NEWS

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Minnesota leaders react to Trump's strikes on Venezuela, capture of President Maduro

By WCCO Staff, Conor Wight

“‘The actions taken today by the Trump administration are blatantly illegal. Venezuela poses no imminent national security threat to the United States and Congress has not voted to authorize any use of force in the region,’ McCollum said. ‘Speaker Johnson must call the House of Representatives back into session immediately to reign in this out-of-control President.’”

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Kaohly Her sworn in as St. Paul mayor

By Frederick Melo, Pioneer Press

“Among those in attendance at the St. Kate’s ceremony were Carter and his family, former St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and other elected officials from past and present.”

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Woodbury officials unaware of plans for potential ICE facility

By Eleanor Hildebrandt, The Minnesota Star Tribune

“Rep. Betty McCollum, who represents Woodbury in Washington, said she would ‘strongly oppose’ an ICE facility in her district and condemned the actions of ICE and DHS agents.

‘Minnesota will always be a state that treats immigrants with dignity and respect,” McCollum said in a statement. ‘We embrace those who come to our communities to live and work peacefully.’”

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Immigration visits to Minnesota’s Karen community dials up fear as TPS expires next month

By Andrew Hazzard, Sahan Journal

“Minnesota Congresswoman Betty McCollum (DFL) represents Ramsey County, where the Karen community is concentrated, and co-chairs the Congressional Burma Caucus. She co-authored a letter to Noem and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging them to reverse the decision. The letter cites a 2024 State Department report that documented unlawful killings, forced labor, disappearances and the recruitment of child soldiers in Myanmar.

In a statement to Sahan Journal, McCollum called the Trump administration’s position that there will be fair elections in Myanmar ‘preposterous,’ and said the United States should continue to sanction the ruling junta.

‘If Burma is unsafe for American visitors, it is certainly unsafe for those who have fled the country and been given protected status,” McCollum said. “The Trump administration should reverse its decision ending temporary protective status based on governance and stability for Burma.’”

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The Real Reason Trump Keeps Ranting About Venezuelan Oil

By Chris Smith, Vanity Fair

“That muddle is making a dangerous situation even more potentially volatile. Wiles conceded to Whipple that Trump couldn’t attack targets on Venezuela’s mainland without congressional approval: ‘If he were to authorize some activity on land, then it’s war, then [we’d need] Congress.’ Even so, right now, tens of thousands of American troops are massed off the coast of Venezuela, and a slight provocation could spark lethal consequences. ‘For a man who wants a peace prize, he certainly wants to be in charge of a major conflict and show America's power and might in a way that most Americans would not agree with it being used currently,’ says Congresswoman Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat who has opposed Trump’s Venezuela actions on moral, fiscal, and national security grounds. ‘I have a lot of people who are very, very fearful that Cuba could be next.’”

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D.C. Memo: Tensions with Venezuela loom over Washington

By Ana Radelat, MinnPost

“‘The Trump administration is engaged in a campaign of extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean, and it needs to end immediately,’ McCollum said in a statement released after Wednesday’s votes. ‘Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have called on the administration to stop. I do not believe that engaging in military action in the Caribbean or conducting a regime change war in Venezuela is in the national security interests of the United States.’”

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morning take | Polls: Qualls and Walz

By Blois Olson, morning take

MORE: Via Rep. Ilhan Omar, her letter to DHS on ‘racial profiling’ is available online. Omar also joined Reps. Angie Craig, Kelly Morrison and Betty McCollum in a second letter to DHS regarding Temporary Protected Status.”

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Hot Dish: MyPillow CEO is running for MN gov

By Allison Kite, The Minnesota Star Tribune

McCollum condemns ICE arrest. Rep. Betty McCollum condemned Tuesday's ICE arrest of a Somali American man who was forcefully detained by authorities before he was released, my colleague Sydney Kashiwagi reports.

Mubashir, a Somali immigrant, said he was detained despite telling agents he was a U.S. citizen. He was taken to Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling and placed in a jail cell before he was released two hours later.

‘The appalling incident in Minneapolis Tuesday confirms that the Trump administration is unlawfully profiling Minnesotans who look Somali and arresting them on the spot, including American citizens,’ McCollum said in a statement.”

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Know Your Rights – What to do as Trump’s immigration raids come to Minnesota

By Mshale

“As President Trump brings his immigration raids to Minnesota, specifically targeting the Somali community, in what the Department of Homeland Security is calling Operation Metro Surge, Congresswomen Betty McCollum and Ilhan Omar have published “Know Your Rights” guides on their official congressional pages to help constituents affected know their rights, and how to exercise them.”

