Trump ICE shootings in Minneapolis hurt Republicans in midterm elections

A second lethal capturing this month by federal brokers in Minneapolis is placing a highlight on President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration insurance policies, carried out by masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol brokers.

The shootings of Renee Good, a mom of three, earlier this month, and nurse Alex Pretti final weekend as they protested federal brokers conducting immigration operations, sparked nationwide debates and demonstrations, additional fueling political tensions over Trump’s push for the mass deportation of hundreds of thousands of unlawful immigrants.

Trump’s immigration crackdown has elevated strain on Republican incumbents and candidates on the poll on this 12 months’s midterm elections, forcing them to stroll a tightrope as they defend the Trump administration’s more and more unpopular enforcement efforts.

WHY A MINNESOTA REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE IS STOPPING HIS BID FOR GOVERNOR AFTER SECOND FATAL SHOOTING

A screenshot of a video reveals a regulation enforcement officer spraying irritants at Alex Pretti earlier than he was fatally shot by federal brokers in Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 24, 2026. (Reuters)

“I feel it’ll make issues harder,” Amy Koch, a Minnesota-based Republican strategist and former senator, informed Fox Information Digital. “The photographs and vitality behind the ICE-out motion will definitely play towards Republicans.”

The 2 shootings and the large deployment of ICE and Border Patrol brokers in Minneapolis have additionally dampened protection of a deepening federal investigation into the sweeping fraud scandal in Minnesota’s social providers applications.

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The scandal, which prompted Democratic Gov. Tim Walz to drop his re-election bid for a 3rd time period, had given Republicans hope of breaking their shedding streak on the poll field by flipping an open governor’s workplace and a Senate seat within the November midterm elections within the blue-leaning state.

“4 weeks in the past I’d have informed you that Republicans would do extremely properly statewide in Minnesota, and now I’ve a variety of questions,” mentioned Koch, the primary and solely lady elected majority chief of the Minnesota Senate.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz proclaims he’s dropping his 2026 re-election bid at a press convention on the Minnesota State Capitol on Monday, January 5, 2026 in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio through AP)

Unlawful immigration, together with persistent inflation, was a key problem that propelled Trump and the Republican Occasion to decisive electoral victories in 2024, once they received again the White Home and the Senate and efficiently defended their razor-thin majority within the Home of Representatives.

However even earlier than Pretti’s deadly capturing, nationwide polls earlier this month highlighted weak assist for ICE and a deterioration in Trump’s approval on immigration.

Probably the most current research is a New York Times/Siena Poll The survey, carried out from January 12 to 17 and launched on Thursday, confirmed a slim majority approve of Trump’s work on the southern border with Mexico and his administration’s deportation efforts.

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However the president’s general approval on immigration was underwater within the ballot, with practically two-thirds disapproving of ICE’s dealing with of their work and 61% saying ICE’s techniques had gone too far.

“Donald Trump’s approval ranking on a difficulty that labored for him, immigration, has fallen and is constant to fall,” Larry Jacobs, a public affairs professor on the College of Minnesota, informed Fox Information Digital.

President Donald Trump touts more durable ICE enforcement forcing violent prison unlawful immigrants out of the U.S., citing reverse migration, overseas jail releases and expanded subway raids. (SAUL LOEB/AFP through Getty Photographs)

Jacobs mentioned the “crackdown on unlawful immigration and the conduct of ICE has squandered the benefit” in public opinion that Trump as soon as loved.

A veteran Republican strategist informed Fox Information Digital that “the missteps have turned an asset right into a impartial problem or at finest a damaging. Folks do not like unlawful immigration, however they’re additionally bothered by the techniques they see.”

And the strategist, who requested to stay nameless to talk extra freely, famous that “the midterm elections are sometimes about limiting govt energy. [Trump] has achieved right here.”

Mike Erlandson, a veteran Democratic strategist from Minnesota and former chairman of the Democratic Occasion, mentioned, “I feel the president has received in securing the border and even received in eradicating the worst of the worst from our nation.”

