In no uncertain terms, the White House has called out St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and other city leaders in St. Paul, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles for immigrant-friendly policies that the president claims protect “killers, rapists and drug dealers.”

The written warning of sorts from the Trump administration goes beyond political posturing. It comes a day after new leadership at the U.S. Small Business Administration issued a “Day One” memo shuttering SBA regional offices in so-called “Sanctuary Cities” and moving them to “communities that comply with federal immigration law,” as reported by the Denver Post.

Carter on Tuesday responded with equally pointed commentary of his own, noting in a written statement that St. Paul police officers solve murder investigations at twice the national rate and have cut violent crime by double digits.

“If the President wants real solutions to avoid a repeat of the record homicide surge America suffered during his first term, we’re happy to help,” the mayor said.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson last month called the White House’s performance overseeing the country “raggedy” and said if anyone questioned what the U.S. would look like had the Confederacy won, “there should be no question now. They want us to be afraid. Do not be afraid, Chicago.”

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and other legal minds around the country have noted the U.S. Constitution prevents the federal government from demanding that states enforce federal laws, including federal immigration enforcement.

The White House on Tuesday responded by putting St. Paul at the top of a list of five locales that would allow “vicious criminals … to roam our streets.” The list noted that Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently arrested a Sudanese national, a Mexican national and a Laotian national convicted of criminal sexual conduct against minors.

“Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison warns law enforcement of ‘liability if they enforce immigration detainers’ and says protecting communities from violent illegal immigrant criminals is ‘not our job,’” reads the White House statement. “Mayor Melvin Carter says targeting violent illegal immigrant criminals is ‘threaten[ing] our safe spaces’ and calls it a ‘rapidly alarming situation.’ St. Paul City Council Vice President Hwa Jeong Kim reminds constituents that the police department ‘cannot and does not cooperate with ICE.’”

Also listed by name in the White House statement were U.S. representatives from New York and Chicago, the mayor of Los Angeles and the attorney general of Washington state.

The White House’s claims gloss over some nuances. Even so-called “sanctuary cities” that have made it their policy not to share information with ICE tend to make exceptions for wanted violent criminals and others formally charged with serious crimes such as child molestation.

Carter said last month that while city employees are not allowed to ask residents about immigration status as they distribute city services and conduct city business, “if someone who is a citizen commits a crime in our city, we stop at nothing to hold them accountable. That doesn’t change as a result of citizenship status, either.”

In early February, Ellison — a frequent critic of the Trump administration on legal grounds — issued an eight-page legal opinion that found Minnesota county jails cannot legally hold detainees for ICE past their sentences without a criminal warrant. Ellison noted most immigration detainers issued by ICE are civil requests, not criminal warrants, leaving counties open to lawsuits if they indefinitely detain someone who has already served their criminal sentence and is not wanted on fresh charges.

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One of Pa Chia Vang’s hit-and-run victims walked with a cane to the witness stand, where she said her life will never be the same — physically, mentally and financially — because of what Vang did to her and her sister-in-law last May in St. Paul.

The woman, who is 52, is not able to perform everyday tasks or drive due to double vision.

“I can’t even pick up my grandchild, who is about 20 pounds, just to hug her,” she said in a Ramsey County courtroom on Tuesday at Vang’s sentencing.

Pa Chia Vang (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

The other victim, who is 48, was near the courtroom’s swinging door in a wheelchair. Her daughter delivered her victim impact statement in which she said “the chance to live a long, healthy and fulfilling life was stolen from me by someone who chose to run instead of taking responsibility.”

Vang, 45, occasionally wiped away tears.

Ramsey County District Judge Edward Sheu went on to give her 30 days in the workhouse — the most he could under a December plea agreement — and five years of probation for hitting the two women with her SUV as they crossed Idaho Avenue near White Bear Avenue shortly before midnight May 4, and then leaving the scene.

Vang wasn’t identified as a suspect until after police received an anonymous tip in the case a month later. She was charged July 11 by warrant and arrested the next day.

Vang had spent more than two hours at a bar and restaurant near the hit-and-run scene. When she pleaded guilty in December to criminal vehicular operation that caused substantial bodily harm and leaving the scene, she also said she had been drinking before the crash, according to Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Nelson Rhodus.

“But that wasn’t part of the elements of the offense, because we couldn’t prove that,” he said. “She had fled the scene already. So it was charged out as just a hit-and-run.”

Driver left scene while victims were ‘fighting for our lives’

When officers arrived at the scene, they found the 52-year-old victim lying on the ground near the parking lot of Exquisite Cake Bakery. She had a puddle of blood behind her head and St. Paul fire medics took her to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with fractured pelvic bones and spinal fractures.

“The driver left the scene with no regard for human life, while we were laying on the ground fighting for our lives,” she told the court Tuesday.

Medics brought the second victim to the hospital in critical condition. Her injuries included a skull fracture, a traumatic brain injury, fractured ribs and spinal injuries.

The criminal complaint says officers spoke to a witness who reported a sport-utility vehicle sped west on Idaho Avenue when the two women were crossing the street. The SUV struck both women and continued north on White Bear Avenue.

Surveillance video from the area showed the driver of the SUV appeared to brake upon impact and then the vehicle swerved before continuing on.

Officers also found two car parts that appeared to be left behind from the SUV. They were identified as coming from a BMW X5 that was made between 2000 and 2006.

Police had asked for tips in the case on June 5, while releasing a photo of the female suspect from White Dragon Hall and saying she drove a dark-colored vehicle.

