Minneapolis' economy circles the bowl at a $203 million loss

Minneapolis city officials just dropped a bombshell preliminary report, claiming the feds' massive immigration crackdown (Operation Metro Surge) slammed the local economy with an estimated $203 million hit in January 2026 alone (and spilling into the roughly 11-week operation overall).

Leftist Mayor Jacob Frey called the damage "staggering" and firing off a direct challenge: "Was this operation, that has inflicted so much damage on our city that we can indeed calculate in real dollars, was it worth it?" 
Frey and other incompetent leaders are now begging for federal and state cash to bail them out, insisting the totals are likely lowball estimates and don't capture the full pain.

Breaking down the city's math on the wreckage: Small businesses and restaurants got hammered hardest, bleeding $81 million (some accounts nudge it to $82 million) in lost revenue. Fear kept customers away, foot traffic tanked, and entire stretches of the city turned into ghost towns.
Workers, illegal aliens and citizens alike, stayed home scared, costing $47 million in lost wages.
Throw in extras like $4.7 million+ in hotel cancellations stretching into summer, plus spikes in social services demands, police overtime, and other ripple effects, and you hit that eye-popping $203.1 million "impact" figure.
Congrats Dems; you really know how to make your screw ups hit record proportions.
Frey hammered the point home: "Families were torn apart, small businesses lost millions and students had their learning disrupted." He framed the whole surge, with up to 3,000 federal agents flooding neighborhoods, as something that "stoked fear and ultimately chaos in the communities that we love," adding, "The damage caused by this operation doesn’t disappear just because the operation is ending."
This fresh mess surfaced in mid-February 2026, straight from the city's own preliminary assessment, and got splashed across local media like the Star Tribune, KSTP, FOX 9, and more. 

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Important note: These are estimated economic damages from reduced activity, not a straight punch to the city's budget or tax haul, though it obviously drags those down indirectly. And no, this has zero connection to the 2020 George Floyd riots (which racked up far bigger regional damage numbers in the hundreds of millions to over half a billion). 

This one's tied squarely to the 2025-2026 ICE operation and its fallout in immigrant-heavy communities.

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Tim Walz does the left's signature' Nazi comparison: says MN now home to new Anne Frank story because he isn't very bright

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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, that lovable Midwestern dad who once ran for VP and somehow forgot how to spell "accomplishment," decided Sunday was the perfect day to drop a Holocaust comparison bomb.

The failed Democrat vice presidential candidate told a press conference that immigration operations in Minnesota are basically straight out of Anne Frank's diary.

"We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside," lied Walz. "Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody is going to write that children's story about Minnesota." Yeah, where the Jewish Somali violent criminals were too scared to be seen on the street, lest they be carried off to a Mexican concentration camp or something similar.

This gem from Tampon Tim came right after a Customs and Border Protection agent shot and killed Alex Pretti, a nurse who was getting in the way of their work in the city. Pretti's death follows just weeks after Renee Good was shot and killed after trying to ram an ICE agent with her car in Minneapolis. Since Good's passing, rioters have turned up the heat on federal agents enforcing immigration law in Minneapolis, blocking them, threatening them, the whole charming package. Protesters love to greet the agents with uplifting slogans like "Kill An ICE, Save A Life," which is the opposite of saving a life. 

Walz, of course, pointed the finger straight at President Donald Trump for all the drama in his state. You would think with all Trump is accused of, his power knows no bounds and he controls the universe.

"There's one person who can end this now," Walz said, referring to the president. And by "this" the left means stopping law enforcement from removing dangerous criminals off the streets and when appropriate, deporting them from whence they came.

Timmy's outburst is just the latest chapter in his ongoing one-man show against federal immigration enforcement. Last year he called ICE agents "Trump's modern-day Gestapo." No wonder the simple-minded left is fired up to attack ICE officers.

 Other Dems like the corpulent Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu have pulled similar stunts.

Even newly-elected New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill jumped in Sunday, telling CNN that ICE is like the communist STASI, East Germany's secret police.

Trump administration folks fired back, saying Walz and other Minnesota leaders are basically cheering on "terrorism" against ICE agents now that threats and attacks have exploded since Trump took office.

"Minnesota insurrection is a direct result of a FAILED governor and a TERRIBLE mayor encouraging violence against law enforcement. It's disgusting, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche posted earlier this month. "Walz and [Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey] — I'm focused on stopping YOU from your terrorism by whatever means necessary. This is not a threat. It's a promise."

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Ah, Timmy. Always ready to turn a routine enforcement action into Schindler's List: Minneapolis Edition. Classic Walz.

But one thing's for sure, if this creates violence on the streets, Walz will do what he's known for--the cut and run.

