Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced Wednesday plans to place “Know Your ICE Rights” placards in police cars, furthering the city’s sanctuary city status.
All of the squad cars in the Minneapolis Police Department will now feature signs in the backseat that tell individuals they do not have to say where they were born, what their immigration status is, or whether they are a U.S. citizen.
Individuals are also informed that they do not have to answer questions from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and can choose to say nothing at all.
The signs will be posted in both English and Spanish.
As a sanctuary city, Minneapolis prevents city officials and police officers from asking about the immigration status of individuals. The new placards helps advance the sanctuary city agenda.
During a press conference Wednesday, Frey said a “lack of compassion” from the federal government and Congress will not prevent him from “doing what is right for our immigrant communities.”
“In Minneapolis, we want the community to work with our police officers to prevent violent crime and to work with our investigators when something does happen,” Frey later wrote on Twitter. “When immigrant communities can trust that our police department is focused on keeping our neighborhoods safe—not on their immigration status—cooperation is going to be better and everyone in our city is safer.”
Both the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis and the campaign of Republican attorney general candidate Doug Wardlow were quick to voice their opposition to the new placards.
Billy Grant, Wardlow’s campaign manager, questioned why Frey is spending his time “advising illegal immigrants” while hundreds of people have been shot in Minneapolis this year. He said it is “disappointing to see no leadership from the mayor.”
“The vast majority of Minnesotans do not support sanctuary city policies, so it’s hard to understand why the Mayor is choosing to spend his time advising illegal immigrants, especially considering the growing number of public safety problems in the city,” Grant told Alpha News.
Lt. Bob Kroll, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, said the move is “all too typical of the lunatic left.”
“This is all too typical of the lunatic left,” Kroll said in an email to Alpha News. “With 200 shooting victims in the city year to date, the political response is to be sure and advise people who are here ILLEGALLY of their rights, while in the back of a squad car. It’s simply insane.”
“Thankfully we are less than four weeks from elections and we can possibly begin to restore the safety of our citizens with help at the state level,” Kroll added.
