Montanans respond to the Minnesota protester shootings with peaceful protests and policy changes. Democratic congressional candidates denounce the shootings. Sen. Steve Daines calls for an investigation and defends ICE. And the jury is still out on the long-term political impact of the shootings and the government response.
Campaign Beat is MTPR's weekly political analysis program. MTPR's Sally Mauk is joined by Montana Free Press Managing Editor Holly Michels and UM Political Science Professor and Mansfield Center Fellow Rob Saldin.
Sally Mauk Holly, the recent killing of two protesters in Minneapolis has reverberated around the country, if not the world, including here in Montana. And there have been several peaceful protests in Montana cities, and local governments like in Missoula and Helena are trying to be proactive and hope something similar doesn't happen here.
Holly Michels We have seen a lot of reaction in Montana. Like you said, we saw large peaceful protests two weekends ago around the state and then again, another round just last weekend, including one in Missoula that filled Beartracks Bridge and had about 1,700 people, according to organizers. There's also another large one in Bozeman organized by MSU students and other events around the state, including Billings. I've also seen a fair amount of Montana businesses decide to participate in a nationwide shutdown as part of protest against ICE and an effort to slow the economy. We also had a planned walkout of students in Helena here at Helena High that was actually canceled after a homemade explosive device was found near campus.
And then like you said, Sally, city commissions around the state are taking action. Again, here in Helena, the city commission voted four to one to limit the local police department's ability to work with Homeland Security, which is the agency over ICE and also Border Protection. People have been coming to the Helena City Commission back since July when a Helena man was arrested by ICE agents here with assistance from the Helena Police Department. Though the man they arrested wasn't the man they're originally seeking, but Helena residents have been asking the commission to do something since last summer. Other cities around the state have indicated they may do similar actions to what Helena's commission has done. Missoula's mayor and police chief have expressed concern about potential ICE operations there, and a city council member in Missoula said she's working on a resolution similar to Helena's.
Sally Mauk And one of your reporters at Montana Free Press, Nora Mabie, had a story recently about the arrest of an immigrant in the small town of Froid, Montana. And the townspeople, Holly, are upset.
Holly Michels Yes, Sally, they are. We first saw news of this swirling around social media where town members were expressing frustrations about this arrest. What they told our reporter, Nora, is that Border Patrol agents had been all over the town for about two weeks, following around a man and his family who's lived in Froid for about a decade. His name is Roberto Orozco-Ramirez. He's a father of four and a Mexican citizen who owns the local auto repair shop. He also has no criminal record, according to court documents. Agents arrested him, charging him with illegal reentry into the U.S., saying he was removed from the country back in 2009 by ICE. The charges against him also include threatening a federal officer over a claim that he threw a piece of lumber at officers before they arrested him. Those two charges could result in pretty massive fines, jail time, or deportation. And a lot of the Froid community, which is a really Conservative place, have really rallied around this man. They drove nearly seven hours one way to Great Falls for a court hearing. They've expressed frustration with the ICE actions in their community, saying that they've had no issue with him living there. The next steps in this process, there's another hearing February 5th and another February 9th to determine if he'll still remain in custody.
Sally Mauk Rob, congressional candidates have also weighed in on the Minnesota shootings. And here's what three of the men, all Democrats, in the western district House race, had to say about the situation in Minneapolis. And we'll begin with Sam Forstag.
Sam Forstag "It's a damn shame that we've got a bunch of cowards in Congress who aren't conducting their basic constitutional duty to carry out oversight and to create some accountability when we are failed by people who are supposed to be conducting public service, like we were this morning."
Sally Mauk And here's Ryan Busse.
Ryan Busse "We've got an election coming up in 2026. And the reason this is happening is because we don't have a Congress that will hold these people accountable. So, if you want to fix this, you elect people so we can win the majority in 2026 and you make sure they're fighters."
Sally Mauk And finally, Russell Cleveland.
Russell Cleveland "The intentions of ICE are perfectly clear. Americans are being killed in our streets by these masked personnel who have been hired and armed with no formal training, with no real oversight. This is a crisis. This is not a time to ask for calm. This is the time for Congress to step up, do their damn job, and immediately pull these armed federal forces from our streets."
Sally Mauk And Rob, this is clearly a campaign rallying cry for Democrats now.
Rob Saldin It is Sally. And more generally, for those who don't support the administration, there has been a great deal of handwringing and frustration over the last year about the lack of pushback against any number of objectionable things. You know, 'where's the outrage?' 'Where are the people in the streets?' This kind of thing. Well, here they are. Over the course of the last week, this situation in Minneapolis really does seem to have broken through. It really seems to have struck a nerve in a way that we haven't really seen since perhaps the January 6th attack. So, for these Democratic candidates obviously they all have a pretty similar message, a similar response to the situation. But for people running for Congress, it's an entirely appropriate message. And their basic critique is on very solid ground. Congress has been asleep at the wheel. Many members conduct themselves as though they're more like detached observers or commentators watching the American political system rather than political actors with actual power within it. They could do something here and on so many other fronts, yet they choose to simply cheer from the sideline or maybe if they get really bold, issue a statement of concern.
