Mayor Jacob Frey Has Frank Response To People Offended By His ICE Criticism

Mayor Jacob Frey has a blunt message for the people who were offended by him telling Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to “get the fuck out of Minneapolis.”

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, moderator Kristen Welker asked Frey if he feels responsible “to bring down the temperature” in his city amid protests across the country in the wake of an ICE agent fatally shooting 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis last week.

“Of course I bear responsibility to bring down the temperature. That’s part of my role as mayor. And by the way, protests here in Minneapolis are peaceful,” he responded. “We had, I don’t know, 10,000 or so people that were protesting and marching yesterday. And virtually all of it was a very peaceful expression of First Amendment rights.”

The Minneapolis mayor went on to directly speak to those who were “offended” by his explicit language, straight up telling them, “I’m sorry I offended their delicate ears.”

Frey then argued that ICE killing Good is the “inflammatory element here, not the F bomb,” adding, “I’m sure we’ve all heard [the word] before.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Welker asked Frey about his previous comments accusing ICE of being “unconstitutional” and if he “would support abolishing ICE.”

Frey clarified his comments.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Jan. 11, 2026.

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“Well, first off, I did not say that ICE enforcement was unconstitutional. What I said is the way that they are doing it is unconstitutional,” he replied.

Frey told Welker that ICE can’t “discriminate solely on the basis of” someone looking like a certain ethnicity, noting that “we have had pregnant women dragged through the street” and “teenagers that are American citizens just picked up” by ICE agents.

“So look, do I think that we should just abolish the entire entity that does immigration enforcement? No. But the way it is being utilized doesn’t make sense,” Frey explained. “I’m not asking for the DOJ to be abolished. I’m not asking for the Office of Management and Budget to be abolished.”

He added: “I am saying that the way that these institutions are being utilized right now by the Trump administration is wrong, and to be clear, is unconstitutional.”

Last week, Frey blasted ICE for “trying to spin” the fatal shooting of Good as “an action of self-defense” at the same press conference where he aimed the expletive at ICE.

“Having seen the [shooting] video myself, I want to tell everybody directly: That is bullshit,” Frey said at a Jan. 7 news conference. “This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying.”

Frey also accused ICE agents of not being in Minneapolis to “cause safety in this city” or to “provide safety in America.”

“What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust. They’re ripping families apart, they’re sowing chaos on our streets, and in this case, quite literally killing people,” he added.

Watch Frey’s appearance on “Meet the Press” below.