For many Americans, the first introduction toJacob Freymay have come this week in the form ofpress conference footagein which the Minneapolis mayor, visibly upset by Wednesday's fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by a federal immigration agent, had the following words for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: "Get the f---- out of Minneapolis."
But the third-term mayor with the boyish smile is no stranger to high-profile situations, adept at navigating crises with resolve and authenticity while fiercely aligning himself with the Minnesota community he represents. Now at odds with the Trump administration as leader of the latestDemocratic-led cityto be targeted by the president's stepped-updeportation efforts, he's shown he's unafraid to challenge the federal government.
Frey's emotional statement was in sharp contrast to the state's "Minnesota Nice" stereotype.
"He just basically tells people the truth, whether they want to hear it or not," said former longtime Minneapolis councilmember Lisa Goodman, who now serves in Frey's administration as the city's director of strategic initiatives. "He's not passive-aggressive, which is alarming to some people, especially in Minnesota…. He speaks his truth, and he doesn't back down from that."
Jacob Frey's moments as Minneapolis mayor
The mayor's statement "was very forceful in tone, sure, and in turn, probably represents the feelings of most Minneapolis residents," saidAndy Aoki, a professor of political science at the city's Augsburg University.
"Otherwise, he doesn't come across as the loud, abrasive, over-the-top politician ready with a soundbite. He comes across as more thoughtful, measured, and now more direct."
This week's incident was the spark many feared amid a growing powder keg of heightened activity by immigration authorities in Minneapolis and nationwide. But it was just the latest adversity Frey, 44, has faced in his eight years as the city's mayor.
In May 2020,George Floydwas murdered by a Minneapolis police officer less than a mile from the site of this week's ICE incident; in August, two children were killed and 14 injured in amass shootingat the city's Annunciation Church; and more recently, PresidentDonald Trumpbroadly attacked the state's Somali community after reports offraudinvolving Somali immigrants.
Then, on Jan. 7, a U.S. immigration agent shot and killedRenee Nicole Goodin her vehicle, an encounter capturedon videoand subsequently dissected and hotly debated while initially appearing to contradict the administration's characterization of what happened.
On Friday, Frey doubled down on his outrage over the Trump administration's portrayal of Good's shooting as an act of self-defense, penning a guest editorial in the New York Times headlined "I'm the Mayor of Minneapolis. Trump Is Lying to You."
"The chaos that ICE and the Trump administration have brought to Minneapolis made this tragedy sadly predictable,"he wrote.
Aoki said the resilience and resolve Frey has exhibited since Good's death stems from "a political savvy, an everyman approach" that he has polished over the years. He thinks the mayor's heated declaration to federal officials reflected the frustration that has built up over several weeks of ICE presence in the area.
"This is going to be a test of his patience, resilience, and all of his political savvy," Aoki said. "He's in the crosshairs of the federal government, and you just can't just fight them tit-for-tat. He has to figure out the best path to succeed while getting pressure from all sides. This is going to test his political skillset in many ways."
Jim Scheibel, who served as Saint Paul mayor from 1990 to 1994 and now assists the associate provost at the city's Hamline University, said he has received positive reviews from around the country about Frey's handling of the situation.
"He's very visible, and speaking for myself, his controlled anger in this situation is important," Scheibel said. "People are looking for someone to articulate what people in the Twin Cities are feeling."
Scheibel said Frey's emotions strike him as genuine, not theatrics.
"It's really from his heart and his head that he's speaking," he said. "Hubert Humphreywould be very proud of the kind of leadership that Mayor Frey is showing right now."
Frey's path to mayor
Frey, a native of North Virginia and the son of professional modern ballet dancers, attended the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg on a track scholarship, earning a government degree and a shoe company contract that allowed him to run professionally. He ran as many as 120 miles a week while attending Villanova Law School in Philadelphia, where he graduated cum laude.
According to hisbiography, Frey developed an affection for Minneapolis while running the Twin Cities Marathon and moved there to work as an employment and civil rights lawyer. He fell into community organizing work, chosen as the city's first annual recipient of its Martin Luther King Jr. Award for his efforts on behalf of marriage equality, housing and worker non-discrimination rights.
