Episode 941: Chad Wolf on ICE in Minneapolis

Summary

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Newt's World – Episode 941: Chad Wolf on ICE in Minneapolis

Date: February 1, 2026
Host: Newt Gingrich
Guest: Chad Wolf (Chair, America First Policy Institute’s Homeland Security and Immigration Division; former Acting Secretary, DHS)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Newt Gingrich sits down with Chad Wolf to discuss the recent ICE operations crisis in Minneapolis, Minnesota—a city currently at the epicenter of national controversy over immigration enforcement, officer-involved shootings, and sanctuary policy debates. The conversation delves into the underlying policy and political dynamics, contrasts with other states, examines the role and rhetoric of local leadership, and features an exclusive press conference from Tom Homan, President Trump’s "border czar," now overseeing ICE operations in Minnesota.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Crisis Context in Minneapolis

• Under President Biden, millions of undocumented immigrants were resettled in the U.S. interior. With the Trump administration’s new border policies sealing illegal entry, enforcement focus has shifted to addressing those already inside the country, especially dangerous or criminal elements [(04:08)].
• Over the past three and a half weeks, three officer-involved shootings occurred in Minneapolis during ICE operations—two were fatal, fueling further political and community tension [(04:08)].
• Tom Homan, a career immigration enforcer and former Obama appointee, was dispatched to Minnesota to bring order and facilitate cooperation with local officials [(05:41)].

2. Challenges from Local Politics & Rhetoric

• Minnesota’s Democratic leadership—including Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey—has adopted a highly oppositional stance toward ICE operations, filing an 80-page lawsuit against DHS and employing confrontational rhetoric [(06:30), (07:17)].
• Chad Wolf attributes much of the public unrest and violence to local leaders’ inflammatory directives, which label ICE officers as “Nazis,” “propaganda machines,” and “executioners,” ultimately inciting aggressive street protests [(07:17)]:

  "They also are referred to as Nazis and propaganda machines and executioners. And what that does over time is it activates the activists, it activates the residents there..." – Chad Wolf [07:17]

• Wolf argues these tactics are counterproductive, leading to more officers operating in communities rather than jails, increasing risk for everyone [(09:55)].

3. The Impact of Sanctuary Policies

• Minneapolis’s sanctuary policies prevent city and county jails from holding criminal illegal aliens for ICE pickup, instead releasing them on bail and forcing ICE into dangerous neighborhood operations [(09:26), (09:55)].
• Paradoxically, these policies make communities less safe and drive up the required ICE presence, according to Wolf:

  "The mayors that say we are a sanctuary city are actually encouraging more ICE officers in their community because of their policies." – Chad Wolf [09:55]

• There are signs of evolving policy: Tom Homan’s negotiations appeared to yield preliminary agreements for ICE to access jails for targeted arrests, potentially de-escalating street confrontations [(09:55)].

4. Comparing Minnesota to Florida

• Florida, under Governor DeSantis, maintains a 287(g) agreement, fostering close ICE-local law enforcement cooperation for smoothly identifying and detaining criminal illegal immigrants [(14:58)].
• Wolf emphasizes: Trump’s ICE is not asking Minnesota to reach that level, but only to allow ICE to enter jails to pick up 1,300 current criminal detainees—a request that was until recently refused [(14:58)].

5. Data and Success of Immigration Enforcement

• The Trump administration, credited with a dramatic decrease (90%) in illegal border crossings, now targets removal of criminal aliens, many with final orders after due process [(19:56)].
• Notable statistics:

  "During President Trump's first year, ICE arrested 43,000 potential national security risks, 1,400 known or suspected terrorists, and has removed 1,390 of them and more than 7,000 gang members." – Newt Gingrich [21:49]

• Wolf contends Democrats resist Trump’s policies primarily out of partisan opposition, despite broad public support for law enforcement effectiveness [(22:40)].

6. Funding ICE and the Political Fight

• Democrats have escalated to threats of defunding ICE and shutting down the government over the agency’s operations, tied to outrage over Minneapolis events [(27:26)].
• Wolf warns of the risks:

  "To simply say, I'm going to shut the government down because I want to defund ICE... What they're saying is I want criminal illegal aliens to stay here in the United States." – Chad Wolf [27:48]

7. Organized Opposition to ICE

• Questions rise about whether some anti-ICE protests are coordinated and funded operations, rather than spontaneous community actions [29:21].

  "I can just, given my experience... I would say 50% of those violent agitators, probably even more, are paid. They are networked, they are funded. And this is now a professional atmosphere." – Chad Wolf [29:39]

• Both Wolf and Gingrich stress the legal dividing line between protest and obstruction/violence against law enforcement [(31:42)].

8. America First Policy Institute’s Vision

• Wolf describes AFPI as a “do tank,” focusing on action-oriented, real-world policy implementation for national security, border control, economic prosperity, and more [(33:38), (35:04)].

