As a native Minnesotan, my heart aches for my state. My family and friends have witnessed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers outside local businesses, been followed as they walked their children to school, and trailed behind their cars in big, beautiful, unmarked cruisers as they went about their daily errands. All of that in and of itself is sickening, not to mention the two deaths that have occurred directly at the hands of ICE officers.
However, what has the president of the U.S. done to combat these events? What has the president done to ensure that U.S. citizens and residents of my home state feel safe? Well, he’s visited Clive, Iowa, and made a speech regarding his energy and economic policies, and how they’ve benefited the state.
Because, of course, that’s the priority right now. Nevermind that my uncle in St. Paul wears a safety vest and whistle, helping kids from his daughters’ school walk in safely. Nevermind that my aunt in Minneapolis has signed up to be a watcher in her neighborhood, where antigay slurs are rolling out in a constant stream from ICE agents to observers.
President Donald Trump spoke to his supporters at Horizon Events Center on Jan. 27 saying Iowa has a special place in his heart, since he’s won the state by a considerable margin in all three of his presidential campaigns.
Deliberately absent from his speech was the content we’ve all seen crowding our social media algorithms: Minnesota and ICE. He claimed that he’s “brought down crime very substantially” in Minnesota, as if randomly arresting U.S. citizens with no prior criminal record is what he means. He also failed to mention Chris Madel, a Republican who recently ended his GOP bid for governor, said that he couldn’t support federal ‘retribution’ against his state.
I was incredibly proud that Iowans protested the president’s visit. They called for an end to the chaos that Minnesota has bravely combatted, no matter the temperature. However, to Trump, they were merely ‘paid agitators’ and ‘sickos,’ not people rightly upset with ICE’s death count and threats to personal injury.
Make no mistake: Trump’s visit to Iowa is a pure Midwest distraction, aiming to move focus from the Trump-supported ICE callousness and subsequent rollback of its operations when the bulk of the country turned out to condemn the atrocities. Trump doesn’t want to admit that the violence he provoked by sending ICE to Minnesota was detrimental to his party, with not only Democrats viewing the force used by ICE as excessive. So, he’s just going to ‘fire’ Gregory Borvino, the face of ICE during its Minnesota occupation, and run to a swath of supporters in the cornbelt, who are sure to give him a hearty welcome.
And a hearty welcome they indeed delivered because MAGA-supporting Republicans will continue to stretch their allegiance to Trump thinner than ribbon candy, even in the event of an ICE raid on their fellow citizens, orchestrated by him.
Trump’s presence and speech in Iowa is all a direct attempt to distract Americans, Midwesterns and maybe even himself from the endless stream of news updates coming from Minnesota — mostly, if not all, negative and anxiety-inducing — and replace them with songs of his own praises.
His decision to speak about Minnesota in only veiled terms about crime and not the intense backlash he’s experiencing for the decision to disperse forceful, senseless acting ICE agents, in addition to punishing Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota for not supporting him in the way Iowa has, is telling. He knows it won’t be popular to bring up.
When the NRA and other gun rights advocate groups, prime Republican supporters, are condemning the actions of ICE agents that you instilled in the state, you know there’s trouble afoot for your party.
So, what do you do? You’re going to run into the arms of the state that’s voted for you, and not discuss the one that never has. You go to Iowa, a three-time electoral supporter of your presidential campaigns, and pray for support for the midterms.