In 2013, he successfully ran for the Minneapolis City Council, representing the city's Third Ward.Five years later, he became the city's second-ever Jewish mayor and its second youngest ever, winning on a platform that included mending police-community relations with local frustrations still simmering aftertwo police-involved killings.
Two years later, the police-community relations issue would explode with global reverberations when George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officerDerek Chauvin, who had kneeled on Floyd's next for more than nine minutes. Captured on video, the incident would bring national tensions over police brutality to a head, igniting months of demonstrations around the country.
Frey's handling of the crisis, including his call to fire and charge the offices involved, drew both acclaim and disapproval; as Minneapolis structures were set ablaze amid protests that immediately following Floyd's killing, On social media, President Donald Trump – then finishing his first term –decriedFrey's "total lack of leadership" and threatened to deploy the National Guard.
When a reporter related Trump's remarks to Frey, the mayor responded by saying Trump knew nothing of the city's toughness.
"Weakness is refusing to take responsibility for your actions,"he said. "Weakness is pointing your finger at somebody else during a time of crisis…. Is this a difficult time period? Yes. But you better be damn sure that we're gonna get through this."
In December, after Trump malignedSomali immigrantsas "garbage" while federal immigration agents ramped up activity in the Twin Cities area, Frey came to the community's defense, saying Minneapolis was "proud" to host the country's largest Somali community.
"They are our neighbors, our friends, and our family – and they are welcome in our city,"he said. "Nothing Donald Trump does will ever change that."
Latest crisis could test city's accord
Good's fatal shooting occurred as the community and police were showing signs of rebuilding trust post-George Floyd, saidMuhammad Abdul-Ahad, executive director of T.O.U.C.H Outreach, a Minneapolis violence prevention nonprofit.
Abdul-Ahad hopes ICE's presence won't derail progress made thus far, though he said some residents have questioned why Minneapolis police haven't taken a more forceful stance against the agency. He hopes the mayor and police chief have a strategy in place with larger protests scheduled for this weekend.
"We don't want to see an 'Us versus Them,'" he said. "We've worked too hard since Floyd. It's going to take all of us to show up together for our communities in times like this, versus blank stares and disbelief."
The mayor, Abdul-Ahad said, "is going to have to do more than talk about that he's with the people; he's going to have to show it."
Aoki, of Augsburg University, said while Frey has his detractors, his willingness to take on the Trump administration on the community's behalf in the wake of Good's fatal shooting has earned him broad support.
"He has come to grips with the divisions on the council and in the city and he decidedly knows where he stands," Aoki said. "Early in his first term, he was trying to appeal to everybody and that didn't work. Now he knows how to appeal to the moderates and try to peel off a couple of left-leaning council members to get what he needs done."
Former councilmember Goodman said that while Frey is learning to negotiate with a "fairly purple" state legislature, his municipal battles illustrate that while he would be considered extremely progressive in almost any other city, "clearly some of his detractors see him as not progressive enough."
She believes the mayor still considers the police reform issue unfinished business.
"The city is making progress, and he is very committed to that," Goodman said. "He is committed to making policing community-based, with many alternative responses – and not the way it was, which facilitated the murder of George Floyd."
That Frey survived the aftermath of that issue to be re-elected twice "should count for something, Aoki said.
"I think because of (Floyd), he's more adept at handling crises this time around," he said. "It doesn't make it any easier, but how can you not lean into that experience, for better or worse?"
Abdul-Ahad thinks Frey would like to be recognized for guiding Minneapolis through a historically tumultuous time but says that will have to be earned through action, not just words.
"He's been through so much, we all have," Abdul-Ahad said. "But as mayor, it's his job to stand up and take accountability for the city. He's been ridiculed so many times over the last five years, and I'm sure he doesn't want to go through that again…. He's been humiliated. But he keeps coming back."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:F-bomb heard across the nation: Minneapolis' mayor tries to break ICE