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On local rhetoric fueling unrest:

  "If the residents hear local leaders say that they are the enemy, well, then you're going to go out into the streets and you're going to act like they're the enemy." — Chad Wolf [07:17]

• On sanctuary policy paradox:

  "The irony... mayors that say we are a sanctuary city are actually encouraging more ICE officers in their community because of their policies." — Chad Wolf [09:55]

• On Democrat political risks:

  "To shut down the federal government because you don't like how ICE is doing its job is wild to me." — Chad Wolf [27:48]

• On the right to protest vs. the law:

  "Your right of free speech is not your right of obstruction." — Newt Gingrich [31:08]

• On Homan’s credibility:

  "He’s walked the walk, right? He’s done the midnight patrols, he’s been on the border late at night, he’s seen cartel members, he’s removed dangerous people." — Chad Wolf [18:34]

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Tom Homan's Press Conference Highlights

Timestamps below refer to Homan’s speech (35:39–55:14):

• Intro and Aim:
  Homan calls for solutions, not photo ops, after being dispatched by President Trump to restore law and order. Emphasizes that public safety is a shared value even when there are disagreements [(35:39)].

• On Jail Cooperation:

  “Give us access to the illegal alien public safety threat in the safety and security of a jail... It’s safer for the community, it’s safer for the agent and they’re safer for the alien because anything can happen on the street.” [(43:39)]

• Operational Impact of Sanctuary Policy:
  When jails deny ICE access, operations expand into neighborhoods, requiring 15–16 agents versus just one if cooperation occurs in the jail—raising risks for everyone [(45:39)].

• Clarification on ICE Targeting:

  “We will conduct targeted enforcement operations. Targeted. What we've done for decades, when we hit the streets, we know exactly who we're looking for... not surrendering the President’s mission.” [(47:39)]

• On Public Rhetoric:

  “The hostile rhetoric and dangerous threats and hate must stop. And we all agreed to that... because of the rhetoric, because of the threats, because of the assaults, having sent security teams out with arrest teams which surge the city with additional resources.” [(50:38)]

• Final Plea on Law and Common Sense:

  “If you don’t like what ICE is doing, instead of protesting this building, go protest Congress... ICE is enforcing laws enacted by Congress and signed by the President... I started with President Reagan and ending with President Trump. Every administration, we enforced the same laws.” [(53:39)]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Start Time | |-------------------------------------------------|------------| | Introduction of Topic & Chad Wolf | 02:40 | | What’s Happening in Minnesota (ICE crisis) | 03:55 | | Sanctuary policy & local political conflict | 06:30 | | Cultural/Political Roots of Sanctuary Crisis | 09:26 | | Comparison: Florida vs Minnesota | 14:45 | | Nationwide ICE Enforcement Statistics | 16:43 | | Tom Homan's Credentials & Role | 18:03 | | Impact of Trump Border Policies | 19:30 | | National Security Threat Removals Statistics | 21:49 | | Political Opposition and Funding ICE | 27:26 | | Organized (Funded) Protest Allegations | 29:21 | | AFPI’s Mission | 33:11 | | Tom Homan’s Full Press Conference | 35:39 |

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Conclusion

This episode provides a comprehensive, insider’s view of the ICE enforcement crisis in Minneapolis, illuminating the consequences of sanctuary policies, the effects of anti-ICE rhetoric, and recent policy shifts. Through candid discussion, granular policy analysis, and first-hand insights from Tom Homan’s press conference, Newt’s World highlights both the complexity of immigration enforcement and the political, operational challenges ICE faces—offering unique context rarely found in mainstream media reporting. The tone throughout is serious, frank, and defense-oriented, in line with the “America First” policy focus.

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For more on the America First Policy Institute:
americafirstpolicy.com

Transcript

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[Newt Gingrich]

On this episode of Newts World, we're going to discuss the recent events in Minnesota, including Tom Homan's arrival there and his press conference on Thursday morning. I'm really pleased to welcome my guest, Chad Wolf. He serves as chair of America First Policy Institute's Homeland Security and Immigration Division. He is responsible for the day to day management and strategic direction of AFPI with a focus on setting policy goals and research priorities. And I must say I've worked with AFPI from its founding. It's an extraordinarily important action oriented operation that has provided an enormous amount of resources to the Trump administration on the policy front. Prior to joining AFBI, Wolf served as Acting Secretary of the U.S. department of Homeland Security. So he's really remarkably prepared to have this discussion. Chad, welcome and thank you for joining me again on Newsworld.

[Chad Wolf]

Yeah, well, thanks for having me. It's great to be here.

[Newt Gingrich]

I think people are very confused about what's going on, partly because of the videos, the television coverage, etc. From your perspective, what's actually happening in Minnesota with ICE?

[Chad Wolf]

Yeah, I think it's a good question to say how did we get here? How did we get to such a sort of a chaotic environment in Minneapolis? And I have to tell you, it starts with four years of an open border under Joe Biden. Right. So when President Trump came into office in early 25, they closed the border, they closed the borders to illegal entries. Apprehension numbers are low. So they sealed off the border, so they stopped millions of coming into the border. But now you have to deal with the millions that Joe Biden resettled into the interior of the country. Right. And so now the focus shifts from the border to trying to find those public safety and national security threats. And so that's what ICE is doing across the country. Obviously in Minneapolis, it's a challenge. You have sanctuary policies, you have local leaders that are very hostile, saying some very dangerous rhetoric which puts ICE officers in danger. And when that happens, you have to surge more resources to protect those officers. Unfortunately, over the last three and a half weeks, we've had three officer involved shootings, two of which have been fatal. And I think over that period of time, President Trump really didn't like what he was seeing, wanted a different change in strategy. And so he deployed Tom Homan, who's been up there for two and a half days, I think is making some progress on trying to bring down the temperature so that ICE can do what its mission is, which is to do targeted operations against dangerous criminals and remove them from the country and to protect the people of Minneapolis and Minnesota.

