Heated rhetoric from Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is escalating tensions in Minnesota as federal immigration enforcement actions and protests continue.
The Justice Department is investigating whether state and city leaders impeded immigration enforcement, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said on Newsmax, Sunday.
"It is absolutely not helpful," Pawlenty said on Newsmax's "Sunday Agenda." "In times of crisis, especially when the public is very inflamed on both sides, leaders need to marshal the facts."
"They need to be calm, and they need to reassure people that once the facts are gathered, justice will be served," he added.
Leaders should avoid injecting inflammatory language while events are unfolding, Pawlenty stressed.
"To step into the middle of these things as they're unfolding with that kind of rhetoric, not helpful," he said, adding that officials should "lead for the whole state, not just for their political base."
Pawlenty also outlined steps he said could reduce the risk of confrontations during ICE operations, calling first for clearer security boundaries around enforcement actions.
"We need perimeters around ICE's enforcement actions," he said. "ICE has a legal obligation and a job to do, but when they go into these circumstances, they're not protected because the protesters move in and literally commingle with ICE as they're trying to do an operation. That's an obstruction of justice."
Pawlenty said ICE does not have the manpower to manage large crowds "every time they try to do an enforcement action," and he criticized state and local leaders for not providing perimeter support.
He also called for de-escalation on both sides.
"Both sides need to climb down the maximalist ladder," he said, arguing that Minnesota cannot demand ICE be removed entirely because it remains subject to federal law.
At the same time, he said federal officials could acknowledge missteps, "review their tactics and try to improve going forward."
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