A deep national divide over public safety isn’t emerging — it’s already here, and it’s impossible to miss. In state after state, Democratic governors and big‑city sanctuary leaders have spent years tearing down law enforcement, tying the hands of federal agencies, and feeding a narrative that treats officers as political adversaries instead of public servants. And then there’s Texas. Governor Greg Abbott has built one of the strongest, most unapologetically pro‑law‑enforcement records in the country, and he hasn’t blinked once.

The contrast snapped into focus again this week when the mayor of Minneapolis told ICE agents to “get the f*ck out,” a line that didn’t come out of nowhere — it came from years of cultivated hostility toward federal officers in Minnesota. That climate, shaped and reinforced by Democratic leadership, has turned the state into ground zero for anti‑police agitation, where attacking ICE and defying law enforcement isn’t fringe anymore — it’s fashionable.

Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz has been part of that shift. His administration has repeatedly aligned with activists who oppose federal immigration enforcement, embraced sanctuary‑style policies, and treated ICE as an unwelcome outsider rather than a partner in public safety. That posture hasn’t just tolerated hostility toward law enforcement — it has normalized it. He went as far as to say, last week, that he is preparing orders to deploy the Minnesota National Guard to apparently arrest federal law enforcement officers, Breitbart reported.

The contrast with Texas could not have been clearer when Minneapolis Jacob Frey told ICE agents to “get the f*ck out,” a statement that echoed years of hostility toward federal law enforcement in Minnesota. That climate — cultivated by Democratic leadership — helped turn Minnesota into ground zero for anti‑police agitation, where attacks on officers and open defiance of ICE have become politically fashionable.
“I do have a message for our community, our city,” Frey told reporters last week, “and I do have a message for ICE. To ICE, get the f*ck out of Minneapolis.”

When protesters turned unlawful in an attempt to take over city streets in the Texas capital of Austin, Governor Abbott immediately deployed Department of Public Safety troopers to stop the incident before it escalated into a riot, Breitbart Texas reported. “In Texas, we back the men and women in uniform,” Abbott told Breitbart Texas. “We enforce the law and put public safety as a top priority.”

Abbott added:

What happened in Minnesota is the direct result of years of reckless and dangerous rhetoric from national Democratic leaders. Federal, state, and local law enforcement officers have the right to defend themselves while carrying out their lawful responsibility. Using a vehicle as a weapon, threatening officers, or attempting to obstruct the enforcement of the law is dangerous and inexcusable. ICE agents should never have to fear for their lives for doing their jobs.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has taken the same playbook as other sanctuary state governors and run with it even further. Newsom signed laws restricting cooperation with federal immigration authorities, championed policies that shield criminal offenders from deportation, and routinely framed ICE operations as political stunts. His administration has consistently sided with activists who cast federal officers as aggressors, fueling anti‑police movements up and down the West Coast.

As an example, Newsom’s sanctuary policies recently protected an illegal alien charged with the killing of an 11-year-old boy, Breitbart’s John Binder reported. When Newsome tried to claim his state supports ICE by honoring “federal criminal warrants,” as opposed to ICE immigration detainers, DHS officials pushed back, saying, “You’re playing word games to keep an illegal alien murderer in America. California REJECTED the ICE detainer for an illegal alien charged with killing an 11-year-old boy.”

New York’s Democratic leadership has followed the same trajectory. Figures like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio‑Cortez (D-NY) (AOC) spent years demonizing police, attacking ICE, and pushing “defund” narratives that erode public trust and undermine the officers who keep communities safe. Their rhetoric has helped create a political culture where law enforcement is treated as expendable and public safety is sacrificed to ideological theater.

Breitbart’s Lowell Cauffiel reported that in July 2025, then-mayoral candidate Mamdami asserted that police should not be dispatched to domestic dispute calls. Mamdani said, “Police do not create safety …  if somebody is surviving, going through domestic violence — there are so many different, different situations that would be far better handled by people trained to deal with those specific situations, as opposed to an individual with a gun.”

Meanwhile, AOC blasted ICE agents and officers who risk their lives to remove dangerous criminal illegal aliens from New York. Following the incident in Minneapolis where an ICE officer shot a woman in self-defense, AOC quickly rushed to judgment and said the officer should be prosecuted.

Taken together, these Democratic governors and progressive leaders have delivered a clear message: law enforcement isn’t a priority — it’s a political target.

Texas, meanwhile, has chosen a very different path.

Governor Greg Abbott has made unwavering support for law enforcement a cornerstone of his leadership. He signed laws blocking cities from defunding their police departments, overhauled the state’s broken bail system, expanded anti‑gang operations, and backed ICE in its fight against human smuggling, cartel networks, and violent transnational gangs. His approach is simple: public safety is non‑negotiable, and the men and women who enforce the law deserve leaders who stand with them, not against them.

Abbott’s record backs up that statement. Under his leadership, Texas accomplished the following:

Public Safety & Crime Prevention

Human Trafficking & Victim Protection

School & Community Safety

Key Law Enforcement Actions in 2025

In the end, the country is watching two very different philosophies play out in real time. In blue sanctuary states, political leaders have chosen to elevate activist rhetoric over enforcement, to treat federal officers as adversaries, and to gamble with public safety in the name of ideology. In Texas, the priority remains the opposite: backing the officers who keep communities safe, enforcing the law without apology, and confronting the criminal networks that threaten families on both sides of the border. As the national debate over public safety intensifies, the contrast between these approaches isn’t just a policy disagreement — it’s a defining question about what kind of country Americans want to live in, and which leaders are willing to stand with the people sworn to protect it.

Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He also serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products.