Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, spoke about House Republicans’ priorities for the 2026 legislative session on Feb. 16, 2026. (Photo by Michelle Griffith/Minnesota Reformer)

Minnesota House Republicans on Monday held a press conference to present their priorities for this year’s legislative session that starts on Tuesday: prevent fraud, make life more affordable and expand the mining industry in the state, among others.

The GOP lawmakers made no mention of the issue that has gripped the nation for months — immigration.

Reporters probed the lawmakers on where they stood on passing any regulations for how federal agents conduct immigration enforcement in Minnesota after a federal incursion of thousands of federal agents flooded Minnesota’s streets.

The House GOP lawmakers argued there was little state lawmakers could do to regulate the federal government. Moreover, immigration reform was another example of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s impulse to blame Trump for the state’s issues, they said.

“What we should be focused on, what we’ve talked about, is making Minnesota competitive. We’ve seen a lot of damage to businesses as a result of Gov. Walz’s policies and Democrat policies over the last several years,” said House GOP floor leader Harry Niska when asked whether businesses negatively affected by the federal immigration surge should receive bail out funds.

“It’s interesting that, again, we’re seeing a continuation of what we saw last year — a Trump deflection strategy, trying to blame President Trump for all the bad effects of Democrat policies.”

Operation Metro Surge has inflicted massive strain on Minnesota businesses, with customers afraid to go out and employees afraid to go to work lest they are swept up by immigration officials.

Asked about any immigration proposals from House Republicans, House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said they aren’t focused on that.

“Right now as Republicans we are talking overarching … ways that are going to make things more affordable for all Minnesotans across the board, and so those are the areas that we’re focused on,” Demuth said.

Since Operation Metro Surge began in December, House Republicans have largely cheered on the operation or said nothing at all — even after federal agents shot and killed two Americans.

Rep. Walter Hudson, R-Albertville, on social media has called for the president to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to the widespread resistance against the immigration operation.

“Unless those who funded and organized these insurrectionist activities are prosecuted severely, the chaos will continue down the road,” Hudson wrote on social media. “I can only hope there is an extensive ongoing operation to hold insurrectionists accountable, and set an example for others.”

Reps. Marion Rarick and Nolan West were the notable exceptions in the House Republican caucus.

Rarick criticized ICE after several chiefs of police and sheriffs publicly stated that some in their own rank were racially profiled by federal agents.

“ICE MUST follow the Constitution. ICE must immediately stop this behavior. ICE must stop racial profiling and violating civil rights as has been experienced and documented by LAW ENFORCEMENT,” Rarick posted on Facebook.

After the death of Alex Pretti by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents, West called for the end of Operation Metro Surge.

“It’s clear that Operation ‘Metro Surge’ is causing more harm than good. It puts law enforcement officers’ lives at risk and it feeds the chaos destroying our state,” West wrote on Facebook. “Yes, our state is crumbling because those leaders refused to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, but the fact remains: this must end.”

Polls conducted in recent months show that the majority of Americans believe U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s actions have gone too far. A Quinnipiac University poll found that 63% of voters surveyed disapproved with how ICE is enforcing immigration laws.

Last week, the Trump administration announced an end to Operation Metro Surge and a drawdown of federal immigration agents in the state.

The Minnesota Legislature is narrowly divided. Democrats hold a slim 34-33 majority in the Minnesota Senate, and Minnesota House is tied 67-67 between Republicans and Democrats. Demuth is a frontrunner for the GOP nomination for governor, and passing bipartisan legislation could be seen as working with Democrats and tank her standing among Republican convention delegates.

Minnesota House Republicans said that much of the chaos of the past several weeks would have been avoided had local jails cooperated with federal immigration agents and handed over people who were in the country illegally.

In announcing the end of the operation, Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan claimed they had secured “unprecedented” collaboration with local law enforcement, though did not provide specifics. Sheriffs say their policies are unchanged. Many sheriff’s offices have been notifying ICE before someone of interest is released for decades.

Last year, Rep. Max Rymer, R-North Branch, authored a bill that would have required county attorneys to report undocumented immigrants arrested for a crime to ICE. House Democrats blocked the bill from passing, arguing that it would disincentivize people from calling 911 and hurt public safety.

“I think my bill would have prevented, quite frankly, some of the chaos that we saw this past winter,” Rymer said Monday.

Earlier in the day, House Democrats during a press conference said they will do all they can to pressure Republicans to pass a myriad of bills to regulate immigration enforcement including banning federal agents from wearing masks, requiring they have visible identification and restricting the use of automatic license plate readers.

“We’re going to try everything we can, and we’re certainly going to give every Republican every opportunity to demonstrate that their values are consistent with Minnesotans and not Donald Trump,” said House DFL caucus leader Zack Stephenson.

Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.

This article, “Republican lawmakers call for investigation of Oklahoma student walkouts,” has been republished from the Oklahoma Voice under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.