Minnesota Republicans Brought This Violence to Our Home
For the past few days, I have not been able to stop thinking about, well many things, but the one thing I keep circling back to is this: Minnesota Republicans brought this violence to our home.
In May of 2025, the Minnesota Legislature was deadlocked and on the precipice of a special session. Republicans were demanding, in fact it was their only demand, that undocumented Minnesotans be stripped of their access to MinnesotaCare, the state’s Medicaid insurance program. This was their top priority during the 2025 session and was one of the first bills they introduced once they gained shared control of the House chamber.
They advanced this legislation even in the face of opposition from doctors, nurses, the Catholic Church, farmers, elderly and child advocacy organizations and more. They advanced this legislation even despite the fact that it was determined by researchers and academics that doing so would cost the state more money in the long run because sick people still need care, and showing up at an emergency room with entrenched illness is often much more expensive, and dangerous, than seeing a doctor early when you are unwell. They advanced this legislation over every objection from Democrats because they knew one thing was true: Daddy was watching, and Daddy said immigrants are bad.
Republicans had just won a wave election on the hate filled, anti-immigrant, anti-humanity bile that spills from Donald Trump’s grotesque mouth every time he speaks. They tied a single chamber of the legislature in Minnesota and used the slim modicum of political leverage they had to extract a single objective with their newfound power: drumming up anti-immigrant fury, stripping healthcare from our undocumented neighbors, and taking cancer patients away from their doctors.
Jordan Rasmusson, a Republican Senator from the Pelican Rapids area, repeatedly argued, in committee, and on the Senate floor, that passing this legislation was necessary because as he said in this Fox Business interview on April 23rd that “Minnesotans want us to put their families budget first, not put illegal immigrants first.” This was central to the Republicans Minnesota First agenda. Today, members of Sen. Rasmusson’s community in Pelican Rapids are living in “palpable fear” as their neighbors are targeted by immigration agents in their homes and at work.
As the legislature moved into the special session, it became clear that the negotiating positions were fixed and the only path forward for Republicans to agree to fund the state government and avoid a shutdown in Minnesota, was to attach this provision to strip MinnesotaCare coverage from undocumented people in our state.
On June 9th, the leaders of Democrats in the Minnesota Senate and the Minnesota House, Senator Erin Murphy and Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman cast what they both described as a very difficult vote that was necessary to pass the budget and end the gridlock in Saint Paul. Melissa Hortman was interviewed on the House floor following her vote where she became emotional describing how difficult the vote was for her.
Five days later, on June 14th, Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark, and their golden retriever, Gilbert, were murdered in their home in Brooklyn Park by a man disguised as law enforcement.
Now, men disguised as law enforcement are murdering our neighbors in the street.
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For the last five years, Minnesota has been investigating and prosecuting fraud within its post-pandemic era social programs. You’d have to be living under quite the rock to ignore the incessant news stories related to fraud. And despite the fact that, according to recent reporting by the Star Tribune and MPR News, this fraud is not an outlier among other such cases in the country. And despite the fact that this fraud has been investigated and is being prosecuted, and people are in prison, and funds have been recovered, due to the tenacious work of investigators and prosecutors in both state and federal attorneys offices, Republicans in this state knew one thing: now was their time.
Alongside a fractured DFL party structure that for too long has focused on fighting each other instead of their seemingly diminished counterparts, Republicans saw opportunity to reclaim power in a state they covet but cannot hold. They employed every ounce of rhetorical and theatrical flourish to exploit what they perceived as weakness in the Democratic hold of power in Minnesota.
Kristin Robbins, a Republican Representative from Maple Grove, created the “House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee.” This committee has made no recommendations, has offered no legislative solutions, and has been accused of trafficking in pure theater to attract the eyes of Republicans in Washington DC desperate to shift the narrative away from their own blunders and scandal. It of course should be noted that Robbins is running for Governor and is sycophantic for attention in her floundering campaign, just as the other Republicans on the committee like Walter Hudson from Albert Lea enjoy trafficking in the most brain-dead ideas you’ve ever heard masked by the propaganda machines and rhetorical zeal.
Lisa Demuth, Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives and another Republican candidate for Governor, said in a press conference that her office worked in collaboration with Nick Shirley, a right-wing propagandist that tried to break into daycares and demanding to “see the children.” In addition, Rep. Harry Niska stated that some information in Shirley’s video came from House Republican staff.
The Star Tribune reported that the man guiding Shirley around town was David Hoch, a Republican operative and lobbyist who coordinated with a man named Joe Marble on GOP House staff to access public data regarding day care service providers in Minneapolis, many of which were run by American citizens of Somali descent.
Shirley's video and its virality captured the attention of the nation, spurred by predatory algorithms run by the nation’s wealthiest plutocrats and authoritarians. Then, the calendar turned to a new year.
January 7th, Renee Good is murdered by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.
January 14th, ten minutes before Gov. Walz is scheduled to address the state and nation, an ICE agent shoots a Venezuelan man in the leg in North Minneapolis. In the unrest that follows, a family driving home from their son’s basketball game is stopped by federal agents. A flashbang and a tear gas canister are thrown under the vehicle. In the car, full of six children, one a 6-month old baby. The baby loses consciousness and stops breathing.
January 21st, ICE detains a five year old boy, Liam Ramos, on his way home from preschool, his Spiderman backpack and bunny hat become an image of the brutality on display here every day. They detain Liam’s father, and use Liam as bait to try and lure other adults out of the home so they can arrest them too. Later, federal authorities trafficked Liam across state lines to the Dilley Family Detention Center in Texas.
January 23rd, while 50,000 Minnesotans march in the street chanting “ICE OUT, FUCK ICE” federal agents detain a two year old child and her father after smashing the window of their vehicle, cutting the seat belt and forcibly removing the father while they are parked in the driveway of their home. Later, and in defiance of a court order instructing them to return the two-year-old girl to her family in Minnesota, federal authorities put her on a plane and fly her to Texas where she will be interned at Dilley Family Detention Center.
January 24th, the morning after the state’s first General Strike to oppose the federal occupation of Minnesota, Alex Pretti is murdered by men disguised as law enforcement.
Republicans need to own this violence that they have brought to our home. And they need to recognize that they also have the power to stop it.