[Newt Gingrich]

Man Homan himself is sort of a almost legendary figure, isn't he? 40 years experience.

[Chad Wolf]

He does. He's got 30 plus years of both being a border patrol agent and an ICE agent. So he knows both sides of the coin there. He understands that mission in an operational capacity unlike any others, including myself and even the current secretary. He just has a operational understanding of what it's going to take to get the job done and the mission done. And so he's uniquely qualified and positioned to go in there and to talk to those local leaders to say, look, you can go out and say whatever you want to on TV because your politics are different than mine. But here's what we need to make sure that our ICE officers are safe and can do their mission and to protect the residents of Minneapolis.

[Newt Gingrich]

Now, some of the background to the intensity in Minnesota comes from the nature of the Minnesota Democratic party. Back on January 12th, the Minnesota Attorney General, Keith Ellison filed an 80 page lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security. It has all sorts of wild charges that their enforcement violated the first Amendment, the tenth Amendment, the Administrative Procedure act, et cetera, and what the state deems the Constitution's, quote, equal sovereignty principle, which, as a historian, I don't think I ever encountered the concept of equal sovereignty between the federal government and a state. To what extent is the politics and the tone of Minnesota a problem?

[Chad Wolf]

Well, I think it's a huge problem. I think if you look at ICE operations across the country, and I would say in 98% of jurisdictions across the country, they don't have this issue, they don't have this chaos and this violence. They do their job largely out of the public spotlight and they do it in cooperation with local officials to get those public safety threats off of the street and removed out of the country. But when you have a place like Minnesota that between the governor, the mayor and the attorney general are saying some pretty wild things, things that historically have been so off the table, but seems to be commonplace now. I mean, you had the governor say that DHS and ICE was not a law enforcement agency. And nothing could be further from the truth. These are sworn law enforcement officers. They carry a badge, they carry a gun. They have arrest authorities, they remove criminals from our street. They can arrest US Citizens that are breaking the law. These are law enforcement officers, but they also are referred to as Nazis and propaganda machines and executioners. And what that does over time is it activates the Activists, it activates the residents there, because if the residents hear local leaders say that they are the enemy, well, then you're going to go out into the streets and you're going to act like they're the enemy. And so I think that's why the temperature and the chaos and the violence is raised to such a level in Minneapolis. And a large part of it is because of the actions of the governor, the mayor, and the attorney general. The lawsuit speaker that you talked about, it's absolutely ridiculous, but they're playing more to their politics than they are actually doing their jobs, which is to say, I've got an illegal alien who commits a crime in Minneapolis. He goes into a city jail, ICE gets notified. They ask the jail to hold that individual until they can arrive and pick him up. And the jail and the police say, no, we're going to release him on bail. And now they have to go into a neighborhood and find that individual. So it's policies and rhetoric. The combination of the two, in my opinion, is what's a big part of why Minneapolis is currently out of control.

[Newt Gingrich]

You wrote a Fox News op ed saying that Mayor Fry and Governor Tim Waltz's sanctuary policies actually created the conditions for tragedy. They had the same problem back in the riots in 2020 when Waltz refused to act for days and the city burned. What is there about the politics and the culture of Minneapolis that leads to these kind of radical sanctuary policies?

[Chad Wolf]

You know, in 2020, I spent a lot of time in Portland dealing with this as well. And the two are similar in some respects, which is to say, I think they value law enforcement. But what it appears is that they value more is the ability for residents and others to do whatever they like. Right. You have this culture of protest that the problem with that is if it stays nonviolent, it's fine. But what we see time and time again is it turns to violence. And then with sanctuary policies, the whole idea of sanctuary, it's kind of ironic because what the mayor is doing, he's actually encouraging more ICE officers in his community, because instead of picking up a dangerous individual in their jail, that can be done by two ICE officers going into a jail setting, picking up two criminal illegal aliens and deporting them. It now takes a team of 15 to 20 ICE officers to go into a neighborhood and find that same individual. And as they're in that neighborhood, then you have neighbors starting to come out and they're interested in what's going on, and they don't like ice. Right. And then violence starts to happen. So it's ironic to me a little bit that the mayors that say we are a sanctuary city are actually encouraging more ICE officers in their community because of their policies. And what you heard recently from Tom Homan, who gave a press conference in Minneapolis, is it appears as though they're starting to have some agreement to allow ICE to go into Minnesota jails to pick up criminal illegal aliens. It's like if you just would have had that position months ago, we could have avoided all this. That's what they've been asking for for years. You could have avoided all of this. But playing politics over public safety, in my view.

