Minnesota Nice?

“The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence”--Article IV, Section 4


I lived for several years in Minnesota, and at that time the people in this scenic if snowbound state were indeed hospitable... even in “The Cities,” St. Paul and Minneapolis, which I visited often. But what has been on display recently in Minnesota is completely at odds with the place I remember - the place where affable folks gathered at hot dish socials and at the local liquor store, which was in actuality a tavern, on Saturday nights to listen to a country band. Minnesota state politics, however, have always leaned way left in spite of the fact that Minnesotans have tended to be very traditional culturally. I am sure there are still good-hearted souls in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but there is a noisy, hard-core Neo-Marxist element there today with a penchant for chaos and violence as evidenced by their recent illicit interference with the lawful detaining and deportation of illegal immigrants by ICE.


While Minnesota’s politicians, just as many leading lights in government and the media nationwide, in the midst of the heated debate over illegal immigration, make a big deal out of fidelity to the Constitution, they have little regard for or knowledge of what it really says. They love all that stuff about delegated and reserved powers -  until they don’t.


And lately, and not just in Minnesota, there seem to be some peculiar notions about the very meaning of the designation illegal immigrant: Apparently it is a fluid term. But contrary to what that luminary Pete Buttigieg and others would have us believe, no matter how far in-country these intruders travel from where they skulked into America, they are still trespassers. Buttigieg believes that if an illicit border crosser makes his way up yonder to the Gopher State that he is magically transformed from invader to a poor wayfaring stranger, a friend and neighbor.


While no one is more distrustful of that overreaching Leviathan on the Potomac than I am - I believe in a state’s right to exit the union - let’s give the Devil his due. The Federal Government is compelled to go after illegal immigrants no matter how far north, south (1), east or west they travel in the US once they sneak in—read Article IV Section 4 of the Constitution.


On the other hand, and also per Article IV Section 4, permission from a state’s legislature or governor, if the legislature is not in session, is required in order for the agents of the Federal Government to intercede to stop domestic violence in that state. Philadelphia lawyer doublespeak notwithstanding, invasion on the part of aliens is not equivalent to domestic violence on the part of citizens. These are two entirely different situations, one requiring Federal intervention; one not calling for it unless it is desired by a state. The average news anchor, leftwing or rightwing, drones on, but only when it suits him, about a non-existent blanket Federal supremacy. (The Constitution is the supreme law of the land, not the Federal Government which has supremacy only regarding the few responsibilities delegated to it.)


The tragic deaths in January of this year in Minneapolis were unnecessary. Minnesotans have the right to protest the presence of ICE but have no right to impede their operations. If Minnesotans don’t like this, there is always working with like-minded citizens to amend the Constitution or resorting to that aforementioned 10th Amendment right to depart the US. In the meantime, harboring illegal immigrants is not Minnesota nice; it is suicidal. No nation can survive this insanity.


(1) Illegal immigrants don’t all cross the Southern border.

This article was originally posted on The Tobacco Road Report on Feb 11, 2026.