However he emphasised that “even when folks agree that eradicating the worst of the worst is the appropriate factor to do, that isn’t what we’re seeing with the chaos on the streets of Minneapolis.

MELUGIN FROM FOX NEWS: FEDERAL IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS PRIVATE FUME

On Monday, a Minneapolis legal professional who represented the immigration agent who fatally shot Renee Good ended his case Republican bid for the governor of Minnesota.

“I can’t assist nationwide Republicans’ retaliation towards the residents of our state,” Chris Madel mentioned in a message on social media, when he introduced he was dropping his outsider bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. “I can’t think about myself a member of a celebration that might try this.”

Minneapolis legal professional Chris Madel, seen in Minneapolis on Dec. 1, 2025, ended his 2026 Republican bid for Minnesota governor on Monday. (Leila Navidi/Star Tribune through AP)

Madel mentioned he supported “the unique acknowledged targets of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Operation Metro Surge in finding and deporting the worst folks from our state,” however charged that the operation had grow to be “an unmitigated catastrophe.”

Division of Homeland Safety DHS officers initially mentioned Pretti, who was legally armed with a gun, threatened officers, who they mentioned fired in self-defense. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem labeled Pretti’s actions “home terrorism” and White Home Deputy Chief of Workers Stephen Miller referred to as him a “so-called assassin.”

However movies of the capturing seem to point Pretti was brandishing a cellphone as an alternative of his gun, with federal brokers showing to safe Pretti’s weapon moments earlier than he was shot a number of occasions.

However two days after the capturing, there was a barely totally different tone from the White Home, with the president emphasizing on social media that he had a “superb dialog” on Monday with Walz, who has been a Trump punching bag relationship again to the governor’s time because the Democrats’ 2024 vice presidential nominee.

Trump added that he and Walz “really gave the impression to be on the identical web page.”

Walz mentioned in an announcement that the president “agreed to research tips on how to scale back the variety of federal brokers in Minnesota” and that state and native authorities might examine Pretti’s capturing, which is now within the arms of federal officers.

And hours later, sources informed Fox Information that some Border Patrol brokers and their commander would go away Minnesota as early as Tuesday.

“Everybody understands the gravity of the state of affairs. It was a really tough video to look at, and I feel the administration understands {that a} strong and clear response is critical to make sure public confidence within the businesses, the techniques and the mission,” mentioned longtime Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams.

Williams famous that “the state of affairs seems dangerous,” however emphasised that “nobody understands the optics higher than Donald Trump.”

Republican Speaker of the Home Lisa Demuth pointed to the decision between Trump and Walz, saying that “now we have a possibility to reset, and I am inspired that Gov. Walz and the president are having conversations about the place we go from right here.”

State Rep. Kristin Robbins, considered one of Demuth’s greatest rivals for the Republican Occasion’s gubernatorial nomination and chair of the State Home Fraud Prevention Committee, mentioned, “I referred to as on Tim Walz to cooperate with federal officers, and I am glad he lastly listened.”

Minnesota’s High quality Studying Heart discovered itself on the heart of an alleged baby care fraud scandal within the state. (Madelin Fuerste/Fox Information Channel)

Minnesota Republicans entered the brand new 12 months “feeling assured of Republican victories in 2026 due to the fraud downside,” Koch mentioned.

However the shootings of Good and Pretti brought about the Minnesota fraud scandal to vanish from the nationwide radar.

“Republicans had Walz and Democrats in hassle for what was a large fraud. That story is gone and there’s a query of whether or not it may be revived and, if that’s the case, will it ever acquire the visibility as a singular problem that it had,” Jacobs mentioned.

Erlandson famous that Trump has been “making an attempt to place fraud again on the desk in Minnesota” in current days.

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The Republican strategist complained that the shootings have “misplaced the narrative round that argument that was a winner for us.”

However Koch, noting the influence of the shootings on Minnesota Republicans on the vote later this 12 months, mentioned, “I feel we will nonetheless get better as a result of it is nonetheless early… it is a great distance from November.”