Trump Accuses Minneapolis Mayor of ‘Very Serious Violation of the Law’ Over Immigration Enforcement

President Donald Trump accused Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey of breaking the law on Wednesday after Frey stated that “Minneapolis does not and will not enforce federal immigration laws.”

“Could somebody in his inner sanctum please explain that this statement is a very serious violation of the Law, and that he is PLAYING WITH FIRE!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday in response.

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Frey made the comment in a social media post the previous day, saying he had “made it clear” to White House border czar Tom Homan, who Trump has dispatched to Minneapolis to take over his Administration’s immigration operations in the area, that local officers would not carry out federal immigration enforcement.

Trump had appeared to soften his tone toward the mayor, as well as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, earlier this week as the President sought to quell bipartisan backlash to his immigration crackdown following the second fatal shooting by federal agents in the city in less than three weeks.

He characterized Frey’s statement as surprising in his Tuesday post, noting that it came after what he called “a very good conversation” with the mayor—before ratcheting up the rhetoric again with his accusation.

Frey engaged further, responding to the President that “the job of our police is to keep people safe, not enforce fed immigration laws.” 

Read more: On Thin ICE in Minneapolis: How Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Sparked a Crisis of Trust

Courts have repeatedly ruled that the federal government cannot force states and cities to enforce its immigration laws and have rejected challenges to so-called sanctuary city policies that limit local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal enforcement operations. 

In the Supreme Court’s 1997 Printz v. United States ruling, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the majority opinion that “it is incontestible that the Constitution established a system of ‘dual sovereignty.’ Although the States surrendered many of their powers to the new Federal Government, they retained ‘a residuary and inviolable sovereignty.’”

Scalia reiterated the court’s ruling in a prior case that “the Federal Government may not compel the States to enact or administer a federal regulatory program.” Requiring local law enforcement officers to help enforce aspects of a federal law—in the case at issue in Printz, background check requirements for firearm purchasers—“plainly runs afoul of that rule,” he wrote.

Legal experts have previously told TIME that though the federal government has “exclusive” jurisdiction in enforcing immigration policy, states and localities are within their rights to resist cooperating with federal law enforcement.

City and state leaders such as Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have previously pushed back against Trump’s immigration crackdown by barring local authorities from cooperating with federal officers. Illinois and Minnesota have also sued the Administration in an effort to stop the surge of federal immigration agents into their states.

Such legal challenges are another mechanism through which states can push back against federal immigration enforcement. But legal experts have told TIME that unless a court decides to block the federal activity, the extent to which state and local authorities can resist such operations is effectively limited to restricting their cooperation. 

Trump, for his part, has sought to crack down on that non-cooperation by levying repeated threats and attacks against cities and states with sanctuary policies in place during both his presidential terms, contending that they shield “criminals.”

“No more Sanctuary Cities! They protect the Criminals, not the Victims. They are disgracing our Country, and are being mocked all over the World. Working on papers to withhold all Federal Funding for any City or State that allows these Death Traps to exist!!!” wrote on Truth Social last April.

Amid escalating backlash against his aggressive immigration agenda, Trump on Sunday called for Congress “to immediately pass legislation to END Sanctuary Cities.”

“American Cities should be Safe Sanctuaries for Law Abiding American Citizens ONLY, not Illegal Alien Criminals who broke our Nation’s Laws,” he wrote on Truth Social.

The President also recently threatened—again—to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities. Courts have previously ruled against similar moves Trump has made in the past, however.