Minnesota Lt. Gov. and Senate Candidate: Democrats Must ‘Rip ICE Apart’
“Everybody who can in these positions … should be taking advantage and prosecuting as many of these folks [ICE agents] as possible.”
Because the Democrats’ crusade to defund the police worked out so well for them, they are ramping up calls to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement ahead of the midterms. Minnesota’s far-left Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, currently a candidate in the state’s Democratic Senate primary, has made this a central issue in her campaign.
In a Saturday appearance on the MS NOW program “The Weekend,” Flanagan hammered home the issue: “Now we need folks who are willing to rip ICE apart,” she said. “To start over and make sure we have immigration policy that is grounded in actual safety.”
“Of course, securing our borders,” she insisted, “but making sure that dignity is part of this. And that we are not building warehouses to keep thousands of people — you know — including children and families.”
She wants people to know that Minnesotans “are not powerless” against ICE.
“Everybody who can in these positions … should be taking advantage and prosecuting as many of these folks [ICE agents] as possible.”
“We deserve justice and not a lawless group of thugs under Donald Trump doing whatever they want and hurting people across this country.”
Ironically, if you strip out the “under Donald Trump” qualifier from her last statement, it reads more like a description of the illegal aliens who flooded the U.S. during the Biden years.
Naturally, Flanagan included every buzzword she could think of in her rant: “rip ICE apart,” “safety,” “dignity,” “justice,” “children and families,” and “powerless.”
Minnesota Democrat Lt Governor Peggy Flanagan says Democrats need to “rip ICE apart.”
FLANAGAN: “Everybody who can in these positions…should be taking advantage and prosecuting as many of these folks as possible.” pic.twitter.com/fx9bL1XH8x
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 18, 2026
“Ripping ICE apart” has apparently become a theme for the radical lieutenant governor. Shortly after the January deaths of anti-ICE agitators Renee Good and Alexander Pretti — each caused by their active and unlawful interference with ICE operations in Minneapolis, Flanagan wrote, “We need ICE out of Minnesota. They need to repair and restore what they have broken. Then we need to rip ICE apart.”
It may have been a winning message in the immediate aftermath of their deaths, but now that the dust has settled, it may not play out so well with the more rational Minnesotans who live outside of the state’s urban areas. We can only hope.
In December, when fraud within Minnesota’s Somali community shocked the nation and dominated the headlines, Flanagan, who is Catholic, donned a hijab and proclaimed solidarity with the Somalis in what amounted to a humiliating display of political pandering.
She told the audience that “the Somali community is part of the fabric of the state of Minnesota.”
Unfortunately for Flanagan, her hijab moment landed poorly, and her transparent exercise in virtue signaling may prove more damaging than beneficial — at least among some independent voters that she needs to win. The video certainly drew attention. But judging from the fierce backlash it received on social media, it was not the kind she’d hoped to generate.
BREAKING: MN Lt. Governor Flanagan puts on hijab, declares Somalis built Minnesota pic.twitter.com/acCUZoRHXN
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 26, 2025
Still, Flanagan is currently the frontrunner in the Democratic Senate primary for the open seat being vacated by Sen. Tina Smith (D), who is retiring. Although it’s still early, she leads her Republican opponent, podcaster Michele Tafoya, by 6 points in the latest general election polls, 47% to 41%. Tafoya is a frequent guest on Fox News and a retired sports broadcaster for ABC, NBC, CBS, and ESPN. While the odds favor a Flanagan victory in this blue state, perhaps some sanity will prevail among voters when they head to the polls in November.
Flanagan’s extreme rhetoric isn’t an outlier — it’s the new normal among Minnesota Democrats who have gone “knives out” targeting ICE agents. I recently reported that uber radical Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced her office had issued a nationwide arrest warrant for an ICE agent accused of pointing a gun at two motorists on a Minneapolis highway during Operation Metro Surge. Gregory Morgan Jr. of Temple Hills, Maryland, faces two counts of second-degree assault in the Feb. 5 incident.
Minnesotans who want to “rip apart ICE” need to imagine an America that doesn’t enforce its immigration laws. A lawless country that protects murderers, rapists, and other degenerates, and places illegal aliens above law-abiding citizens.
Voters must look past the slogans and ask what replaces it. Peeling back the rhetoric, the proposal amounts to dismantling a federal agency tasked with enforcing laws Congress enacted, with no clear, workable alternative in its place. That’s not reform — it’s abdication.
Minnesotans have every right to expect both compassion and order, both dignity and the rule of law. The question in November is whether voters will embrace sweeping, undefined promises to “rip apart” institutions, or will they insist on serious, credible solutions that protect communities while upholding the law.
In other words, will they choose common sense or madness?
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
That is one scary looking women (?)
Is it, in fact, a woman?
Lou Reed’s lyrics come to mind:
“Holly came from Miami, F.L.A.
Hitch-hiked her way across the U.S.A.
Plucked her eyebrows on the way
Shaved her legs and then he was a she”
Take a walk on the wild side?
She’s the U in AWFUL.
I didn’t recognize her without her muslim headdress. .
She looks like my 4th grade teacher, Miss Crankshaft.
ICE answers federally.
Therefore, these nitwits are interfering and hindering prosecution per 18 U.S.C. § 111 et seq and elsewhere.
Charge them all federally.
Which nitwits specifically? Those talking about prosecuting agents are not violating anything. Even actually prosecuting an agent would not violate 18 U.S.C. § 111. But those “ICE Watcher” nitwits who actively hinder arrests are certainly violating it, and they’re arrested for that, though I haven’t heard of any prosecutions yet. Probably coming up.
