Fresh off a resounding US Senate primary victory, Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan on Thursday castigated her Republican general election opponent for praising federal immigration agents’ treatment of children during their siege of Minneapolis.
During an interview on MS NOW, Flanagan highlighted GOP Senate nominee Michele Tafoya’s support for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whose violent operations in the Twin Cities area last winter resulted in widespread protests, including an unprecedented one-day general strike.
“Michele Tafoya, my Republican opponent, she used footage of ICE in the streets of Minnesota during her launch video, and recently said… ‘ICE treated children really, really well,’” Flanagan said. “Tell that to Liam Ramos or to the children who have been separated from their parents. This agency is completely out of control.”
Peggy Flanagan: “Michele Tayofa, my Republican opponent, used footage of ICE in the streets of Minnesota in her launch video, and recently said ‘ICE treated children really really well.’ Tell that to Liam Ramos or to the children who have been separated from their parents.” pic.twitter.com/Vy9kKpYZkq
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 13, 2026
Five-year-old Liam Ramos in January was abducted by ICE agents during his walk home from school and sent along with his father, an Ecuadoran asylum seeker, to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, where family members said the child grew sick from eating spoiled food. In February, Ramos and his father were released and sent back to Minnesota.
Elsewhere in the interview, Flanagan was asked about Republican attacks on her and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for purportedly not doing enough to prevent healthcare fraud in their state, and she quickly turned the tables back on Tafoya and President Donald Trump.
“Republicans are going to run against every Democrat on fraud, because they want to distract from what’s happening under the most corrupt president we’ve ever seen,” she said. “They want to talk about fraud, they have to talk about the fact that, right out of the gate, Donald Trump got rid of 17 inspectors general whose whole job it is to police fraud at the federal level.”
Peggy Flanagan: "Republicans are going to run against every Democrat on fraud, because they want to distract from what’s happening under the most corrupt president we’ve ever seen … Michele Tayofa and Republicans up and down the ballot are going to have to answer for that. The… pic.twitter.com/dyMqisM1AH
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 13, 2026
“He’s pardoned 70 white-collar criminals who have stolen billions of dollars in Medicaid and Medicare,” Flanagan continued. “And every day, this guy is making money hand over fist from the Oval Office, from his… cryptocurrency, through hundreds of millions of dollars in insider trading. And Michele Tayofa and Republicans up and down the ballot are going to have to answer for that. The grift has to stop.”
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