Actions are ‘based on revenge’
“It’s certainly a fear, and that is the objective, to spread fear. A pretext is being constructed to manipulate the public.”
Dan Boyle, Green Party city councillor, said ongoing actions of the Trump administration in the US state of Minnesota amounted to “punitive actions, based on revenge”.
On 1 December 2025, the US Immigration and Custom Enforcement Agency (ICE) began Operation Metro Surge - a huge operation involving around 3,000 agents from both ICE and the US Border Patrol. Initially targeting the cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, the operation was expanded to cover all of Minnesota. The operation has been met with huge protests, which has seen daily and nightly demonstations, a general strike, and clashes between demonstrators and federal agents.
Two US citizens - Renée Good and Alex Pretti - have been shot and killed by federal agents. The Trump administration quickly labelled them “domestic terrorists” who were attempting to harm the agents involved. However, analysis of video evidence by numerous outlets has disproven these claims.
Cllr Boyle, who was born in Chicago, Illinois, said there is a concern among people there that once the Trump administration is done with Minnesota, that it will turn its focus on other Democrat-controlled jurisdictions.
“ICE has been active in Chicago already, but not on the same scale. But there is a pretext being constructed here in advance of the upcoming elections. The objective is to spread fear to manipulate the public and attempt to subvert democracy,” he said.
The US general election - in which the House of Representatives and Senate will be filled - will take place on 3 November 2026.
In advance, the US Attorney General’s office has sued 24 states to force them to hand over records of their registered voters, which the administration says it will “‘help’ states ‘clean’”, according to CNN.
Critics have said the administration intends to use their access to voter rolls to subvert the upcoming elections in states which have strong Democrat majorities.
Cllr Boyle said the ongoing violence in the country is a serious impediment to Irish people travelling to the US.
“A lot of Irish people are choosing not to go. They’re afraid that they won’t get access, and there’s a lot of anti-Trump sentiment here that makes people not want to travel.
“If I were to travel to the US, I would have to use a US passport, which I haven’t had for a number of years. So I would have to travel on my Irish passport, which would mean that my social media activity would be scrutinised,” he said.
He said his publicly anti-Trump stance would cause him difficulty.
The World Cup coming up this summer, especially if Ireland qualify, will be interesting, he said. “Not just for how the administration acts, but to see how many people will decide not to go.”
However, he is clear on one thing.
“There is a distinct lack of humanity in the Trump administration.”
This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.