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Rep. McCollum: End of protected status for Myanmar could affect a thousand Minnesotans

By Clay Masters and Megan Burks, MPR News

“Those affected typically would have come to the U.S. as students or visitors and overstayed their visas because of military rule and civil war back home. Ending protected status means they could be deported.

That could include more than 1,000 Minnesotans, according to U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum. McCollum co-chairs the congressional Burma Caucus.”

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morning take | An intense week...

By Blois Olson, morning take

“MCCOLLUM: via a Rep. Betty McCollum statement, McCOLLUM: ‘The footage of the September 2nd boat strike in the Caribbean was deeply alarming and calls into question the Trump Administration’s respect for the laws of armed conflict. … Congress has a responsibility to fully investigate not only the September 2nd strike but the Trump Administration’s entire operation in the Caribbean.’”

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Congresswoman McCollum accuses President Trump of 'escalating racist attacks'

By Felicity Dachel

“WASHINGTON D.C., DC — Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN-04) is calling on the Department of Homeland Security to ‘stop racially targeting the Somali community.’

Her letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem comes as President Trump has increasingly targeted the Somali community, this week saying they are ‘garbage’ and ‘have destroyed Minnesota.’”

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Fact Check: Noem’s claims about Somalis in Minnesota difficult to verify

Tom Hauser and Morgan Reddekopp, KSTP

“Late Wednesday afternoon, Minnesota Democratic Congresswoman Betty McCollum sent a letter to Noem demanding answers and criticizing her for demonizing Somalis in Minnesota. ‘I write to express my outrage at the Trump Administration’s deliberate targeting of the Somali community in Minnesota,” she says in her letter. ‘The President’s escalating racist attacks calling members of the Somali community ‘garbage’ are vile, abhorrent and below the dignity of the Oval Office.’

McCollum then poses a number of questions she wants answered.

‘The vast majority of Minnesota’s Somali community are U.S. citizens or Legal Permanent Residents,’ she writes. ‘How will you ensure that American citizens are not wrongly targeted, harassed or criminalized by the Department of Homeland Security?’

McCollum says she wants answers to her series of questions by Dec.12.”

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Trump disparages Somalis: ‘We don’t want them in our country’

By Chris Magan, The Minnesota Star Tribune

“Democratic U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum responded to reports that the Trump administration will target Minnesota Somalis. 

‘Somali Americans are a valued part of our community. President Trump calling fellow human beings ‘garbage’ is not only beneath the office but calls into question his capacity to serve all Americans,’ McCollum said in a statement. ‘Trump’s ugly attacks on the Somali community do not reflect the views of our state, nor the reality of the contributions Somalis make every day. They are elected officials at the federal, state and local levels. They are business leaders, teachers, nurses, ride share drivers, neighbors, and friends. We will not be divided. We are One Minnesota.’”

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D.C. Memo: China bends on soybean boycott

By Ana Radelat, MinnPost

“At a press conference this week at the state Capitol, Democratic Reps. Betty McCollum, D-4th District, and Ilhan Omar, D-5th District, who was born in Somalia, decried the ‘fearmongering’ by Trump and state Republicans against the Somali community. McCollum said ‘an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.’

‘Back to late Friday night, when (Trump) hurled ugly late-night threats against Minnesota’s Somali community,’ McCollum said. ‘You have to ask yourself why. It’s because Trump and Republicans are doing nothing to address the real crises facing us as Americans. The U.S. economy is in shambles, the cost of living is soaring, Trump and Republicans have created a health care crisis, and they’ve failed to deliver essential heating assistance for Minnesotans this winter.’”

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Karen community, supporters outraged by end of temporary asylum protections

By Christopher Magan, The Minnesota Star Tribune

“‘If Burma is unsafe for American visitors, it is certainly unsafe for those who have fled the country and been given protected status,’ U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum said in a statement. The Democrat is a longtime advocate for Minnesota’s Karen population and co-chair of the Burma caucus.

She added that the administration should reverse its decision and ‘continue to deploy sanctions on the junta and its supporters.’

The protections were granted to Myanmar refugees in 2021, after a military coup and civil war. The country is now run by a military dictatorship with a history of violence against opponents.

‘The notion that there will be free and fair elections under the military junta in Burma is preposterous,’ McCollum said.”

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Hot Dish: Trump's 'punishable by death' remarks rock D.C.

By Sydney Kashiwagi, The Minnesota Star Tribune

Dems condemn remarks. Trump's remarks drew quick condemnation from Democrats, who said Trump was inciting political violence. ‘Political violence is unacceptable. President Trump’s death threats against Democratic Members of Congress are dangerous and wrong,’ Rep. Betty McCollum said in an X post. “

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