Jacob Frey tells critics ‘sorry I offended their delicate ears’ after ICE f-bomb controversy

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Sunday defended the profanity-laced remarks he made last week after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot a driver during an enforcement operation.

Last Wednesday, Frey told ICE officials to “get the f— out of Minneapolis,” sharply criticizing federal authorities for operating in a city that did not welcome the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration agenda. His comments drew widespread criticism, with some authorities asserting that the driver aggravated the situation and prompted an officer to open fire in self-defense.  

“To those that are offended, I’m sorry I offended their delicate ears,” Frey said during NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

Frey added that while he has a responsibility as mayor to help defuse heated situations, he argued that his explicit comments do not outweigh the fact that someone was killed.

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“Of course, I bear responsibility to bring down the temperature,” he added. “That’s part of my role as mayor. And by the way, protests here in Minneapolis are peaceful. We had, I don’t know, 10,000 or so people that were protesting and marching yesterday. And virtually all of it was a very peaceful expression of First Amendment rights.”

“But as far as who inflamed the situation, you know, I dropped an f-bomb,” Frey said. “And they killed somebody. I think the killing somebody is the inflammatory element here, not the f-bomb, which I’m sure we’ve all heard before.”

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Earlier Sunday morning, Frey again reaffirmed his earlier remarks in a post on X – this time omitting the expletives – writing, “Today is a good day for ICE to get out of Minnesota.”

A federal ICE agent in Minneapolis shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good on Wednesday after her vehicle was stopped on a residential street, partially blocking the roadway during a federal enforcement operation. 

The shooting has prompted widespread backlash and protests, with federal officials calling Good’s actions an attempt to run down officers in an act of “domestic terrorism,” while witnesses and local leaders claimed that Good was attempting to leave the area as ICE agents surrounded her.