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Funny how the Left forgot to mention a crucial detail about the guy who ICE neutralized

Governor Tim Walz, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey wasted no time rushing out statements after federal immigration authorities fatally shot an armed suspect in Minneapolis on Saturday morning but conveniently omitted the fact that the suspect was armed and posing imminent danger.

Tampon Tim Walz demanded, "The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota." 

See how he used the dead guy as a sacrificial lamb for 'the cause'?

Repulsive Rep. Omar went even further, declaring, "This appears to be an execution by immigration enforcement." She added that she is "absolutely heartbroken, horrified, and appalled" that federal agents "murdered another member of our community." She had to be pulling our collective leg because the victim was a white man, and we all know how she and many on the Left really feel about white guys.

But according to Omar, the shooting wasn't "isolated or accidental," rather it was part of the Trump administration’s effort to "trying to beat us into submission." How's that for throwing gas onto the already burning fire of hatred burning in her state?

She went on to claim President Trump has transformed Minnesota from a "place of refuge" into a "war zone where unchecked federal forces murder our neighbors."

Mayor Jacob Frey piled on, asking, "How many times must local and national leaders plead with you Donald Trump to end this operation and recognize that this is not creating safety in our city." Well golly gee, it almost sounds as if Mayor Jake has aspirations for doing something special for himself in 2028.

The Department of Homeland Security offered a far different account, telling conservative outlets such as The Daily Wire that officers were conducting a "targeted operation" against an illegal immigrant "wanted for violent assault." During the encounter, the suspect approached Border Patrol agents with a "semi-automatic handgun" and was pronounced dead at the scene after violently resisting attempts to disarm him. [For any liberals who may be accidentally reading this, a semi-automatic handgun, like semi-automatic rifles, is a weapon that fires a round once, each time the trigger is pulled.]

DHS stated: "At 9:05 AM CT, as DHS law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted operation in Minneapolis against an illegal alien wanted for violent assault, an individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. The officers attempted to disarm the suspect but the armed suspect violently resisted."

The contrast between the DHS facts and the inflammatory rhetoric from Walz, Omar, and Frey couldn't be starker, yet highly predictable.

The pile-on didn't stop there. 

Comrade Rep. Alexandria [aka Sandy] Ocasio-Cortez (Democratic Socialist-NY) having finally recovered from nearly being killed during the January 6 protest of 2021, nasally chimed in with her typical apocalyptic drama: "Americans are being killed in the street by their government. Our Constitution is being shredded and our rights are dissolving. Resist." She added, "We have a responsibility to protect Americans from tyranny."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called for ICE to be "out of Minnesota now." 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined the chorus: "As tens of thousands across America protest the violence that ICE sows with impunity, federal agents shot and killed another person in Minneapolis today," adding, "ICE terrorizes our cities. ICE puts us all in danger. Abolish ICE." He was going to add: 'And free, free, free Palestine,' but bit his tongue. 

[Fun Fact: Mamdani is currently receiving feline anti-allergy injections as he plans to get a cat in the near future. Dogs, of course, are out of the question--the prophet hated dogs.]

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The Department of Homeland Security has promised more details on the armed confrontation are coming. But don’t hold your breath waiting for the outrage brigade to acknowledge the suspect was armed and resisting. If we're lucky, we might find a short sentence mentioning he was a registered gun owner, but that would likely be buried deep in the article where liberals tend to fade out. 

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FBI serves subpoenas asking for records and communications, source says

The Department of Justice has dropped the subpoena hammer on some Minnesota Democrats who apparently thought obstructing ICE was just another day at the office. Grand jury subpoenas went out Tuesday to five state and local government outfits, including the Governor's Office, the Attorney General's office, and the Minneapolis Mayor's Office, in a federal probe into what sources describe as a possible conspiracy to mess with or straight-up obstruct federal immigration enforcement during ICE ops in the Land of 10,000 Lakes (and apparently endless sanctimony).

The FBI handled the deliveries, demanding records and communications. The DOJ, in classic fashion, had no comment, because hey, why spoil the surprise?

Late last week, Fox News got the scoop that federal prosecutors were eyeballing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for allegedly throwing sand in the gears of law enforcement. U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche didn't mince words when he chatted with Fox:

"When the governor or the mayor threaten our officers, when the mayor suggests that he's encouraging citizens to call 911 when they see ICE officers, that is very close to a federal crime," Blanche said.

Walz, never one to let a federal investigation pass without a dramatic pivot, immediately cried foul on X, accusing the Trump administration of "weaponizing the justice system."

"Two days ago, it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly," Walz wrote in an X post. "Weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic. The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her."

