For many Americans, the first introduction to Jacob Frey may have come this week in the form of press conference footage in 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 latest Democratic-led city to be targeted by the president’s stepped-up deportation 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.”

The mayor’s statement “was very forceful in tone, sure, and in turn, probably represents the feelings of most Minneapolis residents,” said Andy 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 Floyd was 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 a mass shooting at the city’s Annunciation Church; and more recently, President Donald Trump broadly attacked the state’s Somali community after reports of fraud involving Somali immigrants.

Then, on Jan. 7, a U.S. immigration agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in her vehicle, an encounter captured on video and 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 Humphrey would be very proud of the kind of leadership that Mayor Frey is showing right now.”

Frey’s path to mayor

Frey, a native of Northern 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.

Prosecutors in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division were told they will not play a role in the ongoing investigation into a fatal shooting of a woman in Minneapolis by a federal immigration officer, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Leadership in the Civil Rights Division, overseen by Harmeet Dhillon, informed staff in the division’s criminal section that there would not be an investigation, two sources said. Normally, after a high-profile incident involving a fatal shooting by an officer, attorneys from the criminal section fly out to the scene. Multiple career prosecutors offered to do so in this case, but they were told not to do so, one of the sources added. 

While investigations into the excessive use of force can be pursued solely by a U.S. Attorney’s office without direct involvement from the Civil Rights Division, it is customary for the division’s federal prosecutors to take the lead on high-profile investigations like the one in Minnesota.

The decision also raises questions about how far the FBI’s investigation into the shooting will go. 

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. 

On Thursday, the Justice Department announced that the FBI was leading the investigation into the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.

Video footage shows the officer, identified in court records from a prior incident as Jonathan Ross, fired three rounds at the car as Good started to drive away.

The video also appeared to depict the officers did not take immediate steps to ensure that Good received emergency medical care after the shooting took place. A separate video from the scene showed officers stopping a man who claimed to be a doctor from moving toward Good. 

The killing has sparked protests nationwide, including in New York, Miami, Los Angeles and Detroit.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has argued that Ross was acting in self-defense, and claimed that Good was trying to use her car as a weapon in an act of “domestic terrorism.”

That description sparked immediate backlash from state and city officials, with the mayor of Minneapolis labeling the self-defense claims as “bulls***.”

On Friday, Trump administration officials shared another cellphone video of the incident that sources say was recorded by the ICE officer. The White House argues this video shows Ross was hit by Good’s car.

The Justice Department has stopped short of claiming Ross was acting in self-defense. 

But in a statement to CBS News this week, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said that the use of deadly force by law enforcement officials can sometimes be justified.

“Federal agents risk their lives each day to safeguard our communities. They must make decisions, under dynamic and chaotic circumstances, in less time than it took to read this sentence,” Blanche said.

“The law does not require police to gamble with their lives in the face of a serious threat of harm. Rather, they may use deadly force when they face an immediate threat of significant physical harm,” he added.

The criminal section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division specializes in investigating and prosecuting constitutional violations by law enforcement officers. 

Some of the most common investigations involve excessive use of force, but can also include other things such as sexual misconduct, false arrests or deliberate indifference to serious medical needs.

One of the most famous civil rights prosecutions by the section in recent years took place in Minneapolis, after former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd in May 2020.

Chauvin pleaded guilty to willfully depriving, while acting under color of law, Floyd’s constitutional rights, as well as the rights of a 14-year-old boy.

Since President Trump took office last year, the Civil Rights Division has scaled back its work on excessive force prosecutions, according to legal experts. 

Last year, it sought to downplay the conviction of a former Louisville police officer who was convicted of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights and asked a federal judge to sentence him to serve just one day in prison.

The judge ultimately sentenced him to serve 33 months.

Tensions remained high on Friday as two separate shootings involving immigration agents in Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon, drew protesters to the streets and deepened fractures between federal and state officials.

In Portland, a U.S. Border Patrol officer shot and wounded two people on Jan. 8. The Department of Homeland Security called the driver a suspected Venezuelan gang member who “weaponized his vehicle.” Local officials called for a transparent investigation and demanded that federal agents leave the city.

The shooting came one day after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, in her car in Minneapolis. The incident, caught on video, sparked fierce backlash as protesters, as well as local and state officials, refuted the Trump administration’s description of the shooting.

Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said it was forced to withdraw from an investigation into the deadly shooting after federal authorities withheld case materials and evidence. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said the state doesn’t have jurisdiction.

Protests ramped up overnight with large demonstrations taking place in Portland, Minneapolis, New York City, Washington, D.C. and Phoenix, Arizona. The Portland Police Bureau said on Jan. 9 that six people were arrested during protests near an ICE facility. More demonstrations are expected over the weekend.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said the state’s Department of Justice is investigating the shooting in Portland involving a Border Patrol agent.