GOP lawyer ends bid for Minn. governor, calls ICE effort a ‘disaster’ : NPR
Chris Madel has ended his bid to be Minnesota’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, saying he is unable to support “national Republicans’ reported retaliation on the citizens of our state.”
ZUMA newswire via Reuters
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ZUMA newswire via Reuters
Chris Madel, Republican candidate for governor of Minnesota and attorney representing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who killed Renee Macklin Good, has withdrawn from the state’s gubernatorial race, saying he no longer supports the ongoing immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.
“I cannot support the reported retaliation by National Republicans against the citizens of our state, nor can I consider myself a member of a party that would do so,” Madel said in a nearly 11-minute video posted to X on Monday.
It’s the latest rebuke from the Trump administration over escalating political unrest in the city, just two days after intensive care nurse Alex Pretti was shot and killed by a federal agent during weekend protests. Both Pretti and Good were U.S. citizens and 37 years old.
Although he initially supported ICE’s efforts in the city, known as Operation Metro Surge, Madel called it an “absolute disaster” in his video, arguing that it had “extended far beyond its stated focus on real threats to public safety.”
“American citizens, especially those of color, live in fear,” he added. “American citizens carry papers proving their citizenship. This is false.”
Madel, a political newcomer, announced his candidacy for governor in December, promising to make support for law enforcement a priority of his campaign. He told the Minnesota All-Star Tribune earlier this month, he was providing legal advice to the ICE agent who shot Good and that it didn’t change his political ambitions.
Despite Madel’s exit from the race, there is still a large field of Republican candidates vying to lead Minnesota, a state that hasn’t elected a Republican governor in about 20 years. Several candidates still in the running have not criticized the administration over ICE practices, while others have expressed continued support for the federal response.
Minnesota’s gubernatorial race gained national attention after the state’s current governor, Democrat Tim Walz, announced he would no longer seek a third term due to backlash from the White House over his oversight of allegations of social services fraud in the state.
The fraud scandal unfolded as Minneapolis was already quickly becoming the center of a political fight between President Trump and Minnesota Democrats over the state’s immigration laws and practices.
The two fatal shootings of Good and Pretti this month have further intensified this fight. But it also prompted several national Republicans to call on the Trump administration to cooperate with state and local authorities after excluding them from both investigations.
“The events in Minneapolis are incredibly disturbing,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said Saturday. “The credibility of ICE and DHS is at stake. There must be a full joint investigation between the federal government and the states. We can trust the American people to tell them the truth.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., echoed these calls for a federal investigation, adding that “any administration official who rushes to judgment and attempts to end an investigation before it begins is doing a disservice to the nation and the legacy of President Trump.”
Administration officials claimed that Pretti — who had a legal license to carry a handgun — was a “domestic terrorist,” and defended the federal agents’ response as self-defense. However, images captured in bystander videos and testimony contradict this argument, and there is no evidence that NPR has verified that Pretti was brandishing his handgun at any time during the encounter with federal agents.
“Lawful carrying of a firearm does not justify federal agents killing an American, particularly, as the video footage appears to show, after the victim has been disarmed,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said Sunday.
“A thorough and independent investigation into the shooting must be conducted to restore trust and congressional committees must hold hearings and carry out their oversight work,” she added. “ICE agents do not have carte blanche in carrying out their duties.”
Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt expressed concern over the administration’s handling of the situation in Minneapolis, telling CNN in an interview Sunday that the president was “getting bad advice.”
“President Trump closed the border and promised to drive violent criminals out of our country,” Stitt said, adding that while he believes “everyone agrees with that,” Americans are unsure about the administration’s “endgame.”
“What is the current goal? Is it to expel all non-U.S. citizens? I don’t think that’s what the Americans want,” he said. “We need to stop politicizing this. We need real solutions on immigration reform.”
On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down on the administration’s goal of deporting criminals living in the country without legal status, but acknowledged that no one in the White House wants to “see people being hurt or killed on American streets.”
“This includes Renee Good, Alex Pretti, the brave men and women of federal law enforcement and the many Americans who have been victims at the hands of illegal alien criminals,” she said.
In an article on Truth Social Monday, Trump said he had spoken with Walz and that the two “seemed to be on the same page” in their attempt to reduce additional violence in Minneapolis, and said the two leaders would speak again in “the near future.”
Walz also acknowledged taking a more “cordial” tone with the president in an interview with MPR News on Monday.
“Whatever happens here, there’s a definite change in tone,” Walz said. “There’s definitely a more collaborative tone. I want to make sure that I’m not jeopardizing that, that I’m going to take their word for it now, that they’re going to reduce that force.”
Walz also said Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino would leave Minnesota.