[Podcast Host]

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[Newt Gingrich]

You draw a very interesting contrast between Minnesota and Florida. From your perspective, what's been the difference in how these two states have reacted?

[Chad Wolf]

Florida Governor DeSantis has been very forward leaning. There's an agreement, it's called a 287 agreement, that allows local law enforcement, particularly in the state of Florida, but anywhere across the country, to work hand in hand with ice so that if they pull someone over for speeding and they find out after they run some checks that this individual is here illegally, well guess what, they can put them in their jail, they'll call ICE and ICE will come pick them up instead of having to have ICE there on the side of the road with them to arrest that individual. Right. So it's cooperation. And so a 287 agreement allows local law enforcement, particularly in the state of Florida, but elsewhere, state of Texas and others, to work with ICE to remove these dangerous folks. But to be honest, the Trump administration is not even asking Minnesota to do that. That would be great that they're not even asking him to do that. All they're saying is right now, today, There are over 1300 criminal illegal aliens in city and county jails in Minnesota throughout the state. ICE wants the ability to go into those jails, pick them up, and to deport them. They're here in the country illegally and they've committed a crime here in the United States. Minnesota has said, no, you cannot do that and we will release them on bail and you'll have to go out into our neighborhoods and find them, you'll have to find them another way. And so now we've come full circle because it sounds like Tom Homan is getting agreements to go into jails and to pick these dangerous people up.

[Newt Gingrich]

You have 1300 arrested in Minnesota. What would that suggest, for example, about California jails or New York jails or Illinois jails?

[Chad Wolf]

Oh, it's thousands, hundreds of thousands across the country. It happens every day. Every day, illegal aliens are getting arrested because they assault someone or they burglarize something or they do something even more terrible, such as a stabbing or killing or whatever it might be. And they're getting arrested all the time. And as soon as they're arrested, ICE gets notified, they get notified. And what they do is they will call there in Minneapolis, they'll say, I'm going to lodge a detainer, which is just simply a request to say, please hold this individual until I can get there. Right. Until I can get an officer there. With so many of these going on all at once, as you can imagine, they can't get there right away. So sometimes it takes a day, two days, three days for them to get there. And all the detainer says is, please hold them in your jail until I get there. And what we see specifically in sanctuary cities, they say, no, we're not going to do that, because, quote, we've been told by our leadership, the mayor, the governor, whoever's in charge of that city, that we are a sanctuary city and that we don't cooperate with ice. So we're going to release these folks when it's time to release them, and we hope you can find them. But that's what's going on. So, yeah, absolutely. Across the country, there are thousands. Now, luckily, in most cities and most states, ICE detainers are recognized and adhered to, but not in sanctuary cities.

[Newt Gingrich]

You know, I didn't realize that Homan actually had been with the Obama administration and has a serious background on a totally nonpartisan basis. It seems to me in that sense that he's almost the perfect person. He headed up Obama's ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations arm. So it's pretty hard to argue that he's not just an American citizen doing his job. Don't you think that gives him an enormous advantage?

[Chad Wolf]

Oh, 100%. And Tom talked about that at his press conference here recently in Minnesota. I mean, talked about working for six different presidents, including President Obama, who gave him an award. He gave him an honor because of his work at ICE and doing what he does. Obviously, he's an outspoken proponent of President Trump and President Trump's views about the border and interior enforcement and all of that, and that's fine. But what he has is credibility. He has credibility not only with ICE and cbp, but he has credibility with local sheriffs, local law enforcement and others because he's walked the walk, right? He's done the midnight patrols, he's been on the border late at night, he's seen cartel members, he's removed dangerous people. So he's not the political appointee who's just running the department for four years or whatever it might be, but he's done this job for 30 plus years. So, yes, absolutely. Uniquely qualified to do this.

[Newt Gingrich]

And this also fits the whole Trump focus, which on the border, I have to say, has been so much more effective. The degree to which they have reduced illegal entry I think is breathtaking and almost unimaginable. As somebody who's right in the middle of it, what's your reaction to their record of stopping illegal immigrants from coming in?

[Chad Wolf]

Oh, it's incredible. I think for those of us that have worked along the border, we're working with the transition team to try to put some of these policies in place. We knew we could turn it around. But I think the speed in which they did, I think surprised a lot of people. And so that's a testament to President Trump and his vision. Stephen Miller and a variety of others at the department that were able to do that. And you've seen apprehension numbers fall almost 90%, maybe even higher. Depends on what day and what week you're looking at the numbers. 90%, those apprehension numbers along the border have fallen. They've stopped releasing mass releases of illegal aliens into the interior, which is how we got to the problem that we are today. And so the border has been an overwhelming success. And a large part of that is the CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott there. And so now the attention has shifted to, okay, now let's understand the millions of people that President Biden let into the country. Let's understand where they are, who they are, why they're here, because very few of them were vetted. And for those that don't have any legal right to be here, have a final order of removal, have had their due process before an immigration judge, the Immigration Board of Appeals, and likely a circuit judge every time saying that they have no legal right to be here. Those are the targets that Tom Homan's talking about to say, those are the folks that we need to go pick up. And I think the legacy media and others, I think, at times intentionally try to confuse what ICE is doing. They continually talk about how ICE is just willy nilly driving down the street, picking up people, you know, because they're brown. That's not what ICE is doing. They have targeted packages. They know exactly who they're going to pick up, and they do that in a very professional way.

