Minnesota CEOs Cry Crocodile Tears Over ICE

[Celerity]

Executives who lobbied for Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which enabled the immigration terror in their state, now want everyone to believe they are on the people’s side.

https://prospect.org/2026/01/28/minnesota-ice-trump-ceo-big-beautiful-bill-alex-pretti/


Demonstrators hold signs during a protest outside the office of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), January 26, 2026, in Minneapolis. Credit: Adam Gray/AP Photo

Dozens of Minnesota-based corporate executives issued an open letter this week urging an “immediate deescalation of tensions” after an immigration agent executed legal observer and ICU nurse Alex Pretti last Saturday. The 79 CEOs and trade group leaders referred to President Trump’s terror campaign without naming it directly, citing “the recent challenges,” and claimed they have been hard at work “every day behind the scenes with federal, state and local officials to advance real solutions,” though they did not specify anything they had done. Instead, they said only that they “have been working for generations to build a strong and vibrant state here in Minnesota.”

After weeks of silence and in some cases allowing immigration agents to use their property as a staging ground, they used the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce website to “call for peace and focused cooperation.” They failed to mention that they were instrumental in bringing Operation Metro Surge to Minnesota, through their public support and active lobbying of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The law allocated more than $170 billion over four years to deport one million immigrants annually. Congress had already appropriated $10 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when the law dropped; the additional money nearly tripled its funding for 2025 alone to almost $29 billion.

Immigration agents have killed at least eight people and wounded nine more nationwide during their extended terror campaign, while causing at least 32 others to die in detention camps. OBBBA paid for what ICE acting director Todd Lyons called its “largest immigration operation ever,” including sending 3,000 agents to the Twin Cities—five times the number of Minneapolis Police Department cops. Agents have committed daily atrocities since they arrived in December, including using toddlers as bait and then throwing them in ICE prison, and publicly executing legal observers Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

As Brad Johnson points out in his newsletter Hill Heat, “America’s corporate titans lobbied hard last summer for the devil’s bargain of the One Big Brutal Bill Act,” including the multiple CEOs of Minnesota-based companies. That includes 3M (originally known as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing), which directly endorsed OBBBA on a White House endorsement sheet, citing the extension of corporate tax cuts, which it said were “crucial for maintaining a competitive edge in global markets and fostering innovation.” CEO William Brown of 3M was a signatory to the open letter. Winnebago Industries, whose president and CEO Michael Happe also signed the letter, was part of a statement of support for OBBBA last year that highlighted research and development and expensing tax breaks.

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