Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey defends explicit comments after ICE shooting

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Sunday defended crude comments he made last week after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and killed a driver during an enforcement operation.

Last Wednesday, Frey told ICE officials to “fuck off Minneapolis,” sharply criticizing federal authorities for operating in a city that has not welcomed the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration agenda. His comments sparked widespread criticism, with some authorities saying the driver escalated the situation and incited a police officer to open fire in self-defense.

“To those who are offended, I’m sorry I offended their delicate ears,” Frey said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

Frey added that while he had a responsibility as mayor to help defuse tense situations, he argued that his explicit comments did not make up for the fact that someone was killed.

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Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s “Meet the Press” appearance included a doubling down on his blasphemous message to ICE. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

“Of course, I have the responsibility to lower the temperature,” he added. “That’s part of my role as mayor. And by the way, the protests here in Minneapolis are peaceful. We had, I don’t know, about 10,000 people protesting and marching yesterday. And pretty much all of that was a very peaceful expression of First Amendment rights.”

“But as for who inflamed the situation, you know, I dropped an f-bomb,” Frey said. “And they killed someone. I think killing someone is the incendiary element here, not the f-bomb, as I’m sure we’ve all heard before.”

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Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis. (Obtained by Fox News)

Earlier Sunday morning, Frey again reaffirmed his previous remarks in an article on »

A federal ICE agent in Minneapolis shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, 37, Wednesday after her vehicle was stopped on a residential street, partially blocking the road during a federal enforcement operation.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a news conference that Wednesday’s shooting involving ICE was an “act of domestic terrorism.” (Getty Images/Alex Brandon)

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The shooting sparked widespread backlash and protests, with federal officials calling Good’s actions an attempt to overthrow officers in an act of “domestic terrorism,” while witnesses and local leaders claimed Good attempted to leave the area as ICE agents surrounded him.