[Newt Gingrich]

I was struck. The report was that during President Trump's first year, ICE arrested 43,000 potential national security risks, 1400 known or suspected terrorists, and has removed 1390 of them and more than 7000 gang members. That's an extraordinary achievement at a time when the country under Biden was frankly falling apart and we had all sorts of Venezuelan and Mexican and El Salvadoran gangs running around. You would think that even the Democrats would see that it was useful to America to be able to get rid of 1400 terrorists and 7000 gang members. How do you read the way the Democratic Party has decided to react to all this?

[Chad Wolf]

Yeah, I think two things. You know, it's probably a heavy dose of Trump derangement syndrome. I think if President Trump's for it, they're against it in some sense of the word. I think they don't like the way in which the President talks about his actions or talks about his policy and what he views as dangerous criminals and coming in from Venezuela and others. But the data all backs it up. They may not like it, but that's not to say that the work shouldn't be done. As I've said here recently, I think the majority of Americans want ICE to do their job, want the border to be secure. They want law enforcement in general to do their job. I would also say at the same time, they don't want to see chaos. They don't want to see that on their television screens. So they would rather have law enforcement just do it quietly, do it in the background, make sure the threats get out. But when it's constantly on your screen and you have outlets like NBC and cbs. I just did an interview with NBC and their intro to our segment was so misleading that you would have no idea of the actual facts. So I think some people get confused and lose sight of that. But if you look at the results of what you just laid out, some of that data, you have to come to the conclusion that we are undoubtedly safer and more secure as a country now than at any time during the four years of President Biden.

[Podcast Host]

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[Newt Gingrich]

The Democrats have decided to make a major fight over funding ice. And in the short run, because of the emotions coming out of the shooting in Minneapolis, they have some advantage. But in the long run, don't they run the risk of becoming the party of open borders and allowing criminals to stay here and blocking law enforcement?

[Chad Wolf]

Well, I think they do. I think it's almost a throwback to 2020 with the defund the police and the abolish ICE movement that was strong in 2020, that I think, you know, wasn't good for them in the long run. I don't think that the majority of Americans agree with that position. As the saying goes, they smell blood in the water and they're going to try to take advantage of this. To shut down the federal government. Because you don't like how ICE is doing its job is wild to me. Right. ICE is fulfilling its mission given to them by Congress. If you don't like the fact that ICE is picking up certain classes of individuals here in the country illegally, well, then change the law. Or if you want to see every ICE officer wear a body camera, that's fine. Fund that, do certain logical things. But to simply say, I'm going to shut the government down because I want to defund ice. All the public safety threats that you just talked about, those would all be on the streets. The communities out there would be far less safe than they are now if ICE wasn't doing its job. Because if ICE isn't doing it, if ICE isn't removing these individuals, no one else will. No one else has the authority to pick up someone from Venezuela who's committed a crime, pick them up and to remove them back to Venezuela or back to a third country. No one but ICE has the authority to do that. And so all these politicians and basically the Democrats, they want to say, I want to defund ice. What they're saying is I want criminal illegal aliens to stay here in the United States. That's what they're saying to the American people.

[Newt Gingrich]

The other question that I've seen in some chat rooms is Whether or not some of the opposition to ICE is organized and paid for and is a really structured effort to obstruct the law. Do you have any sense of that?

[Chad Wolf]

I think so. I mean, you hear Tom Homan, Director Patel, AG Bondi, and others saying that that is something that they are actively working on as far as trying to understand the financing, who's behind it, and how that network looks. And that's probably only a job that the FBI and other investigators can't do, because it's complex and they hide it pretty well. But I can just, given my experience and what I've seen over the years, I can tell you there in Minneapolis, I would say 50% of those violent agitators, probably even more, are paid. They are networked, they are funded. And this is now a professional atmosphere there in Minneapolis. It's no longer spontaneous. It's no longer just residents. They are being organized and paid in a way that tells you that they have some type of financial backing. And I'm as eager as anyone to see what an investigation into that looks like.

[Newt Gingrich]

It strikes me that to have a paid operation to obstruct the law is itself illegal.

[Chad Wolf]

Absolutely. Look, you can pay folks to go out there and stand on the street and call ICE all sorts of names and tell them to get out of their community, but once they cross that line and they start impeding and interfering in law enforcement operations, that's against the law. If you want to assault a law enforcement officer, that's a felony. Right. So as they start to do all these things, most of which these days is on tape, the difference between the.

[Newt Gingrich]

Right to protest and the right to obstruct is a huge line in that the whole nature of our Constitution prohibits you from. From stopping the government of the United States. If the Congress has voted for it, the President has signed it, the President is executing it. It's now a constitutional act. And if you're out there actively organizing to obstruct that act, you're clearly in violation of the law. Whereas you have every right as a citizen to go out there and complain about it. I mean, your right of free speech is not your right of obstruction.

