, Columnist
Pam Bondi’s Offer to Minnesota Is Really a ‘Shakedown’
Practicing the “art of the deal” like her boss.
Photographer: Yuri Gripas/CNP/Bloomberg
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s letter to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz — offering to scale back ICE operations in exchange for the state’s compliance with her demands — is inappropriate and reads as a thinly veiled attempt at extortion.
“Operation Metro Surge,” involving the deployment of some 3,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, has wreaked havoc in the Twin Cities since December, and lawyers for the state have referred to Bondi’s letter as “a shakedown” and “a ransom note.” The missive’s demands are strikingly similar to the tactics used by the Trump administration against universities, law firms and foreign countries.