WATCH: Walz deputy lambasts Laken Riley Act in bid to keep Minnesota Senate seat blue
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, second-in-command to Gov. Tim Walz in Minnesota, flamed the Laken Riley Act before a cheering crowd at a "Stop Oligarchy" rally headlined by socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., over the weekend.
Flanagan, who is trailing behind Rep. Angie Craig in the latest RealClearPolitics polling average for the Democratic senatorial primary, is seeking to succeed retiring Sen. Tina Smith, who also reportedly endorsed her at the Rochester rally.
Flanagan name-dropped Alex Pretti and Renee Good, two anti-ICE activists shot and killed in law enforcement-involved shootings earlier this year, as the Land of 10,000 Lakes descended into anti-immigration enforcement chaos.
"We’ve got to zoom out for a second and we have to talk about how we got here, because this also wasn't an accident. Donald Trump ran on an agenda where we knew that ICE would be more powerful," Flanagan said.
"This didn't just sneak up on us. It wasn't in the fine print. There were literally gigantic signs that said, mass deportees now. It was not a secret. And the very first vote in the second Trump administration that he brought forward was for the Laken Riley Act."
Flanagan slammed the law, sponsored by Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., as a vessel to strip due process from immigrants and allow for indefinite detention of adults and children.
"It was the green light to give ICE unprecedented power to totally terrorize our communities," Flanagan went on.
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She added that she sees a "straight line" from the Laken Riley Act vote in Congress to unrest in communities like Minneapolis; praising Smith and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., for voting against it.
She criticized Craig for being the only Minnesota Democrat in either chamber to vote for the Laken Riley Act, while Craig said just last week that she now regrets her vote for the law.
Writing in the Minnesota Star Tribune, Craig said she cast her vote at a time she felt her constituents — in the suburbs of Minneapolis and Mankato — largely agreed the Biden administration had "fumbled the immigration issue."
DEMOCRAT IN KEY SENATE PRIMARY SAYS SHE ‘REGRETS’ VOTE ON LAKEN RILEY ACT, DRAWS GOP BACKLASH
But, Craig added that she believes Trump is going beyond the scope of law to carry out "sweeping immigration raids that have terrorized Minnesotans" and therefore regrets her vote.
At the "Stop Oligarchy" rally, Sanders and Flanagan were joined by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, another key figure in the Minneapolis unrest.
The winner of the Flanagan-Craig bout will face the Republican nominee, as the GOP primary features former Houston Rockets forward Royce White and former NBC Sunday Night Football reporter Michele Tafoya.
While Walz chose Flanagan as his running mate, several outlets including the Minnesota Reformer have reported on an alleged rift between the two stemming back to the aftermath of the governor’s failed vice presidential bid — which that outlet noted prevented Flanagan from rising to the governorship through the line of succession.
Fox News Digital reached out to Flanagan for additional comment and to Walz for any response to his deputy’s remarks.