White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller alleged in a late-night social media post that Minneapolis state and local police had been ordered to “stand down and surrender” to federal authorities.

“Only federal agents are upholding the law. State and local police have been ordered to stand down and surrender,” Miller wrote in a Jan. 18 statement. x publication.

The strange statement came in response to an X post that same day by New York Post columnist Miranda Devine, who wrote that “local police officers have gone AWOL” in the midst of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protests.

In particular, Miller’s post fails to recognize that, under the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, federal authorities do not have the power to command local authorities.

The protests began after an ICE officer, later identified as Jonathan Ross, shot and killed Renee Good, 37, earlier this month during an operation in Minneapolis. The Trump administration later claimed that Good carried out “domestic terrorism” further igniting outrage and protests in the city.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem vilified Good during a news conference at the Texas border on Jan. 8, claiming she “attacked [ICE agents] and those around them” and “tried to run them over and ram them with his vehicle.” Noem made the comments even though circulating images of the incident did not support her rhetoric about what happened.

Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, says
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller says “state and local police have been ordered to stand down and surrender.”

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS via Getty Images

Following the incident, the Trump administration has been working to block Minnesota authorities from participating in the FBI investigation into the shooting.

News themezone has reached out to the White House and local authorities in Minneapolis for comment.

Last week, Miller alleged that Minnesota state officials are mounting “an insurgency against the federal government” while denouncing increased federal immigration operations in Minneapolis.

If “individual cities and states were allowed to ratify their own immigration laws on their own, we would not have a republic or a country,” he said. “That is the proposal that [Minneapolis Mayor Jacob] Frey and [Minnesota Attorney General Keith] Ellison and [Minnesota Gov. Tim] “Walz is trying to run tests.”

Frey, who told ICE agents to “get out of Minneapolis” earlier this month, sharply criticized the Pentagon on Sunday for ordering about 1,500 active-duty troops to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota, calling the move “ridiculous.”

Appearing Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Frey told host Jake Tapper that “the rally was clearly designed to intimidate the people of Minneapolis.”