[Chad Wolf]

That's exactly right. And I think that's the point that I've been really trying to emphasize over these last several weeks with all these different shootings and everything else, particularly this last shooting of Alex Preddy. They say, well, he has a concealed carry, like that's his constitutional right. And I don't disagree with that. If he would have sat on the sidelines and yelled at ICE and tell them that they're bad people or whatever it is he wanted to do. But as soon as he inserted himself into that law enforcement operation, as soon as he pushed an officer, as soon as he didn't do what the officer asked, he's now breaking the law. And you can't do that. You wouldn't do that. I don't think the vast majority of people, if they see an FBI criminal operation going down in their neighborhood, I don't think they're running up to FBI agents and trying to tackle them because they would get arrested or worse. And I think most people agree with that. But somehow, over time, and I think it's largely because of the rhetoric from the left, people are viewing ICE as a inferior law enforcement operation, almost like a mall cop, where you can go up and you can push them and you can call them all sorts of names and then you can run away, they won't chase you, they won't arrest you, you can spit at them, you can even assault them and then run away and it's all fine. None of that is okay. You're going to get arrested or worse. Right. Depending on what you do. And I think people need to understand that.

[Newt Gingrich]

On a totally different topic, I think what you're doing and what you're helping lead at America First Policy Institute is so important. And I think people, because it's really been a behind the scenes, empower the Trump administration, very methodical, action oriented operation. Could you just take a minute or two and talk about your vision of what America First Policy is all about and what it's trying to achieve?

[Chad Wolf]

Sure. We created AFPI in 2021, shortly after the first term of the Trump administration. And our view at that time, and it continues to be our view, which is this America first sort of renaissance that President Trump brought in in the first term. The policies, if you look at the policies of that America first movement and agenda, these are policies that benefit every American across all issue sets, not just ICE and homeland security, but the economy and healthcare. And so we went to work at afpi, certainly during the Biden administration, to say there's a different way to look at our challenges here in the United States. And then, of course, as President Trump comes to power, we did a lot of work to help his administration get a head start on that through some transition planning and others. So there's a lot of conservative think tanks around town that have been around DC For a lot of time. We like to think that we've got some newer thoughts and realistic. A lot of people at AFPI have been in the government, so we know what works and doesn't work. Just faith, freedom, strong national security. But to do that in an America first approach, sometimes we buck the trend, just like President Trump does. Sometimes we buck the trend, but we see a new way of looking at all of these challenges in a little different light than historically has been looked at.

[Newt Gingrich]

You're an action tank more than a think tank.

[Chad Wolf]

That's right. DEW tank. We like to say. Yeah, do tank.

[Newt Gingrich]

I like that. Listen, I want to thank you for joining me. Our listeners can learn more about America First Policy Institute and the great work you are doing by visiting your [e-mail] and I thought this was a very helpful conversation.

[Chad Wolf]

Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

[Newt Gingrich]

I think Tom Homan's press conference in Minneapolis on Thursday morning was, was very important and informative. So I'd like to play it in its entirety for you now without any commercial interruption.

[Tom Homan]

