Still reeling from the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey addressed a room full of fellow city leaders last week with a stark warning.
“We are on the front line of a very important battle, ” Frey said at the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C. “If we do not speak up, if we do not step out, it will be your city that is next.”
He’s not alone in feeling the strain. For nearly a month, many Minneapolis residents have viewed their city as under siege, leading mayors across the country to respond to fears that their communities could be the Trump Administration’s next target.
“It is striking how front of mind this is for mayors from all political persuasions in all corners of this country,” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria tells TIME.
Some cities are already pushing back by taking steps to curtail ICE’s operations locally. In Philadelphia, a veto-proof majority of council members are advancing a package of legislation called “ICE Out” bills that, per the Philadelphia Inquirer, would ban ICE agents from wearing masks, require judicial warrants for nonpublic area access, restrict city police cooperation with the agency, and include other measures.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has long called for ICE’s abolition, is set to sign a bill banning ICE from operating in any of the 19 city correctional facilities while further limiting city officials’ collaboration with ICE, according to the New York Post. The bill was previously vetoed by former Mayor Eric Adams but overridden by the city council, paving the way for Mamdani to enact it into law.
As anti-ICE protests and initiatives expand nationwide, tensions between local governments and the White House are growing more visible. The Constitution’s Supremacy Clause grants the federal government enormous power over cities, superseding conflicting local laws or regulations. While this limits cities’ ability to fight federal immigration efforts, mayors still have tools to protect their residents.
“I think a mayor’s chief responsibility in these situations is to advocate for better communication and collaboration, to be transparent with our residents, and to just try to preserve as much order in our cities as possible, ” says Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt. The Republican mayor added that above all, residents expect law enforcement to follow the rule of law—an idea many now see as uncertain.
“We’ve been enforcing immigration laws for a century. We’ve been operating in the ICE era for 20 years. So mostly this has worked for most Americans and until recently,” Holt says. ”So how can we get back to that type of enforcement again?”
Over the past year, the Trump administration has framed its surge of federal law enforcement in cities like Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis as a crime crackdown. But U.S. crime rates have dropped to decades-low levels, and for mayors managing understaffed local police forces, Trump’s aggressive approach risks diverting scarce resources from building trust in vulnerable communities.
“I think why mayors are so vocal on this issue is that we understand that when this chaos passes, it’ll be mayors who are left to clean up the pieces,” Gloria says.
There are signs, however, that the White House may be pulling back. Last week, Trump sent border czar Tom Homan to replace a Border Patrol commander in Minneapolis—who was the public face of ICE’s Minnesota surge and seen as encouraging aggressive tactics. Homan said he has requested plans to withdraw some federal immigration officers in Minnesota and will push them through if local law enforcement collaborates more closely with ICE. He insists this isn’t surrender.
“If you’re in the country illegally, you’re never off the table,” Homan said in a statement.
As mayor of San Diego, the nation’s largest border city, Gloria pointed out that the Minneapolis crisis misses a key conversation: the broken immigration system needing reform.
“I’m absolutely opposed to this overly aggressive and lawless approach to immigration enforcement, and a part of why the president probably assumes that this is necessary is that people don’t feel the current system works and overstay on a visa. And so when are we going to take up that conversation? When can we see action on this?” he says.