Until today, Chris Madel was a leading GOP candidate for the Republican nomination as Minnesota’s next governor.
In a video statement posted Monday morning announcing the end of his campaign, Madel said he supported the goal of Operation Metro Surge to deport “the worst of the worst,” but that the mission had expanded too far past its stated focus on “true public safety threats.” He said he personally had heard from local law-enforcement officers of Hispanic and Asian descent who had been pulled over by ICE.
“United States citizens, particularly those of color, live in fear. United States citizens are carrying papers to prove their citizenship,” he said. “That’s wrong.”
He’s not being completely altruistic. He said he also saw that ICE had, in his words, made it impossible for a Republican to run in Minnesota.
