Right now, Minnesota is in the national spotlight, and not for good reasons.

First, because our state government failed to stop massive fraud. Then because federal immigration enforcement drew national attention, protests, and tragedy. These operations removed dangerous criminals from our streets, including people convicted of violent crimes who were in the country illegally. They also resulted in the death of Renee Good.

Depending on who you ask, you’ll hear two very different stories. Some say Good acted on a moral obligation to oppose federal actions. Others say an ICE officer acted in self-defense during a legal law enforcement operation. Most of the time, these views are shouted, either in the street or online.

What’s missing is dialogue. And more importantly, an honest conversation about the root issue: immigration.

The U.S. is a nation of immigrants, yet we’ve argued about immigration since the beginning. My grandfather immigrated from Germany in 1926 on a cattle ship, sleeping alongside cows crossing the Atlantic. His experience was different from what people face today, but the tension around immigration has always existed. History shows cycles of enforcement, backlash, and reform.

Immigration enforcement didn’t begin yesterday. Deportations rose to 869,000 under President Clinton, up from 140,000 under the first President Bush. After 9/11, ICE was created under the Department of Homeland Security to enforce immigration laws and protect public safety. Deportations increased under President Bush (~2 million) and Obama (~3 million), then dropped under Trump to just under 1 million, and further under Biden to about 545,000. Notably, the number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. reached an all-time high of 14 million during Biden’s presidency. Part of the increased enforcement we’re seeing now reflects this surge under Biden.

But current operations feel bigger than the post-9/11 mission of ICE and disconnected from what most Minnesotans want.

As a state senator, I typically don’t like to focus on federal law, but I do talk to people. Business owners, trades workers, teachers, pastors, parents. What I hear is far more reasonable than what goes viral online.

They want fraud stopped and violent criminals off the street. They support law enforcement doing their jobs safely and legally. At the same time, they want a transparent, realistic path to legal status for people who are hardworking, raising families, contributing to their communities, and filling critical jobs. They want ICE to exercise restraint at schools, and they want protesters to respect houses of worship.

That middle ground exists, but it rarely gets airtime. Instead, career politicians at the federal level spend decades in office arguing over politics and fundraising for reelection, all while ignoring the broken system beneath it. Until they have a serious conversation about modernizing immigration law and creating a workable path to legal status, these confrontations will continue.

We can enforce the law and still expect a system that works. We can back law enforcement while asking for restraint. And we can acknowledge loss and grief without turning every tragedy into a political weapon.

If we want less shouting, fewer confrontations, and fewer lives lost, the answer isn’t louder rhetoric. It’s dialogue, and it’s long overdue.

— Rich Draheim represents District 22 in the Minnesota Senate