House Majority Whip Tom Emmer blasted Minneapolis mayoral hopeful Omar Fateh on Wednesday for pledging to shield illegal immigrants from deportation — and called on voters to reject the avowed socialist in November.
Emmer, the highest-ranking House Republican in Minnesota, is sounding the alarm that his state’s most populous city could elect a 35-year old socialist in the mold of New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani — whose sudden rise has jolted the far-left’s political ambition across America. The third-ranking House Republican torched Fateh for recently saying his top priority if elected mayor is to protect illegal immigrants from “a hostile federal government,” arguing that Fateh’s socialist vision would unleash untold havoc on Minneapolis.
“As if Omar Fateh’s radical, communist agenda wasn’t enough, he’s now vowing to prioritize illegal aliens over the people of Minneapolis,” Emmer told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement Wednesday. “The Trump administration just recently got 11 illegal alien sex offenders off the streets of the city, yet Fateh seems more concerned with protecting these criminals than helping Minnesotans.”
“What’s happened to the city under failed DFL [Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party] leadership is sad, and now the people of Minneapolis must choose whether they want to dive even deeper into pro-illegal alien, communist chaos or finally restore common sense,” Emmer added.
Fateh, the son of Somali immigrants, serves in the Minnesota state Senate and is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). The DSA-backed candidate recently came under fire for pledging to make the wellbeing of illegal immigrants his top priority if elected mayor. Fateh has also vowed to bar Minneapolis from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if he wins the November election and has previously sponsored legislation to make Minnesota a “sanctuary” state.
“The first [priority], I would say, would be a hostile federal government, with not only [President] Donald Trump in office, but he has essentially a trifecta, both chambers of Congress and the Supreme Court. And a lot of our neighbors, especially our undocumented residents, are very concerned,” Fateh said during an interview with KARE 11 News in Minnesota.
In July, ICE arrested nearly a dozen illegal immigrants in the Minneapolis area, all of whom were convicted sexual predators, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Emmer argues that Fateh’s socialist platform would let criminal illegal immigrants continue to live in the large metropolitan city with impunity.
Emmer has also hammered the other planks in Fateh’s socialist platform over the past several weeks, arguing the mayoral candidate’s far-left policies will make life more expensive, worsen public safety and incentivize businesses to leave the state.
Fateh previously supported a ballot initiative to defund the police and replace the force with “peace officers” and has argued that local law enforcement in Minneapolis has perpetrated a cycle of “violence and brutality.” On the policy front, he is proposing to divert roughly half of calls to local law enforcement to “non-police responders.”
Fateh’s platform also advocates for rent stabilization, increasing the minimum wage to $20 per hour by 2028 and enacting a tax hike on some Minneapolis residents.
The socialist candidate is seen as having the momentum in the race after securing the endorsement of the Minneapolis DFL, the local division of state Democrats, in July. The process requires candidates to obtain 60% of delegates’ votes to secure an endorsement and is the first time the local party has endorsed a mayoral candidate in 16 years, granting Fateh access to party resources during the final months of the campaign.
Incumbent Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey, who is seeking a third term despite being snubbed on the endorsement, has contested the result, citing alleged voting irregularities. Frey is seen as a more centrist Democrat compared to Fateh and has the backing of Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
Emmer has cast the Minneapolis DFL’s endorsement of Fateh as the latest data point that the Democratic Party’s socialist wing is expanding its power and pushing the party further away from the ideological center.
“I think the Democrat Party is dead in this country as we know it,” Emmer told Salem Radio Network host Scott Jennings in July. “It has now become something totally different, and I think you’ll start to see even Democrats who are left of center, as Donald Trump continues to lead the way, and Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate govern, I think you’ll see some of them start to literally — they won’t become Republicans — but they will start voting with Republicans.”
“Because guess what? That’s what their constituents want as well,” Emmer continued.
A July Wall Street Journal poll found that Americans’ approval rating of the Democratic Party fell to its lowest share in more than three decades.
A spokesperson for Fateh did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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