The Minnesota House of Representatives came to a stalemate on Friday afternoon over a measure that would require local agencies to cooperate with federal authorities on illegal immigration enforcement efforts.
The bill’s Republican sponsors have described HF16 as a crackdown on sanctuary cities that refuse, per their own ordinances, to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
All 67 Democrats in the chamber on Friday voted down the measure, which they claim won’t achieve its described goals and will only serve to conflate immigrants with criminals. All 67 Republicans voted for the bill.
Its chief author, Rep. Max Rymer, R-North Branch, introduced the bill in the form of an amendment to a larger public safety bill that had moved to the floor with bipartisan support among both caucuses.
Despite DFL opposition, Republicans felt strongly about inserting language from Rymer’s bill into the omnibus public safety, judiciary and corrections legislation, after it stalled in the committee process last month.
The 134-member state House is currently tied among Republicans and Democrats at 67 members a piece. Legislation can only be passed in that chamber with 68 votes.
On the House floor Friday, Rymer said his legislation would simply ensure local agencies are “in compliance and communication with law enforcement partners across the country to address the problem specifically of illegal immigrants who commit violent offenses or who are suspected of committing violent offenses.”
“This bill does make us safer because it increases the communication between all pertinent law enforcement agencies that need to be involved in situations” where an illegal immigrant in the community has committed a violent offense, Rymer added.
After a woman was brutally murdered in his district by a repeat violent criminal here illegally, Rep. Brad Tabke was the deciding vote against an amendment that would have reported him to ICE. pic.twitter.com/21t3PJMcRm
— MN House GOP War Room (@MNHRCWarRoom) April 25, 2025
Rymer introduced the bill in February, and last month it received a handful of hearings, including in the House Public Safety Committee, where Republicans were able to pass it on a party-line vote. It was then laid over for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill.
Democrats who criticized the bill on the House floor Friday include Rep. Sandra Feist, DFL-New Brighton, an immigration law attorney. She claimed that Rymer’s bill wouldn’t achieve its supposed goals, as she pointed to incidents in the news where people who were here legally were allegedly “targeted for removal by ICE that do not have a criminal record.”
She also claimed that citizens from other nations who come to America to visit Disney World or other vacation sites would be considered “an undocumented person under this bill.”
But Rymer said the bill will only aim to provide more cooperation between ICE and local agencies on illegal immigrants who have committed violent offenses or are suspected of doing so.
For the last few decades, a number municipal and county governments across the nation have declared themselves “sanctuaries” for illegal immigrants. Sanctuary city ordinances typically instruct city or county staff to not coordinate with federal immigration enforcement efforts. Per the Center for Immigration Studies, sanctuary localities in Minnesota include Hennepin and Ramsey counties.
Hank Long
Hank Long is a journalism and communications professional whose writing career includes coverage of the Minnesota legislature, city and county governments and the commercial real estate industry. Hank received his undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, where he studied journalism, and his law degree at the University of St. Thomas. The Minnesota native lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and four children. His dream is to be around when the Vikings win the Super Bowl.