Frey chimed in with his own brave stand on social media, vowing he "will not be intimidated.""This is an obvious attempt to intimidate me for standing up for Minneapolis, local law enforcement, and residents against the chaos and danger this Administration has brought to our city," Frey wrote on X. "I will not be intimidated. My focus remains where it’s always been: keeping our city safe."

Sure, Jake. Because nothing says "keeping our city safe" like turning a blind eye—or worse—to federal officers doing their jobs while your rhetoric gets people whipped into a froth.

The White House wasn't having any of the chaos theater. After a mob of anti-ICE agitators reportedly barged into the Cities Church in St. Paul on Sunday, right in the middle of services, no less, disrupting worship because they decided the pastor was secretly an ICE honcho, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson unloaded on Fox News Digital.

"There is no low these radical leftists won’t stoop to," Jackson said Monday morning. "Jacob Frey and Tim Walz have whipped these rioters into a frenzy and turned them loose to wreak havoc on Minneapolis."

"Frey and Walz should be ashamed for inciting such chaos, but the Trump Administration will continue enforcing the law," she added.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced Sunday that the DOJ was launching an investigation into the church disruption, zeroing in on potential federal civil rights violations for "these people desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshipers."George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley weighed in on the legal side of things, breaking down the potential ramifications of the Justice Department’s look into the agitators who targeted that Minnesota church they thought housed an ICE official.

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All in all, it's another chapter in the ongoing saga of blue-state officials discovering that federal law doesn't come with a "sanctuary" opt-out clause. The subpoenas are out, the whining is predictable, and the left is once again shocked—shocked!—that there might be consequences for treating immigration enforcement like an optional suggestion. Stay tuned; this one's got legs. Or at least grand jury intrigue.

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DOJ Drops the Hammer on Minnesota Church-Storming Wackos After Anti-ICE Meltdown

Well, folks, the Trump administration isn't messing around when it comes to people who think interrupting a church service is the height of civil discourse.

A pack of anti-ICE screamers stormed the Cities Church in Minneapolis smack in the middle of Sunday worship, apparently convinced that one of the pastors moonlights as the head honcho of ICE's St. Paul office. Dozens of these geniuses burst in, turning a sanctuary into their personal protest stage. Churchgoers told Fox News Digital the mob even tailed them into the parking lot afterward, surrounding cars and playing human barricade.

President Trump's team didn't take long to respond with something stronger than a sternly worded tweet.

Attorney General Pam Bondi responded to the situation. "I just spoke to the Pastor in Minnesota whose church was targeted. Attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law."

She then added, for those in the back: "If state leaders refuse to act responsibly to prevent lawlessness, this Department of Justice will remain mobilized to prosecute federal crimes and ensure that the rule of law prevails."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt piled on via social media, after footage showed the crowd yelling through the service like it was open mic night at a bad comedy club. "President Trump will not tolerate the intimidation and harassment of Christians in their sacred places of worship," she said.

The AG continued: "The Department of Justice has launched a full investigation into the despicable incident that took place earlier today at a church in Minnesota."

And Harmeet Dhillon, the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, chimed in with the kind of resolve we haven't heard from that office in years: "We will not rest until we are able to deliver justice."

Of course, while the feds are mobilizing to protect houses of worship from being turned into flash-mob venues, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is out there doing his best impression of a community organizer who never quite got over 2020.

Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation," Frey basically shrugged off the whole thing and defended the protesters as misunderstood patriots. He pushed back hard on any suggestion that local leaders might bear some responsibility for the chaos.

"This is not about safety. What this is about is coming into our city by the thousands and terrorizing people simply because they're Latino or Somali," Frey said. "People in Minneapolis are speaking up. They're speaking up peacefully. They're standing up for their neighbors. And this is not just about resisting Trump. This is about loving and caring for the people that call this city home. And it's been inspiring."

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Sure, Jacob. Storming a church, chasing families to their cars, nothing says "inspiring" and "peaceful" like that.

The DOJ's civil rights investigation is officially underway, and it's nice to see federal law enforcement treating attacks on Christians and law enforcement personnel with the seriousness they deserve. In other words, the adults are back in the room, and the tantrum crowd is finally getting the timeout it so richly earned.

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Minneapolis Mayor sings a different tune, now calls for peace after telling ICE to eff off

Democrat Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, who told ICE to "get the f**k out" [of his city] now calls for peace after another shooting incident. Frey's tone shift comes after an illegal immigrant was shot by a federal agent following an alleged ambush shovel attack.

On Wednesday he called for peace amid escalating protests, a sharp shift in his previous tone.

Frey appeared at a late news conference after an illegal immigrant from Venezuela was shot in the leg after he allegedly ambushed a federal agent with a shovel.

"I'm calling for peace," Frey told reporters. "Everybody has a role in achieving that peace, and we're going to try and do everything we can to keep it."