An anonymous tip led to police identifying Vang as a suspect. The tipster reported that a woman who lived on Bradley Street near Arlington Avenue drove a black BMW SUV that may have been involved. On June 6, officers found a 2005 BMW X5 — with damage to its front end — parked on Bradley Street in front of Pa Chia Vang’s home.

Vang’s husband was the vehicle’s registered owner and she had her identification scanned at the White Dragon, the complaint says.

Surveillance video showed that a person who appeared to be Vang went into White Dragon at 9:26 p.m. on May 5 and left at 11:52 p.m. She “stumbled” as she left and someone helped her continue walking, according to the complaint.

‘Remorse is very real’

The plea agreement included a 30-day jail cap, supervised probation and 100 hours of community service. If Vang follows conditions of probation, her conviction will become a misdemeanor. It also included completing a chemical dependency evaluation, writing apology letters to the victims and attending a Mothers Against Drunk Driving impact panel, all things Vang did before Tuesday.

A second, lesser charge of criminal vehicular operation — causing great bodily harm and leaving the scene — was dismissed.

Prosecutor Rhodus told the court that he believes state sentencing guidelines are “quite light” for the offense when considering the harm typically caused is “so severe and has such a tremendous impact on the lives of those who are involved.” He asked Judge Sheu to give Vang the full 30 days.

Vang’s attorney, Jack Rice, said she has taken responsibility and her “remorse is very real.”

“I know that the court has read those apology letters that she wrote,” Rice told the court. “She truly meant it.”

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Rice proposed three 10-day sentences, with the time served during the anniversaries of the crash. Sheu opted for Vang to serve the sentence at one time, beginning March 7.

Vang, who declined to address the court, must also pay a total of $151,476.78 in restitution to the two victims.

Sheu said he agrees with Rhodus that the “law in this area is actually kind of lenient, as you can see from the harm and damage caused.”

“I really feel the impact from the victims here,” he added. “They will face architectural barriers, among other things forever, possibly, which is tremendously hard to watch and understand. So I hope you don’t drink ever again, and can make it right financially with the victims.”

A group of Minnesota ride-hailing service drivers is now pushing for the right to unionize after winning a minimum wage increase at the state Capitol last year.

Drivers for services like Uber and Lyft are working with state lawmakers on legislation to allow them to vote on forming a union — something they currently can’t do because they are considered independent contractors under federal law.

New minimum wages for ride-hailing drivers went into effect in December last year after a 2024 bill went into effect.

Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers and others backing the new unionization bill, including the SEIU Local 26, say allowing drivers to organize will keep future wage disputes from ending up at the Legislature.

“The best way to hold these companies accountable is to give drivers a seat at the table,” said Sen. Zaynab Mohamed, DFL-Minneapolis. “Are these folks going to come every year and ask for us to do a pay increase or are we giving them power to negotiate with companies?”

Increasingly vocal

Ride-hailing service drivers, who are overwhelmingly immigrants and people of color, have become increasingly vocal in state and local politics in recent years over concerns about wages and treatment by companies.

Some drivers claim they have been locked out of the application due to complaints from customers, and that it is difficult to appeal suspensions. Uber can suspend drivers over reports of safety concerns.

Mohamed and Rep. Samakab Hussein, DFL-St. Paul, plan to introduce a bill to allow drivers to unionize, though it’s still being drafted. Mohamed said she expects the bill to get a Senate hearing once it has been filed.

It’ll face a steep climb in a legislature where a House split 67-67 between the parties will mean at least one Republican will have to support it — an unlikely prospect. And DFLers haven’t necessarily been unified behind past ride-hailing wage bills either.

Drivers had been pushing for minimum wages and other protections since 2023, but Gov. Tim Walz vetoed the first version of a wage bill that passed that year.

Uber statement

In a statement responding to the unionization bill push, Uber said the current minimum wage for drivers is among the country’s highest, and that it has been working with the Confederation of Somali Community and driver organizations to help drivers with any concerns they have with wages and access to their platform.

“Over the last few years, drivers, rideshare companies, and legislators worked collaboratively on addressing what drivers themselves established as their own priorities,” said Freddi Goldstein, a spokesperson for Uber. “It is not constructive to have late-to-the-game parties show up to risk what’s been achieved to advance their own interests.”

Drivers for services like Uber and Lyft are considered independent contractors, meaning they can’t form a union under federal law. Still, one other state has moved forward with a measure to grant ride-hailing service drivers the ability to organize.

In November, Massachusetts voters approved a ballot measure allowing drivers to form a union. Drivers can now organize if they want, and companies can negotiate as a group, the Associated Press reported.

The measure came after a wage win for drivers earlier in the year. Massachusetts’ attorney general settled with Uber and Lyft in June guaranteeing Uber and Lyft drivers a minimum pay standard of $32.50 an hour, according to the Associated Press.

Wage increase measure

Walz signed Minnesota’s minimum ride-hailing wage bill into law last year and it went into effect on Dec. 1, 2024.

The state now requires a wage of $1.28 per mile and $0.31 per minute — a compromise that came after Uber and Lyft threatened to pull out of the state when the Minneapolis City Council passed an ordinance setting the wage at $1.40 and $0.51, respectively.

A Minnesota study published in March 2024 — before the new wages took effect — found Twin Cities metro Uber and Lyft drivers made about $14.48 per hour on average after expenses like gas, insurance and wear-and-tear. That was below the Minneapolis minimum wage of $15.57.

The per-mile compensation rate would have to be $0.89 per mile and $0.49 per minute in order to reach Minneapolis minimum wage, according to the study from the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. When accounting for sick time, health insurance and retirement, the mileage rate needed to rise to at least $1.20.

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