WASHINGTON — All eyes in D.C. were on the goings on in a small town in the Swiss Alps this week where President Donald Trump rolled back his threats to Greenland and the United States’ European allies.

While Trump said he dropped plans to take Greenland by force and hike tariffs on European countries that said they’d stand in the way, the president continued his attack on Minnesota and Somalis who live there.

At the World Economic Forum, world leaders and corporate executives who had gathered in Davos were subjected to a sometimes rambling address that sounded like Trump’s grievance-filled, and racist, stump speeches.  

“Can you believe that? Somalia — they turned out to be higher-IQ than we thought,” Trump said. “I always say these are low-IQ people. How do they go into Minnesota and steal all that money?”

Trump also said “the situation in Minnesota reminds us that the West cannot mass-import foreign cultures which have failed to ever build a successful society of their own.”

“I mean, we’re taking people from Somalia and Somalia is a failed – it’s not a nation,” Trump said.

According to several press reports, there were audible groans from the audience when Trump made these comments and others attacking Canada and other U.S. allies.

Trump also threatened Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-5^th District, a progressive who was born in Somalia.

“And then we have this fake congressperson, who they just reported is worth $30 million. You believe this? Ilhan Omar talking about the Constitution that provides me … she comes from a country that’s not a country, and she’s telling us how to run America. Not going to get away with it much longer, let me tell you.”

But much of Trump’s speech was about Greenland, a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark that the president called a “piece of ice.”

However, at least four times Trump erroneously called Greenland “Iceland.” 

Minnesota is home to about 85,000 Danes and Americans with Danish heritage, and many more residents with broader Scandinavian heritage. Minneapolis has an honorary Danish consulate and Danish American Center.

Consul Rikke Dierssen-Morice told MinnPost that “as honorary consul, the Greenland issues are well above my level for an official comment.”

“What I can say is that we have received many messages from across the state and indeed the country these past weeks, which are greatly appreciated,” Dierssen-Morice said.

Democrats criticize spending bill

The House on Thursday approved a Department of Homeland Security spending bill that drew condemnation from Democrats for its funding of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol.

ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) received a huge boost from the “big, beautiful bill” Congress approved last year that funded President Donald Trump’s agenda.

The spending bill approved on a 220-207 mainly party line vote would provide ICE with another $10 billion to continue operations and CBP with an additional $17.7 billion to continue operations this year.

The bill provides $20 million for body cameras for federal immigration officers. But it cut the budgets of both ICE and CBP slightly.

That was not enough for those in Congress who sought to rein in their operations and sought reforms — including the prevention of U.S. citizens from being detained or deported and preventing non-ICE personnel (including Border Patrol agents) from conducting immigration sweeps in the Twin Cities and other interior areas in the country.

“There’s no way in hell I’m voting to give a single cent to Trump’s ICE,” said Rep. Angie Craig, D-2^nd District, in a post on X. 

Rep. Betty McCollum, D-4^th District, was also among those in her party who had sought, unsuccessfully, to “defund” ICE.

“I refuse to vote for any funding for the Department of Homeland Security while the Constitutional rights of Minnesotans are being violated,” McCollum said. “During the Trump administration’s invasion and occupation of our state, federal immigration agents have racially profiled our neighbors, apprehended children, killed an innocent mother, disappeared community members, injured people who were taken into custody, and arrested multiple U.S. citizens without cause.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Kelly Morrison, D-3rd District, said ICE was violating Minnesotans’ constitutional rights, “unlawfully detaining and arresting United States citizens, racially profiling people, terrorizing our communities, forcing schools, restaurants, and businesses to close,” and using aggressive, and even lethal, force that resulted in the killing of Renee Good.

“Minnesotans – and Americans across the country – are demanding that Congress finally reasserts its power as a coequal branch of government and brings this lawless agency under control,” Morrison said in a statement. “The funding bill we’re voting on today completely fails to do so – and only further strengthens ICE with additional funding.”

While Minnesota Democrats rejected the measure, the state’s GOP members of the House voted for it. 

The legislation now goes to the Senate, where Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she will not vote for it because of its immigration funding.

“It doesn’t put meaningful constraints on ICE and I cannot support it,” Klobuchar said in a post on X. “ICE’s funding was dramatically increased by the Republican bill last summer so they are now bigger than the FBI. I voted against that bill and I will vote against this bill when and if it comes to the Senate”

Klobuchar also said “ICE is making our communities less safe. We need real constraints on what they are doing in Minnesota & across the country.”

Approval of the Department of Homeland Security spending bill was part of an effort to avoid a shutdown of the federal government on Jan. 30, when a stop-gap measure that is funding a great many agencies is set to expire. 

House lawmakers on Thursday also voted 341-88 to pass a larger, more bipartisan measure funding the Pentagon and departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation and Education — also through Sept. 30.

In other news:

▪️We reported on Sen. Amy Klobuchar filing paperwork to run for governor of Minnesota, two weeks after Gov. Tim Walz decided he would not seek a third term, after all.
▪️Matthew Blake took a look at the uncertainty surrounding child care centers in Minnesota in the wake of alleged fraud and a freeze on federal funding.
▪️We shared the AP’s report on a House vote to end a 20-year ban on mining near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The bill is headed for the Senate.

To catch up on our coverage of Operation Metro Surge, click:

▪️Here for our piece on Justice Department subpoenas of the offices of Minnesota officials, including Gov. Tim Walz, accused of interfering with ICE enforcement.
▪️Here for a piece by Cleo Krejci and Matthew Blake on whether ICE agents followed a judge’s order that restricted their actions against peaceful protesters.
▪️Here for a Bill Lindeke Cityscape column on how cars have factored into ICE enforcement and resistance.
▪️Here for an AP report on the arrest of activist Nekima Levy Armstrong in the protest that disrupted a Minneapolis church.
▪️And here for a story by The 74 about ICE agents targeting schools and bus stops.

This and that

A reader questioned whether the Trump administration’s immigrant crackdown and the president’s threat to send military troops to the state is part of a dress rehearsal to seize Greenland by force. 

“Is Minnesota practice for invading Greenland and testing how stoic Scandinavians are?” the reader asked. “(Rep. Tom) Emmer and other Minnesota Republican politicians are collaborators in this attack on Minnesota. Trump will never forgive Minnesota for rejecting him three times! Perhaps he will have his Waterloo-Gettysburg moment here?”

Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond.

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