Minneapolis is falling apart again.
The city's police chief spent years coddling criminals and watching the place burn.
And now he's blaming ICE agents for cleaning up the mess Democrats made.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara Warns Of Another George Floyd Situation
Brian O'Hara became Minneapolis police chief in November 2022 after the city nearly destroyed its own police department.
George Floyd's death in 2020 sparked riots that burned the Third Precinct building to the ground.
The department lost over 400 officers who quit rather than work for a city that wouldn't back them.
Crime exploded as Minneapolis flirted with disbanding police entirely.
O'Hara got hired to rebuild what Democrats wrecked.
Now Trump sent ICE agents to Minneapolis to arrest illegal aliens and gang members that local Democrats refuse to touch.
And O'Hara's response? Blame the feds.
The police chief told CNN on Wednesday that he's worried about "escalating rhetoric" after ICE shot Renee Nicole Good last week.
"I'm concerned that the rhetoric keeps escalating, that the tensions keep rising, that we are headed towards yet another tragedy and a potential trigger to what happened here yet again in 2020," O'Hara said on "Out Front with Erin Burnett."
Wait — the rhetoric is the problem?
The Department of Homeland Security says Good "weaponized" her vehicle against officers.
That's why the agent fired in self-defense.
But O'Hara questioned whether ICE followed proper training protocols, telling The New York Times agents violated "traffic stop 101" by placing themselves in the vehicle's path.
Here's an idea: don't try to run over federal agents and they won't have to shoot you.
O'Hara admitted he was "worried a tragedy was going to happen" hours before Good's death.
Maybe he should've been warning protesters not to interfere with federal law enforcement instead of criticizing ICE tactics.
Minneapolis Protests Erupt After ICE Shooting As Mayor Jacob Frey Attacks Federal Agents
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey — the same guy who let his city burn in 2020 — publicly told ICE to leave his city in profanity-laced comments.
That's the city's leadership setting the tone.
Not Trump.
Not ICE.
The Democrat politicians who've turned Minneapolis into a sanctuary for illegal aliens and gang members.
O'Hara told The New York Times that ICE is "drumming up chaos" with its enforcement operations.
He complained that his officers have to respond to abandoned cars and 911 calls about ICE activity.
"A lot of the disturbances and chaos that have been happening here, as a result of the manner in which some federal enforcement activity is happening, is requiring our officers to respond to situations and try and restore the peace," O'Hara said.
Translation: ICE is doing the job Minneapolis refuses to do, and local police don't like it.
The police chief even told MS NOW he ordered his officers to intervene if they witness ICE using "unlawful force."
"If unlawful force is being used by any law enforcement officer against any person in this city and one of our officers is there, absolutely, I expect them to intervene, or they'll be fired," O'Hara said.
Department of Homeland Security shot back immediately.
"Does [O'Hara] want his officers to intervene as our law enforcement arrests the convicted murderers, rapists, and gang members, which have been arrested in Minneapolis' streets over the last 48 hours?" DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin asked.
That's the real story right there.
ICE is arresting dangerous criminals that Minneapolis Democrats allowed to roam free.
And the police chief is threatening to have his officers physically stop federal agents from doing their jobs.
Trump ICE Crackdown Gets Results Democrats Refuse To Deliver
President Trump posted on Truth Social telling Minnesotans to "FEAR NOT" because "THE DAY OF RECKONING AND RETRIBUTION IS COMING."
O'Hara called that inflammatory.
But Trump's just stating facts.
Minneapolis has been a disaster under Democrat leadership for years.
The city became a symbol of anti-police extremism after George Floyd.
Local officials defunded police, embraced sanctuary city policies, and let crime spiral out of control.
Now federal agents are cleaning house.
Trump deployed 2,000 ICE agents to the Twin Cities this month — DHS calls it the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever.
They're arresting gang members, deporting illegal aliens, and restoring order that Democrats abandoned.
O'Hara complained to CBS News that Good's death was "entirely predictable" because of how ICE operates.
He said the city can't survive "another large-scale unrest" or "another mass exodus of the department."
"We cannot sustain that," O'Hara said.
Here's what he's really saying: please don't make us actually enforce the law because protesters might get mad again.
That's exactly the cowardice that destroyed Minneapolis in the first place.
The police chief is more worried about upsetting left-wing activists than backing federal agents doing dangerous work.
Minneapolis 2020 Riots Pattern Repeating As Democrats Enable Chaos
Videos went viral last week showing ICE agents detaining suspects near the Karmel Mall, a Somali shopping center.
Protesters swarmed federal agents at multiple locations.
Friday night riots broke out with demonstrators throwing ice chunks at police and damaging squad cars.
Hotels were stormed based on rumors ICE agents were staying there.
O'Hara's response? Pull back and let the mob have their way.
Conservative journalist Nick Sortor captured footage of Minneapolis police — including Chief O'Hara — literally fleeing the scene as rioters took over.
"They have now RUN AWAY and ABANDONED the area which has been TAKEN OVER by leftist anarchists," Sortor posted.
That's retreat mode.
The same pattern that destroyed the city in 2020.
Medaria Arradondo was police chief when George Floyd died.
He ordered officers to evacuate the Third Precinct as rioters attacked.
The building burned to the ground while police watched from a safe distance.
Arradondo admitted to NPR he told the mayor "I can no longer keep our city safe" and begged for National Guard troops.
That surrender led to weeks of destruction across Minneapolis.
O'Hara inherited a department with 564 officers available for street duty — less than the 731 required by law.
But he's repeating Arradondo's biggest mistake: prioritizing activists' feelings over law enforcement's mission.
The police chief keeps talking about the "trauma" Minneapolis experienced after George Floyd.
What about the trauma of living in a city where violent crime skyrocketed because Democrats handcuffed police?
What about the trauma of small business owners whose stores were looted and burned?
What about officers who got pelted with frozen water bottles while city leadership threw them under the bus?
O'Hara told The New York Times his problem isn't that ICE is enforcing immigration law — it's how they're doing it.
"It's not necessarily about which laws are being enforced, it's about how that enforcement is happening," O'Hara said.
That's Democrat-speak for "we want open borders but can't say it out loud."
Former Vice President Mike Pence told CNN that Good's death should be "a cautionary tale that people ought not to, as reports in this case suggest … be harassing ICE officers."
Exactly right.
Interfere with federal law enforcement and there are consequences.
O'Hara wants to blame Trump's "rhetoric" and ICE's "tactics" for the chaos.
But Minneapolis was already a powder keg because Democrats destroyed trust in law enforcement and turned the city into a sanctuary for criminals.
Trump's just doing what local leaders refused to do: enforce the law.
And if that triggers another riot, blame the Democrats who spent five years telling their base that police are the enemy.
Sources:
- Marc Tamasco, "Minneapolis police chief says if rhetoric keeps escalating 'we are headed towards yet another tragedy,'" Fox News, January 14, 2026.
- Liz Sawyer, "In interview with New York Times the Daily, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara rails against ICE tactics," Star Tribune, January 12, 2026.
- Various, "Minneapolis Police Chief warns escalating rhetoric could spark unrest like 2020," Fox News, January 14, 2026.
- Meg Anderson, "Nearly 5 years after George Floyd murder, Minneapolis PD turns to LAPD for lessons," NPR, March 7, 2025.
- Nick Sortor, "Minneapolis Police Chief Torched For 'Abandoning' City To Left-Wing Rioters," Trending Politics News, January 10, 2026.