I've been on the ground less than three full days. I got in here Monday. President of the United States called me Monday morning and asked me to deploy here. Got here Monday evening and I'm staying. So the problem's gone. But we've made a lot of progress, a lot of progress in the last three days. Marcos Charles, he's running ice operations here. Rodney Scott, Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, stand here beside me. Good morning. I'm Tom Holman. I'm the border czar for President Trump. I'm here on behalf of the president along with U.S. commissioners, you, commissioner of U.S. customers, border Pateks and Rodney Scott and Marcos Charles, who's leading the enforcement effort here right now. I've been on the ground since Monday to regain law and order in the city beloved by me and work together to remove threats from the community. During the past administration we'll all remember, more than 10 million illegal aliens entered this nation. Many were national security threats, public safety threats. We can't remember where. 2 million, 2 million known gotaways, 2 million people who paid more to get away. Why, that should scare the hell out of everybody. President Trump promised American people, including the residents of Minnesota, that he would work to ensure our communities are safe. And with that, this administration is absolutely focused on identifying removable aliens that pose a public safety threat and national security threats. And the numbers prove it. The data proves it. In the past few days, I've met with Governor Walts, Attorney General Ellison, Mayor Fry, numerous police chiefs and sheriffs, and I have more to meet. I'll also be continuing the dialogue with business and religious leaders in partnership in Minnesota. Your communities. I'll be meeting with them too, because I want to hear what they have to say. In my meetings with folks so far, and most importantly the governor and the ag, the mayor Fry, we didn't agree on everything. I didn't expect to agree on anything. I've heard many people want to know why we're talking to people who they don't consider friends in administration. Bottom line is you can't fix problems if you don't have discussions. I didn't come to Minnesota for photo ops or headlines. You haven't seen me. I came here to seek solutions and that's what we're going to do. And we've come a long way and we got some good wins for the people of Minnesota, I think, and for the administration and for the safety security of this city. One thing we did agree on, though everybody I talked to agreed on was that community safety is paramount. One thing we all agreed on was U.S. immigration Customs Enforcement is a legitimate law enforcement agency, has a duty to enforce the laws enacted by Congress and keep this community safe. Like I've said many times for last several years, even before this administration, jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities are sanctuaries for criminals. Sanctuary cities are sanctuaries for criminals and endangers the residents of the community. To be clear, we did not agree with Minnesota state and local officials that they would be involved in immigration enforcement. I didn't ask them to be immigration officers. I'm asking them to be cops working with the cops to help us take criminal aliens off the street. What we did agree upon it is not to release public safety risk back in the community and they could be lawfully transferred to ice. I'll speak more about that. I will highlight that the Minnesota State Prison system under the Department of Corrections have been honoring ICE detainers and we appreciate that important collaboration and we're going to expand upon that. That decision has made Minnesota safer not only for residents of Minnesota, but the men and women law enforcement, not just SAIs, all law enforcement. Rather than arresting the same public safety threat, significant public safety threat over and over again, they agree to work with us to identify those people and remove them. I'm also pleased to announce I had a very good meeting with Attorney General Ellison and he has clarified from me that county jails may notify ICE of the release dates of criminal public safety risks so ICE can take custody of them upon their release from the jail and let me tell you why that's important. I know people are a little concerned, but the manpower has been sent in law enforcement manpower. Look, I've said this many times before. I've said it for the last several years. Give us access to the illegal alien public safety threat and the safety and security of a jail. It's common sense. It's safer for the community, it's safer for the agent and they're safer for the alien because anything can happen on the street. Arrest. It just made common sense. And for the people that argue, well, we're a welcoming community. We want victims and witnesses of crime that are here illegally to feel safe to come to police without fear of their working with ice. We're not going to talk to the victim, witness a crime. There's no problem there. They should feel safe to come to the police and ask for help. All we want is to talk to the person that local and state law enforcement authorities locked in a jail cell. They chose to lock this person up. That's who we want to talk to. The public safety trial. So the argument is that protects victim witnesses of crime. It's a bunch of crap. Victims and witnesses of crime don't want the bad guy back in their neighborhood either. So great progress with the attorney general and local sheriffs. And one thing, when we have these agreements, it takes less law enforcement agents to do the job. One agent can arrest one bad guy in the safety and security of a jail while we're behind the wire. We know he don't have weapons. But when you normally release that public safety threat illegal alien back in the community, we have a job to do. We're going to arrest them, so we're going to find them. And what happens is now we got to arrest somebody on his turf. He has access to who knows what weapons. Now we got to send the whole team out, cover the back door, cover the front door officer. Safety reasons then because of of the hateful rhetoric and the attacks on ISIS officers, now we got to send a security team behind the arrest team. So what could have been done with one person in a safety and security jail? Now we got 15, 16 people out there doing it. I know that causes stress in the community. So if we get these agreements in place, that means less agents on the street. More agents in the jail means less agents in the street. This is common sense cooperation that allows to draw down on the number of people we have here. Yes, I said it. Draw down the number of people here because we have the efficiency and safety of the jails. In the prison, Matter of fact, I have staff from CBP and from ICE working on a drawdown plan. What does that look like based on the cooperation? What does that look like based on how many targets we have left to find? In my meetings with Governor Wallace, AG Ellison and Mayor Fry, as well as state and local law enforcement, again, I appreciate the all acknowledge that we do have federal immigration laws in this country that have been passed by Congress and that ICE is in fact, a legitimate law enforcement agency charged with enforcing those laws. We're not making this up, folks. ICE is enforcing laws enacted by Congress. They're a federal statute. That said, I'm not here because the federal government has carried this mission out perfectly. First thing I said to senior staff when I walked in here, that's why I told you earlier, I didn't come here looking for photo ops or headlines. I come here looking for solutions. I do not want to hear that everything's been done here has been perfect. Nothing's ever perfect. Anything can be improved on. And what we've been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient. By the book. The mission is going to improve because of the changes we're making internally. No agency organization is perfect. President Trump and I, along with others in the administration, have recognized that certain improvements could and should be made. That's exactly what I'm doing here. As such, in meetings I've had with federal law enforcement managers, including ICE