It seems like you’re the one fundamentally misunderstanding the organizational structure of state and local governance.
The mayor appoints the police chief. Walz has political power and influence over the mayor of Minneapolis.
No he doesn’t. There is no direct chain of authority from the governor to the mayor. The mayor is elected by the people of Minneapolis, and directly answerable to the people of Minneapolis. The governor is elected by the people of Minnesota and is directly answerable to the people of Minnesota. They often work together on mutual goals that require cooperation, but neither one is accountable to the other.
Walz doesn’t even appoint the MSP police chief; that position is chosen from within the ranks via promotion. The closest thing he could do is appoint a new DPS commissioner, which wouldn’t have much effect.
The “rules” I’m referring to are about breaking this established order that I’m referring to. Breaking those rules means actually pressuring (or in some cases removing) people in their positions that refuse to defend the citizens of the state. Breaking the rules means using the state power to defend citizens against the federal invasion.
Those wouldn’t be breaking any rules, but this isn’t about rules. It’s not about being “against the rules,” it’s about feasibility: what’s possible and what’s not possible. Here’s what the mayor of Minneapolis said:
Why are we put in this position? We’re put in this position because we have approximately 600 police officers in Minneapolis, far fewer that are able to work at any given time. And there are approximately 3,000 ICE agents in the area.
For the record, MSP has about the same number of troopers as MPD, and they’re primarily tasked with traffic enforcement.
And if your idea is to recruit more people to the police force who will fight ICE, how do you plan to convince a bunch of leftists to become cops?
Lastly, it’s not like the leadership is sitting around twiddling their thumbs, they’re following the legal process to seek an injunction:
Minnesota, Minneapolis and St. Paul filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration Jan. 12, calling the surge of federal law enforcement into the state “unlawful violent conduct” and “excessive force.”
The lawsuit seeks a court order to halt the immigration crackdown. So far no temporary measures have been ordered, and the lawsuit is pending.
It’s all they can do right now. Sure, it’s a constitutional crisis, but violent means of resistance aren’t called for until all other options have been exhausted. That means secession isn’t on the table unless midterms are either canceled or ignored.
Mobilizing the national guard against federal agents would amount to open rebellion. No matter how corrupt and unqualified the federal administration and DPS/ICE troops are, it exposes the leadership of the state, the guard, and all its troops to legal penalties up to and including treason which can be punishable by death. And we all know how republicans are frothing at the bit to execute people. So unless you’re confident that your state guard can win against the feds, that move is unadvisable. And since it would bring in full military mobilization, it would be a detrimental escalation. Not beneficial to the people of Minnesota or Minneapolis.
The governor and the mayor know these things. They know more than you do, so stop calling them cowards for not doing enough. Nothing they can do is enough, and anything they can do would be akin to thrashing while caught in quicksand.
It seems like you’re the one fundamentally misunderstanding the organizational structure of state and local governance.
No he doesn’t. There is no direct chain of authority from the governor to the mayor. The mayor is elected by the people of Minneapolis, and directly answerable to the people of Minneapolis. The governor is elected by the people of Minnesota and is directly answerable to the people of Minnesota. They often work together on mutual goals that require cooperation, but neither one is accountable to the other.
Walz doesn’t even appoint the MSP police chief; that position is chosen from within the ranks via promotion. The closest thing he could do is appoint a new DPS commissioner, which wouldn’t have much effect.
Those wouldn’t be breaking any rules, but this isn’t about rules. It’s not about being “against the rules,” it’s about feasibility: what’s possible and what’s not possible. Here’s what the mayor of Minneapolis said:
For the record, MSP has about the same number of troopers as MPD, and they’re primarily tasked with traffic enforcement.
And if your idea is to recruit more people to the police force who will fight ICE, how do you plan to convince a bunch of leftists to become cops?
Lastly, it’s not like the leadership is sitting around twiddling their thumbs, they’re following the legal process to seek an injunction:
It’s all they can do right now. Sure, it’s a constitutional crisis, but violent means of resistance aren’t called for until all other options have been exhausted. That means secession isn’t on the table unless midterms are either canceled or ignored.
Mobilizing the national guard against federal agents would amount to open rebellion. No matter how corrupt and unqualified the federal administration and DPS/ICE troops are, it exposes the leadership of the state, the guard, and all its troops to legal penalties up to and including treason which can be punishable by death. And we all know how republicans are frothing at the bit to execute people. So unless you’re confident that your state guard can win against the feds, that move is unadvisable. And since it would bring in full military mobilization, it would be a detrimental escalation. Not beneficial to the people of Minnesota or Minneapolis.
The governor and the mayor know these things. They know more than you do, so stop calling them cowards for not doing enough. Nothing they can do is enough, and anything they can do would be akin to thrashing while caught in quicksand.