Vance to visit Minneapolis as tensions rise over ICE operations

Vice President J.D. Vance will visit Minneapolis on Thursday as pressure continues to escalate over Immigration and Customs Enforcement immigration arrests.

Mr. Vance will hold a roundtable with local leaders and community members and will deliver remarks focused on restoring law and order to Minnesota, the White House announced Wednesday.

The trip comes amid an increasingly tense time in the city. Protesters have sought to impede ICE operations and even disrupted a church service on Sunday.

Earlier this month, an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, 37, after she appeared to use her car to interfere with an ICE enforcement operation. President Trump, Mr. Vance and the Department of Homeland Security have all said the shooting was justified.

Last week, an ICE agent shot a Venezuelan migrant in the leg during an attempt to arrest him. The officer was ambushed by people who attacked him with a shovel and a broom handle, forcing him to open fire, according to the DHS.

In response to the violence, Mr. Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would let him deploy the military to Minnesota. Democrats, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, have disputed the Trump administration’s claims. They’ve argued that the president has only inflamed tensions in the city by dispatching ICE to the city.

The Democratic politicians this week found themselves pulled into a federal investigation into whether they conspired to impede immigration operations. The Justice Department has sent subpoenas to Mr. Walz, Mr. Frey and other state leaders.

Mr. Vance has become a spokesman for the White House’s actions in Minnesota. He attended a White House press briefing earlier this month where he scolded the media for its coverage of Good’s shooting and suggested she had been “brainwashed” and was part of a broader left-wing network.

Mr. Vance has also been vocal about a fraud investigation involving the alleged theft of welfare funds meant to help low-income children by Somali immigrants in Minnesota.

And he has been critical of Mr. Walz, who announced he will not seek a third term as governor, as the fraud allegations continue to swirl.