‘These are rough characters’: Trump forces media to look at mugshots of illegal criminals during briefing
President Donald Trump held up mugshots of illegal alien criminals in a room full of reporters on Tuesday during his surprise visit to the White House briefing room.
Trump held up the mugshots of the “worst of the worst” criminals who have been nabbed by ICE in Minnesota, who have committed crimes such as homicide and sexual crimes. The reporters were presented with these mugshots while anti-ICE sentiments in Minnesota continue to be widespread throughout the state.
“Look at this, one after one,” Trump said while holding up the mugshots. “Boy, these are rough characters. These are criminal illegal aliens and in many cases, they’re murderers, they’re drug lords, drug dealers and mentally insane. Some of them who are brutal killers are mentally insane.”
WATCH:
Tensions have remained high in Minnesota while anti-ICE protests have spread across the state. Democrats in the state have supported the protesters, including Gov. Tim Walz, who called on Minnesotans to film ICE agents as they conducted their operations during a Jan. 14 address. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem previously warned in September that filming agents endangers their safety.
The Trump administration sent roughly 1,000 additional immigration officers to Minnesota to protect officers during operations. Around 1,500 troops are on standby for deployment in Minnesota in case Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to nationally deploy troops to quell civil disorder, rebellion and other instances of unrest.
The anti-ICE sentiment escalated following the death of Renee Good, who got shot by an ICE agent on Jan. 7 after she hit him with her vehicle. Footage from the officer’s perspective showed Good disobeying other officers’ orders to exit the car, and her significant other could be heard shouting, “drive baby, drive,” as Good put her car in reverse. She then accelerated forward and hit the officer, prompting shots to be fired.
Trump and his cabinet have maintained that the officer acted in self-defense. The president wrote on Truth Social that Good acted “very disorderly” and blamed the “Radical Left” for “threatening” and “targeting” federal law enforcement.
Assaults on ICE agents surged by over 1,300% since Trump took office on Jan. 20, 2025, while vehicular attacks and death threats also rose by 3,200% and 8,000%, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
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