But speaking of which, is the US Attorney looking into Flanagan’s apparent involvement in the “ICE Watch” Signal groups, apparently as a dispatcher? I would think that if that could be proven against her it would surely qualify for prosecution.
Wasn’t she thought of being part of the SIGNAL chat group? What ever happened to that investigation? Something about ‘conspiracy’?
Nothing happened.
Nothing, nothing, nothing.
Thank you, “Republicans.”
I haven’t heard anything. I can only hope that someone in DOJ or DHS is still investigating it and trying to find hard evidence that she is the person who was dispatching people to commit crimes.
Peggy Flanagan. As ugly on the inside as she is on the outside.
She would be unfit for public service and would be ostracized in a free, high-trust society.
But that’s not what’s found in Minnesota.
Another Democrat living in the wrong century. This is not 1860 and you Mn. Democrats don’t yet have your own version of ‘Dixie’. “Now we need folks who are willing to rip ICE apart,” she said. “To start over and make sure we have immigration policy that is grounded in actual safety.” Better still, rip apart the ‘Democratic’ party and start over without the anarchists, segregationists and nihilists.
They’re not democrats in Minnesota. They’re DFL (Democratic, Farmer, Labor). Basically communists.
A lot of closet communists from the late 20’s on. Remember the hammer and sickle of the USSR….farm and labor. Grew up first with Humphrey as mayor of Minneapolis, then senator and later V.P.
Wiki: “He helped found the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) in 1944; the next year he was elected mayor of Minneapolis, serving until 1948 and co-founding the left-wing non-communist (mine ??????) group Americans for Democratic Action in 1947.” Gee Toto… were in the Soviet Union of the Plains.
DFL
Democrat, Farmer, Labor
—OR—
Dumb Fuck Losers
Asking for a friend.
Another Yankee pissant emotes.
In other words, will they choose common sense or madness?
—-
When was the last time you experienced common sense in Minnesota?
Waiting/crickets
I haven’t been to Mn. since about 1980 and it was a normal fine state then.
That was 40 years ago
Lot has happened since then
I was born and raised in Wisconsin, relatives in Minnesota, it was a great state
Then the Democrats brought in the Muslim Somalian’s and others , took over the government
Now All big cities are shitholes
It will take the entire rest of the state to coalesce to rid themselves of these hounds of hell
Both of my parents were born and raised in St. Paul. I have great childhood memories of visiting grandparents, aunts and uncles. They are all gone now, as is the Minnesota I recall with such fondness.
Heimie’s Haberdashery in St Paul is the finest men’s store I know. Great clothing and service plus a barbershop and cigar lounge (at least back in the day). The name was proudly un-pc.
Porn star lips and makeup- check
Crazed look- check
Oversized plastic frames – check
Insane and delusional is no way to go through life, hon.
Jennifer Welch’s cousin.
Grab a sword and lead the charge Peggy
Go On! isn’t the best kind of officer in battle.
Minnasotastan elects her they deserve everything she can get with Culture Marxism
What she needs is to have a new one ripped. God I hate these people,
Theatre kids in positions of power. This is two things: First, a frantic appeal to her base so they will commit acts of violence and send her campaign money. Second, which is the thing she’s not thinking of (as if she thinks), it is paving the case against her in the off-chance that she actually *does* order the arrest of a Federal law-enforcement officer, her own words will be used in trial.
No local law-enforcement officer with a functional brain cell is going to arrest a Federal LE on this kind of encouragement. They *know* the support they get from the state will vanish like dew when actual Federal courtrooms get involved, and they’ll be hung out to dry.
Cool beans. Withdraw ALL Federal LEO from Minnesota and if that doesn’t back them down within 30 days pull all Federal Employees for their own safety. When MN ends their Cray Cray fit and apologizes for their tantrum send them back but not before.
Insufficient, MN political leaders must resign or be removed first,
The people of MN need to do the removing themselves. They shouldn’t be waiting on any outside saviour to do it for them and if they don’t they can live with consequences of no Federal employees. Sucks about not having a SSA office to go to and apply/recert in person if an ‘administrative error’ blanked out the eligibility roll for all MN beneficiaries. No port activity. No Airport. No rail. Hope no Federal certification needed to operate electricity generation needs renewal, be a shame to close it down as.well.
And how are you going to achieve that? There is no federal entity with the power to remove state or local officials. But Chief’s idea makes sense. Maybe not in the radical form he puts it, but something milder along the same lines should be able to fly.
as lefty says and does
by any means necessary
MN has to take care of its own. I wasn’t suggesting the feds do anything.
Minnesota has an international port in Duluth, multiple federal prisons, Indian reservations, a border with Canada and several international airports. Pulling federal employees would be devastating
Sucks that all those resources got relocated and the NG got called up to patrol the Canadian border. Ports closed down. Airports shuttered. The rez can operate as is just fine as it is a quasi sovereign not under MN governance. Moving the Federal prisons to Alabama would be great for everyone. See the recent documentary about how Bama runs prisons; ‘Alabama Solution’. I’m sure the State of Alabama would be happy to house some Federal inmates for an appropriate contract rate….though the Federal inmates themselves will be very, very unhappy.
We know that MN Republican voters are mostly toothless sheeple, so Flanagan probably has pretty good odds.
“To start over and make sure we have immigration policy that is grounded in actual safety.”
We had one of those, Peggy, before your . walking corpse in the White House demolished it. Now we have to start over and put it back.
Lived in MN for 25.yrs. Just retired last fall and moved to Wisconsin. All the family has left also.
The state is hopeless and I have no doubt this POS will get elected, probably not even a close election.
Any white Christian, really any Christian or Jew, who stays will regret it.
julie roberts looks like shes tripping big time here
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