Minneapolis mayor avoids question on opposing Obama-era immigration policy now pushed by Trump

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey avoided answering why he opposes a federal immigration measure once used by President Barack Obama and now pushed by President Donald Trump during an interview with CNN on Wednesday.

Frey appeared on CNN's "The Arena with Kasie Hunt" to discuss the Trump administration's recent pullback of 700 federal agents from Minneapolis after two deadly shootings last month involving federal officers.

The mayor continued to push back against what he called "coercion" from the Trump administration regarding immigration enforcement, but host Kasie Hunt pointed out that some of the policies supported by conservatives were previously implemented by the Obama administration.

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"I take your point about the voting rolls for sure, but it is worth noting that during the Obama years, the Hennepin County Jail actually had a policy where they let an [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] ICE agent keep an office there and allowed them to talk to immigrants," Hunt remarked. "So the policy has clearly been under a Democratic president what now the Trump administration is asking for."

She continued, "I mean, big picture. Do you think it's good policy for the jails to follow an ICE detainer and hand someone over if they've committed a crime? And again, this only happens after they've served their time for whatever crime they may have committed against the people of Minnesota."

"I mean, look, you're asking all the right questions here," Frey responded. "And while I don't have full expertise in how the operations at the jail are conducted, again, that's not our jurisdiction."

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He added, "What I would say is that there are mechanisms to do this lawfully. You know, the federal government could seek some form of federal warrant. That warrant could run part and parcel with the warrant that already exists at the state level. And if they were to do that, there would be a legal mechanism for detention after bail has been posted. And so, again, we're getting pretty technical here. But what we can't have from a legal perspective is a second detention after the obligations under the first detention have been met."

Mayor Frey's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

In an interview with NBC News Wednesday, Trump clarified he did not "want" to pull officers from the blue state but described a trade-off for the release of illegal immigrant prisoners.

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However, he added that his administration could take a gentler approach when arresting illegal immigrants.

"I learned that maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch, but you still have to be tough," the president said. "We're dealing with really hard criminals. But look … I've called the governor [Tim Walz], I called the mayor [Jacob Frey], spoke to [them], had great conversations with them. And then I see them ranting and raving out there, literally as though a call wasn't made."