Well, that's not how James Madison drew it up. He expected the branches of government to aggressively defend their prerogatives to hold one another in line. And in fact, the entire American political system is premised on precisely that. So, for these Democratic candidates, that's an entirely reasonable point to hammer away at. And at least for this week, people are listening in a way we haven't seen in a long time.
Sally Mauk As you say, Rob, the Republican response has generally been more muted than Democrats, with Montana's congressional delegation calling the most recent shooting a tragedy that needs to be investigated, but also defending ICE. Here's Sen. Steve Daines in a recent interview with Fox News.
Sen. Steve Daines "Think about what ICE does for our country. Their 22,000 agents show up every day to protect us. They've removed 150,000 criminal illegal aliens in our country and deported them. Our nation is much safer because of their actions. And what do they receive in response to that? An 8,000 percent increase in death threats since the year began."
Sally Mauk And the death threats may be true, Rob, but the Senator's comment strikes me as tone deaf for the moment given the public reaction to the shootings.
Rob Saldin Yeah, I'm not sure 'tone deaf' even quite captures it, Sally. The problem is that there's something deeply anti-American about what's been going on in Minneapolis. It runs counter to the ideas and the principles that have shaped the country. And when it's done this blatantly, people do take notice, right? Just the abuses of civil liberties, to cite just one item on the list of atrocities. It's genuinely shocking, even in 2026. And the other thing going on here is the administration's response, which has arguably been even more jarring than the killings themselves. The administration is blatantly and shamelessly lying, and everyone can see it with their own eyes.
It's these affronts to the American creed, I think, that explain why Minneapolis is broken through the way it has. And in the midst of all this, here's Daines swooping in and lamenting how people are being mean to ICE. Look, on the one hand, this situation is something that could easily spin even more out of control, and that really is a legitimate concern. But in the course of the last couple weeks, Sally, fretting about the helpful ICE agents just isn't what leaps to mind as our most pressing concern.
Sally Mauk Holly, meanwhile, some Democratic state senators from Montana joined up with legislators from other states in Minneapolis this week to show support for their counterparts in the Minnesota Legislature. And the trip was organized by Bozeman Sen. Cora Neumann.
Cora Neumann "If it can happen here, it's going to happen, it could very well happen anywhere else. And it's not happening in Montana yet, but I think it's also that much more important that legislators from red states or states that are not seeing this kind of ICE activity show up. Because we have states' rights and we need to reassert them."
Sally Mauk And she's framing this as a states' rights issue versus federal overreach.
Holly Michels Yeah, Sally, like we heard from Neumann there, in addition to just showing support for Minnesota lawmakers, Montana lawmakers who attended this day of solidarity really emphasized that they're concerned about ICE actions like this happening in their own state. And to that point, though we're not in a legislative session right now, and we won't be until 2027 – so about a year from now – another Democrat, State Sen. Ellie Boldman from Missoula said when we get to that session she's going to bring legislation to require ICE officers to do things like display identification, ban ICE officers from wearing masks during operations, and make churches, daycare, schools, hospitals, and other places like that off limits to ICE agents. We have heard from Republicans in the state Legislature, who hold a wide majority, or did in the last session, and I think are expected to hold a majority again in the upcoming session. They've indicated that they'll oppose that legislation if it's introduced, but I think we'll hear a lot about that over the interim and as we get into the next session.
Sally Mauk Minnesota seems, Rob and Holly, like a political inflection point, but the election is still several months away, and attention spans are both short and easily overwhelmed.
Rob Saldin Yeah, absolutely. And the question of how long this stays at the forefront of people's minds is a big one. Immigration is an issue that for some years has favored Republicans, they've been much closer to where public opinion is than the Democrats have been, it does seem possible that what's been happening on the streets of Minneapolis may have upended that or at least inserted a new set of considerations into the mix, but we'll have to see, Sally, how long this lingers. You know, is this one of those events that's going to stay in the national psyche for months and years to come in the way that, say, Selma and Kent State have, or is it going to be swamped by the next big thing with Iran or with tariffs or whatever it may be? We'll see.
Holly Michels I was actually thinking about that this morning when I got up and noticed the home pages of national outlets I check – New York Times, Washington Post – Minnesota was a lot less prevalent. I'm thinking, okay, that's falling out of what people are seeing when they're opening their feeds. But then at the same time, looking at social media, there's a lot of businesses around Montana who are taking a stand today, saying, 'Hey, we're closing down or donating our profits or proceeds in protest to ICE.' So there is a fair amount of energy, I think, and awareness still there, so I'm curious to see how it plays out over the next few weeks and months.
Sally Mauk Well, I think it was fitting that this week ended with an actual small earthquake. And Rob and Holly, thank you. I'll talk to you next week.
Campaign Beat is MTPR's weekly political analysis program. MTPR's Sally Mauk is joined by Montana Free Press Managing Editor Holly Michels and UM Political Science Professor and Mansfield Center Fellow Rob Saldin. Tune in on-air Fridays at 5:45 p.m. during All Things Considered, or Saturdays at 9:45 a.m., before Weekend Edition. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
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