House GOP statement on Homan visit

ST. PAUL – Speaker Lisa Demuth and Leader Harry Niska released the following statement on this morning’s news that President Trump would send Tom Homan to Minnesota.

“With President Trump sending Tom Homan to Minnesota, we have an opportunity to reset, and I’m encouraged that Governor Walz and the President are having conversations about where we go from here. There should be an immediate meeting convened between state leaders, law enforcement, and Tom Homan to discuss how Minnesota moves forward from here in a way that ensures we are able to quickly remove criminal illegal immigrants from our state while respecting fundamental rights of Minnesotans to peacefully demonstrate and observe law enforcement activity,” said Demuth. “There remain too many elected officials who continue to push for confrontation, including some who have apparently participated in group chats where agitators discuss tactics and strategy to actively disrupt law enforcement efforts. These confrontational tactics and unlawful riots like we saw last night in Minneapolis put the lives of law enforcement and protesters at risk and must be dialed back immediately. I stand ready to help in whatever way I can to chart a path forward through collaboration with Mr. Homan, law enforcement leaders, and anyone else who wants to see the temperature down while still allowing the federal government to carry out lawful efforts to get criminals off our streets.”

Leader Niska added,

“President Trump has outlined four simple steps that could help cooler heads prevail by allowing the federal government to remove criminal illegal aliens and dramatically reduce the chaos we’ve seen thanks to the disruptive activity we’ve seen in Minneapolis that’s been encouraged and enabled by Democrat leaders at the highest level. If legislation is needed to allow for cooperation between city or county officials and the federal government, that should be one of our first votes when the legislature returns later this month. It’s unacceptable for any local government to actively protect and prevent deportation of criminal illegal immigrants. I’m glad the Governor has reached out to President Trump, and I hope this is the beginning of cooperation and the end of chaos and the protection of criminals.”