-moving events, errors can occur, and the public response depends on candor.
"People make decisions that are rational times when things are happening. Everybody wants the right thing to be done. But sometimes mistakes happen," he said. "When that happens, the best thing you can do is expose everything to truth. Everything. Transparency."
McCormick also warned that confrontations with police, especially involving firearms, can quickly become deadly, and he criticized what he described as rhetoric encouraging escalation.
"The worst thing you can do is encourage people to actually get in the way of law enforcement from doing their job, especially if you're armed," he said. "People are going to be very skittish." He added, "The rhetoric needs to be toned down. I keep on saying that over and over again."
McCormick said "encouraging people to bring guns and confront police officers being violent, destroying property, that's never a good idea," adding, "That's always going to result in this."
He also compared the dynamic to conflict-driven media cycles, saying, "When you want a response, when you want a headline, people are actually setting themselves up for this bad response because they want to have something to talk about."
Minnesota leaders have also publicly pushed back on federal operations. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey wrote on social media, "I spoke with President Trump today and appreciated the conversation," adding that his "main ask is that Operation Metro Surge needs to end."
McCormick praised Trump's outreach, saying, "He talks to everybody. He's the most accessible president ever," and added, "When he talks to people one-on-one, everybody seems to come away better off for it."
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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