WASHINGTON — One of the first things new Attorney General Pam Bondi did after being sworn in this week was direct the U.S. Justice Department to withhold all grants to “sanctuary cities” — those identified by the Trump administration as violating federal immigration laws.
That could have broad implications in Minnesota as Minneapolis and St. Paul have immigrant-friendly policies that the Trump administration says hinder the efforts of federal immigration authorities while about a dozen counties have been identified as uncooperative with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Minneapolis, for instance, has a Sanctuary City Task Force that it describes as “a multi-departmental team tasked with making recommendations to strengthen city-level policies, programs, and resources of the City of Minneapolis to better protect and defend undocumented immigrant families from unfair deportation … .”
Minneapolis said it received about $2.9 million in Justice Department grants in 2025 and $2.8 million so far this year for things like police programs, opioid response and officer training.
“Minneapolis fosters inclusivity, respect and safety for all, regardless of immigration status,” city spokesman Jess Olstad said in an email. “That work will continue. We continue to monitor decisions made at the federal level, but the city … fully complies with federal law.”
Laura Logston, St. Paul’s deputy director of finance, said the city received about $2 million in Justice Department grants last year and expected the same amount of funding this year.
She said the city is “closely working with the city attorney’s office to closely monitor what’s going on and determine potential impact” of Bondi’s action.
The Center for Immigration Studies, a right-leaning think tank, says several offices within the Justice Department have provided $1.56 billion in grants to what it has identified as sanctuary cities in 2023.
Bondi also tasked the Justice Department to end all grant funding to non-governmental organizations that “help illegals.”
And Bondi directed the department to investigate instances of sanctuary jurisdictions obstructing law enforcement and “directing they be prosecuted, when necessary.”
Omar takes on Musk
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-5th District, who was born in Somalia and came to the United States as a refugee, was subject to an onslaught of attack from Musk supporters. Those ranged from Elon Musk to a new freshman congressman from Texas called Brandon Gill who called for the deportation of his colleague.
Omar drew fire for sharply criticizing Trump and Musk for freezing U.S. Agency for Economic Development funds that pay for the type of programs that kept her family “fed and safe” when they were in a refugee camp in Kenya.
Musk reposted on X a photo of a group of people at an event who were identified as a group of Somalis listening to Omar telling them how to evade deportation.
“She’s breaking the law. Literally. Outright,” Musk wrote on X.
But Omar was quick to bite back.
“Hey Elon. Every single person in this country deserves to know their rights. That’s legal,” Omar said in her own post on X. “Maybe you should brush up on our laws given the fact you’re breaking them to steal American’s sensitive data. P.S. This video is manipulated, and I wasn’t even at the event shown.”
Stauber introduces mining bill, again
The second time might be the charm for Rep. Pete Stauber, R-8th District, as he introduced his bill to remove a moratorium on copper and nickel mining in Superior National Forest, restore two federal leases that had been pulled from mining company Twin Metals by the Biden administration and streamline federal review of mining projects, among other things.
“The Biden administration’s mineral withdrawal in the Superior National Forest two years ago was a direct attack on our way of life in northern Minnesota and threatened our nation’s strategic national security,” Stauber said in a statement. “Thankfully, with Donald Trump back in the White House and Republicans in control of both Chambers of Congress, we are well positioned to reverse the damage done by President Biden and turn Minnesota into a critical mineral powerhouse.”
Stauber’s bill was approved by the U.S. House in the last Congress but was never considered in the Democratic-led U.S. Senate. But the Senate flipped to the GOP in November’s election and now there’s a chance the legislation may pass that chamber, especially since there’s some thought to attaching it to a must-pass budget bill that cannot be subject to a Senate filibuster.
“We are concerned about the Senate taking it up,” said Ingrid Lyons, executive director of Save the Boundary Waters, a non-profit group that has long fought the establishment of metallic sulfide mining in the watershed for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Even if Stauber’s legislation isn’t included in the budget reconciliation package, which is expected to provoke strong Democratic opposition since it would include Trump cuts to a raft of federal programs, Lyons said Stauber’s bill has a chance of passing the Senate as stand-alone legislation subject to a filibuster.
“I don’t think it’s impossible for him to get 60 votes,” Lyons said. “But we will put everything we have into making sure it doesn’t happen.”
Smith, Klobuchar poke GOP at congressional dinner
Despite all the discord in Washington, D.C., this week, journalists and members of Congress made nice and broke bread with each other at Wednesday’s Washington Press Club Foundation’s annual Congressional Dinner.
The dinner featured barbs and witticisms from speakers who included Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., who returned as headliner of the dinner after having had the flu and giving her remarks in a video last year.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., was also on stage making brief remarks and introducing other speakers.
“What is the difference between Greenland and Donald Trump?” Klobuchar asked.
“Greenland is not for sale,” she said.
Klobuchar also said that she could not see Trump’s inaugural speech because “I was seated behind Melania’s hat.”
Smith aimed some of her barbs at her Republican colleagues. She said when she first arrived in the Senate, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., mistook her for another lawmaker’s wife and then apologized for his mistake.
“Lindsey said, ‘I’m sorry. I must have my head up my ass’ — which was really nice of him to say. And it was an honest mistake. And besides, everyone knows that Lindsey’s head is way up Donald Trump’s ass,” Smith said.
Smith also took digs at fellow Democrats.
“Let’s be honest, the Democratic Party had a worse year than Drake,” she said.
She also turned serious at the end of her remarks, telling the room of journalists that they should redouble their efforts because “you are uniquely positioned to speak uncomfortable truth to extraordinary power.”
“I’m not asking you to take sides in the fight between Democrats and Republicans, but I am asking you to take sides in the fight between democracy and authoritarianism,” Smith urged the members of the press.
This journalist had as her guest Minnesota’s newest member of Congress, Rep. Kelly Morrison, D-3rd District, who was a great dinner companion. But I can’t tell you about our talk because, except for the speeches, the event has an off-the-record-tradition that means “what happens at the congressional dinner, stays at the congressional dinner.”
ICYMI:
- Reporter Deanna Pistono found that Target isn’t the only Minnesota company rolling back DEI initiatives in the wake of President Donald Trump’s threats. As she writes, 3M and CenterPoint Energy have also taken down DEI pages from their web sites and are reviewing their policies.
- The state’s congressional Republicans gave Trump recommendations for U.S. attorney and U.S. marshal in Minnesota. Whomever Trump picks for U.S. attorney will be heavily involved in immigrant deportation efforts and may even prosecute local officials who don’t cooperate with those efforts.
- We also took a look at how Trump’s threatened tariffs on Canada and Mexico would likely end up hurting Minnesota exports, especially agricultural products.
Your questions and comments
A reader took issue with President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to cut the size of the federal workforce.
“In a constant series of illegal and fundamentally unsound policy decisions, El Presidente continues to pull one government lever after another with no foresight or concern as to the consequences,” the reader said. “The federal workers is potentially a fatal miscalculation. The federal civil service people have a deep sense of purpose and responsibility to the constitution and the American people … .”
Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond.
Ana Radelat is MinnPost’s Washington, D.C. correspondent. You can reach her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter at @radelat.
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