This comes as tensions remain high in the streets of Minneapolis. Here are scenes from the ongoing protests against ICE operations in the city.

Frey has repeatedly condemned ICE's immigration enforcement operations and again called for ICE to leave Minneapolis.

"There's still a lot that we don't know at this time, but what I can tell you for certain is that this is not sustainable," he said. "This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in.We're in a position right now where we have residents that are asking the very limited number of police officers that we have to fight ICE agents on the street," he added. "We cannot be at a place right now in America where we have two governmental entities that are literally fighting one another."

He said ICE and U.S. Border Patrol agents were "creating chaos" despite many being confronted, sometimes violently, by protesters upset at the Trump administration's immigration enforcement campaign.

"I've seen conduct by ICE that is disgusting and intolerable," the leftist said.

He urged protesters not to "take the bait" from President Trump.

"And for anyone that is taking the bait tonight, stop," he said. "That is not helpful. … You are not helping the undocumented immigrants in our city. You are not helping the people that call this place home."

The mayor's tone was a stark difference from the tirade he unleashed last week following the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent.

"To ICE, get the f**k out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here," Frey said during a press conference after the shooting. "Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite."

On Wednesday, Frey maintained that he has not engaged in violent rhetoric.

"Show a single place where I have encouraged anything other than peace. Show me a single place where we have encouraged violence," Frey added.

The Department of Homeland Security said a federal agent opened fire on an illegal immigrant who allegedly fled a traffic stop and then beat the agent with a snow shovel.

On Thursday, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act if local authorities failed to restore control.

"If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of ICE, who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State," he raged in a Truth Social post.

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday pleaded with Trump to "turn the temperature down."ICE responded with a post on X.

"The buck stops with you, Governor," the post states. "Tone down the hostile, inflammatory anti-ICE rhetoric. Honor our immigration detainers. And work with ICE to remove criminal illegal aliens from MN streets."

Here is another shot of Frey at City Hall, addressing the media amid the chaos.

This situation in Minneapolis continues to unfold, folks, with strong words flying from all sides. Stay tuned.

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BREAKING: Minneapolis Catholic school shooting, prompted huge law enforcement response

Alright, folks, strap in for another grim chapter in the saga of a world gone mad. A shooting rocked Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Wednesday, and the details are as gut-wrenching as you’d expect. Minnesota’s own Governor Tim Walz, never one to miss a chance to emote on X, chimed in with, "I've been briefed on a shooting at Annunciation Catholic School" and "I'm praying for our kids and teachers whose first week of school was marred by this horrific act of violence." Thanks for the prayers, Tim, but let's get to the meat of this.

The Minneapolis Police Department, via a city message, tried to calm the panic with, "there is no active threat to the community at this time" and "the shooter is contained.”  Fox 9 sources say the suspect, whose name is still under wraps, isn't just contained but dead. One less problem to deal with, I suppose. City officials added, "Stay away from the area to allow emergency personnel to help victims." Solid advice, because nothing screams chaos like rubberneckers clogging up a crime scene.

The visuals are straight out of a nightmare. Footage from the scene showed parents hustling their kids away from the school, probably wondering how "back to school" turned into "run for your life." Locals told Fox 9 they heard so much gunfire they thought someone was hammering shingles on a roof. That's right, gunshots so frequent they blend into the neighborhood soundtrack. A federal source, not one for sugarcoating, told the outlet that a "substantial number" of people were injured. No word on specifics, but that phrase doesn't exactly scream "minor incident."

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem jumped in, saying, "DHS is monitoring the horrific shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis." She added, "We are in communication with our interagency partners, and will share more information as soon as it becomes available. I am praying for the victims of this heinous attack and their families." 

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, not to be outdone in the "I’m on top of this" department, declared, "I’m monitoring reports of horrific violence in South Minneapolis." He's in touch with Chief O'Hara, and the city's emergency response team is apparently activated. "We will share more information as soon as we can. Please give our officers the space they need to respond to the situation," he said. 

The ATF's St. Paul office confirmed their agents are on the scene, responding to "an active shooter situation at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis." And President Trump, never one to sit out a crisis, posted on Truth Social: "I have been fully briefed on the tragic shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The FBI quickly responded and they are on the scene. The White House will continue to monitor this terrible situation. Please join me in praying for everyone involved!" 

Monitoring, praying, briefing: sounds like D.C. has a thesaurus open to the crisis management page.

The school, part of Annunciation Church and serving K-8 kids, just kicked off the academic year on Monday, per Fox 9. Nothing says "welcome back" like dodging bullets, right? This is where we're at, schools turning into war zones while politicians and bureaucrats churn out the same tired script. 

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