Letter to the editor: Gubernatorial candidate quits GOP over ICE killings

First published in the Brunswick Beacon, 02.05.26

If the GOP scares you, you’re not alone. Chris Madel, a top Republican candidate, quit the Minnesota governor’s race after ICE agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a Veterans Administration nurse, on Jan. 24. Madel called ICE’s assault on Minnesota an “unmitigated disaster,” adding, “I cannot support the national Republicans’ stated retribution on the citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so.”

Madel is not a knee-jerk critic of law enforcement. Quite the opposite. A staunch law enforcement advocate, he provided legal assistance to ICE agent Jonathan Ross after Ross shot and killed Renée Good, a Minneapolis mother of three, on Jan. 7. After Pretti’s killing, Madel had seen enough.

Madel said Trump’s agenda has “expanded far beyond its stated focus on public safety threats.” He criticized ICE for conducting home raids based on civil warrants “that need only be signed by a border patrol agent,” adding, “That’s unconstitutional and it’s wrong.”

Madel said, “I have read about and spoken to countless U.S. citizens who have been detained in Minnesota due to the color of their skin,” including several law enforcement officers who were pulled over by federal immigration agents on trumped-up pretexts.

“Driving while Hispanic is not a crime,” Madel said. “Neither is driving while Asian. U.S. citizens, particularly those of color, live in fear and carry papers to prove their citizenship. That’s wrong,” he added.

“At the end of the day,” Madel concluded, “I have to look my daughters in the eye and tell them, ‘I believe I did what was right,’ and I’m doing that today.”

The Wall Street Journal called Trump adviser Stephen Miller and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “not credible” and labeled their tactics “a moral and political debacle for the Trump presidency.” The Journal put it plainly: “Americans don’t want law enforcement shooting people in the street or arresting five-year-old boys.”

Michael Rush

Leland