and CBP and other federal partners, as well as state and local officials, I have conveyed the President's expectations with regard to federal immigration enforcement efforts. We will conduct targeted enforcement operations. Targeted. What we've done for decades, when we hit the streets, we know exactly who we're looking for. Good idea where we may find them. You have a criminal history. You have their immigration history. A lot of information about this person that we get from numerous databases out there. Targeted strategic enforcement operations. That's traditionally been the case. And that's where we're going. That's what we're going to continue to do and improve upon that with a prioritization on public safety threats. I want to be clear. I don't read a lot of social media. I don't read a lot of media. I don't believe half what I see. We are not surrendering the President's mission in immigration enforcement. Let's make that clear. Prioritization of criminal aliens doesn't mean we forget about everybody else. That's just simply ridiculous. When you have a criminal standing here and a non criminal standing there, that criminal always should be targeted for because he's a significant concern to the safety and security of the community by at large. For decades, ICE and CBP have carried out their duties with integrity, professionalism and compassion. That remains the expectation under President Trump. And we will. I will hold our agents and officers to that standard. I'm almost done and Tom can be time as far as the agitators. That said, I want to reiterate and make very clear. I want to make it clear. All you seen, CBP officers are performing their duties in a challenging environment under tremendous circumstances, but they're trying to do it with professionalism. If they don't, they'll be dealt with like any other federal agency. We have standards of conduct. They are sworn law enforcement officers working tirelessly to enforce our country's border security immigration laws, protecting the interests of our country and preventing dangerous people from walking the streets of this nation when they're not supposed to be here to begin with. Men and women, ice. I was a Borbage legend. I was an ice agent. I was the first ice director came up through the ranks. I spent over 40 years doing this. These men and women that carry that badge and gun are American patriots. They put themselves on the line for this nation every day. But I want you to remember, they don't hang their badge. They don't hang their heart on the hook. Every day they come to work. They're mothers and fathers too. They're sons and daughters too. They've seen a fraction of the tragedies I've seen in my career. They take a lot of damage home to it every day. The things they've seen, especially on the border, border people drowning in the river, women being raped by criminal cartels, giving CPR to a baby that was thrown in the river by the cartels because Bor patrol came too close. So let's throw the baby in the river that way. The Borg patrol was concentrated on that so I can get away. These men and women seem some terrible things, but I want you to remember there are mothers and fathers too. Many of them are members of this community. God bless every one of them. The hostile rhetoric and dangerous threats and hate must stop. And we all agreed to that. All everybody met here. We got to stop the rhetoric, the hateful rhetoric that has caused an increase in assaults that has caused because of that, having sent security teams out with arrest teams which surge the city with additional resources because of the rhetoric, because of the threats, because of the assaults. Again, with the agreements we've achieved in following through these agreements with the Rhetoric dropping down that allows us to pull more agents out once we feel the environment safer. I begged for the last two months on TV for the rhetoric to stop. I said in March if the rhetoric didn't stop, there was going to be bloodshed. And there has been. I wish I wasn't right. I don't want to see anybody die. Not officers, not members of the community, and not the targets of our operations. For the people out there don't like what I was doing. If you want certain laws reformed, then take it up with Congress again. ISIS making this up. They're enforcing laws enacted by Congress and signed by President. The same laws have been on the books for the last six presidents I worked for. I started with President Reagan and ending with President Trump. Every administration, we enforced the same laws. If you don't like what Aisha is doing, instead of protesting this building, go protest Congress, Then we want changes. If you have your First Amendment rights, I support that. You have the right to protest. I'm just asking to keep it peaceful. But threatening law enforcement officers, engaging in impeding obstruction and assault is never okay. And there will be zero tolerance. You interfere, impede assault, license officers, you will be arrested. Like I said a bit earlier, my meetings with Governor Waltson, Ellison and Frey, as well as state and local law enforcement, I appreciate they acknowledge this, that public safety should be paramount. The chiefs I've talked to committed to responding to 911 calls. When protesters turn violent, agents are in a dangerous situation and there's assaults. They have committed to upholding public safety and responding to the needs not to enforce immigration law, but to keep the peace with that. I call upon those officials to stand shoulder to shoulder with us, to tone down the dangerous rhetoric and condemn all unlawful actions against law enforcement in the community. There are many ways your voice can be heard, express your feelings and affect change in the country without crossing that line. Political and other disagreements in this realm should not be expensed to public safety or the safety of federal law enforcement officers. In closing, I want to thank the state and local officials here in Minnesota that I met with and the many I'm going to meet with. We've had meaningful dialogue and look, again, we didn't agree on everything, but we agreed on the things I just talked about. There's much more we can do and I'm going to continue this dialogue. I got many more community leaders to talk to. I got many more shares to meet. President Trump wants this fixed, but I'm going to fix it with your help. I want to thank President Trump for his unwavering commitment to public safety and prosperity to every American under President's leadership. We have the most secure border in the history of this nation which means less women are being raped, less children are dying crossing that border. Less fentanyl is getting this country to kill Americans less known as spectacular terrorists are causing that country and we don't have two men unknown godly we don't know who the hell they are. A secure bordering regret we have stronger national security. A secure border saves lives when 96% less people come in. How many women are being suck she has told to be members of the cartel? How many people aren't dying making that journey? How many Americans aren't dying of fentanyl overdoses? How many women and children aren't being sex trafficked in this nation? The data proves it. Anybody can find that data. So God bless this great nation. God bless Minnesota. We can do better and I thank the local and state leaders meeting with me. We made some significant gains, significant coordination and cooperation and you're going to see some massive changes occurring here in this city.

[Newt Gingrich]

Thank you to my guest, Chad Wolf. Newts World is produced by Gingrich 360 and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Garnesey Sloan. Our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show was created by Steve Pendley. Special thanks to the team at Gingrich360. If you've been enjoying Newts World, I hope you'll go to Apple Podcasts and both Radis or with five stars and give us a review so others can learn what it's all about. Join me on [e-mail] I'm Newt Gingrich. This is Newt's World.

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[Chad Wolf]

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[Podcast Host]

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