Leading GOP candidate for Minnesota governor ends his campaign over ICE shootings
A leading Republican candidate to become Minnesota's next governor abruptly ended his campaign on Monday, denouncing what he described as the "federal retribution on the citizens of our state" amid the Trump administration's hardline immigration enforcement efforts there.
The candidate, Minneapolis attorney Christopher Madel, dropped the news in an online video , saying he could not "support the … stated retribution on the citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so."
Minnesota was wracked by protests and confrontations with federal agents over the weekend and into Monday after the shooting death of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti and, earlier, Renee Good , a mother of three, at the hands of ICE agents.
Their deaths have sparked calls on Capitol Hill to block federal funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which has oversight of both ICE and the U.S. Border Patrol.
Madel initially expressed support for the Republican Trump administration's efforts to deport undocumented immigrants who were involved in criminal activity, according to The Guardian .
But that effort, christened Operation Metro Surge, had "expanded far beyond its stated focus on true public safety threats," Madel said, according to the online news outlet.
"United States citizens, particularly those of color, live in fear," Madel continued, adding that "citizens are carrying papers to prove their citizenship. That's wrong."
Madel launched his gubernatorial campaign last December. Earlier this month, he had provided legal counsel to ICE Agent Jonathan Ross, who shot Good in that deadly encounter on Jan. 7, according to The Guardian.
Madel said the federal government's operations in his state had made it impossible for a Republican candidate to win there.
"At the end of the day, I have to look my daughters in the eye and tell them: 'I believe I did what was right.' And I am doing that today," he said.
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