Michael Barbaro

And that was the arrival of a large number of immigration and customs enforcement agents starting in early December.

And so that's where I want to begin.

Take me back to that period for you as police chief.

What was your understanding of why the president decided to send these agents to your city?

You're referring to the fraud that had been specifically highlighted in the Somali community in Minneapolis.

And I do want to talk about the president's message when he decided to send specifically immigration officers to Minneapolis.

I mean, he was pretty explicit about his thinking in his mind.

The Somali population in the city, which is sizable and well-known.

Yes.

He described it as a community that was sowing disorder, committing crimes.

Basically, in so many words, a community of troublemakers who should be deported.

And I wonder what you made of that and if it felt like that had been your experience as chief.

Well, from a crime perspective, was anything the president was saying true?

You're drawing a distinction between fraud and kind of traditional street crime.

But you're acknowledging that there's some level of fraud occurring perhaps in this community.

Perhaps that's what the president is referring to.

Yes.

In your mind, that's distinct from perhaps the crime that you and your officers are dealing with day in and day out.

Got it.

So in your mind, was this planned deployment, specifically of ICE agents that the president asked for, was it warranted?