“I have a message for ICE. To ICE, get the f*** out of Minneapolis.”
That line was delivered publicly and deliberately by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey [following an ICE officer-involved shooting]. The language was bleeped. The message was not.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz followed with this statement:
“We do not need any further help from the federal government. To Donald Trump and Kristi Noem, you’ve done enough. Minnesota will not allow our community to be used as a prop in a national political fight. We will not take the bait.”
Yes — this is the same governor who activated the National Guard and imposed curfews during unrest in Minnesota in 2020. Funny, back then, government intervention wasn’t “bait.” It was necessary. Apparently, the definition depends on who is enforcing the law and who is being inconvenienced by it.
Here’s the thing — and this matters: hypocrisy is universally understood to be a negative trait. When and how it became a celebrated political strategy — particularly among Democrats — is both baffling and dangerous.
It has become the party’s primary operating principle: what’s good for thee, but not for me.
ICE agents are federal law-enforcement officers. They are not vigilantes. They are not political props. They enforce federal law — law passed by Congress, signed by presidents of both parties, and upheld by the courts. You don’t get to cheer enforcement when it aligns with your ideology and condemn it when it doesn’t.
I back the blue. Period.
And I don’t say that as a slogan. I say it as the proud daughter of a United States Army veteran who served in World War II. My father was a sharpshooter — not in theory, not in mythology, but in reality. I have the medal that proves it. He was trained to make split-second decisions because hesitation in combat doesn’t lead to debates or do-overs. It leads to body bags.
He was a hero.
My hero.
And one of America’s heroes.
That matters — because the same principle applies to law enforcement today.
Understand this: a vehicle is a deadly weapon.
When someone drives a vehicle toward a law-enforcement officer — local, state, or federal — that vehicle becomes an imminent threat. Officers are trained to stop that threat immediately, because hesitation gets people killed.
This is where the armchair experts always emerge.
“Why didn’t they just shoot out the tires?”
Because that is not how police are trained. Shooting a moving tire is extraordinarily difficult and rarely neutralizes the threat. If unsuccessful, the driver continues forward and kills someone. Even if successful, a disabled vehicle can veer out of control and strike bystanders or other officers.
“Why didn’t they just shoot the person in the knee?”
Again — not how police are trained. A knee shot does not reliably incapacitate a threat. A wounded suspect can still stand, still fire a weapon, still kill. Officers are trained to aim center mass because it is the only method proven to immediately stop a lethal threat.
This isn’t politics. It’s survival.
When I was earning my master’s degree in criminal justice, many of my classmates were police officers. There was a saying they all understood — one the public mocks but officers live by:
I’d rather be judged by twelve than carried by six.
Full stop. Debate over.
Once you’re in a pine box, there are no more arguments. No more press conferences. No more outrage cycles. There is silence — until the bagpipes play.
An officer leads the riderless horse on foot. The only sound is the steady click of hooves. “Taps” echoes. A twenty-one-gun salute fires. Then silence again — long enough to hear the quiet whimpers of the people who loved this person. Grief swallows the noise of the world. Cars pass. Birds chirp. Life moves on. For them, it never will.
Dead is dead.
And yet hypocrisy reigns.
When Osama bin Laden was killed under President Obama, the nation celebrated — rightly so. When Muammar Gaddafi was eliminated, there were no candlelight vigils. When President Biden raised the bounty on Nicolás Maduro but failed to capture him, the failure was quietly ignored. When Donald Trump captured Maduro alive, outrage erupted.
Hypocrisy.
Barack Obama deported more people during his presidency than Donald Trump ever did. No protests. No hysteria.
Trump enforces immigration law, and suddenly Democrats are screaming “Nazi” and “Gestapo” — insults so historically ignorant they should embarrass anyone who uses them.
Here is a truth adults understand: when a law-enforcement officer gives a lawful order, you comply. When you don’t, there are consequences. Accountability is not violence. Enforcement is not oppression.
Democrats now glorify lawlessness and call it compassion.
Republicans insist on accountability and are labeled extremists.
Law-abiding citizens are mocked.
Police and federal agents are vilified — until someone needs them.
ICE agents are doing the job politicians refuse to do. They enforce the law so communities don’t collapse under fentanyl trafficking, violent crime, and chaos. Demonizing them isn’t moral courage — it’s cowardice.
When politics becomes performance and outrage replaces responsibility, people die.
And let me be clear: if you drive a vehicle toward a law-enforcement officer — local, state, or federal — you are choosing that outcome. Officers will act to go home alive. The choice isn’t political. It’s human.
Bring law and order back to America.
Stop scapegoating the people who serve and protect.
Start holding accountable the people undermining the law.
America doesn’t need more hypocrisy.
It needs courage — and the backbone to enforce the law.
And for the cheap seats in the back: if you loathe the United States of America, its laws, and those who defend them, don’t drive toward a person. Drive toward an airport. Buy a one-way ticket. Leave.
This country will survive. It may even thrive.
Kelly Rae Robertson is a former criminal-justice investigator with a master’s degree in criminal justice and a licensed mental-health professional. She writes on public safety, law enforcement, and accountability.
Comments