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michele tafoya
Peggy Flanagan Unloads on GOP Rival for Saying ICE Treated Kids ‘Really Well’ During Minnesota Siege
"This agency is completely out of control," said the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Minnesota.
Aug 13, 2026
Fresh off a resounding US Senate primary victory, Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan on Thursday castigated her Republican general election opponent for praising federal immigration agents' treatment of children during their siege of Minneapolis.
During an interview on MS NOW, Flanagan highlighted GOP Senate nominee Michele Tafoya's support for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whose violent operations in the Twin Cities area last winter resulted in widespread protests, including an unprecedented one-day general strike.
"Michele Tafoya, my Republican opponent, she used footage of ICE in the streets of Minnesota during her launch video, and recently said... 'ICE treated children really, really well,'" Flanagan said. "Tell that to Liam Ramos or to the children who have been separated from their parents. This agency is completely out of control."
Peggy Flanagan: "Michele Tayofa, my Republican opponent, used footage of ICE in the streets of Minnesota in her launch video, and recently said 'ICE treated children really really well.' Tell that to Liam Ramos or to the children who have been separated from their parents." pic.twitter.com/Vy9kKpYZkq
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 13, 2026
Five-year-old Liam Ramos in January was abducted by ICE agents during his walk home from school and sent along with his father, an Ecuadoran asylum seeker, to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, where family members said the child grew sick from eating spoiled food. In February, Ramos and his father were released and sent back to Minnesota.
Elsewhere in the interview, Flanagan was asked about Republican attacks on her and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for purportedly not doing enough to prevent healthcare fraud in their state, and she quickly turned the tables back on Tafoya and President Donald Trump.
" Republicans are going to run against every Democrat on fraud, because they want to distract from what's happening under the most corrupt president we've ever seen," she said. "They want to talk about fraud, they have to talk about the fact that, right out of the gate, Donald Trump got rid of 17 inspectors general whose whole job it is to police fraud at the federal level."
Peggy Flanagan: "Republicans are going to run against every Democrat on fraud, because they want to distract from what's happening under the most corrupt president we've ever seen ... Michele Tayofa and Republicans up and down the ballot are going to have to answer for that. The… pic.twitter.com/dyMqisM1AH
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 13, 2026
"He's pardoned 70 white-collar criminals who have stolen billions of dollars in Medicaid and Medicare," Flanagan continued. "And every day, this guy is making money hand over fist from the Oval Office, from his... cryptocurrency, through hundreds of millions of dollars in insider trading. And Michele Tayofa and Republicans up and down the ballot are going to have to answer for that. The grift has to stop."
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GOP Candidate Tells Americans to Support Trump’s Iran War by Taking 'One Less Trip to Starbucks'
"This is some of the most insane, tone-deaf messaging ever from a political party," said one Democratic strategist.
Mar 19, 2026
A Republican candidate for the US Senate thinks Americans should be "patriots" by driving less during President Donald Trump's unprovoked and unconstitutional war against Iran.
Michele Tafoya, a right-wing media personality running for an open US Senate seat in Minnesota, acknowledged during a Thursday interview on local radio station KWAM that the Iran war was causing painful spikes in gas prices, while encouraging US drivers to suck it up in the name of helping Trump succeed.
"I know it's frustrating, and I know it's hard for people," Tafoya said. "It used to be during past wars, especially World War II, Americans got behind our service men and women, and we did little things to show our support for them. We collected metal, we recycled stuff, aluminum, so that we could help in the war effort. I think right now, at least just keeping a stiff upper lip, maybe you take one less trip to Starbucks, so that gas goes a little further, until this thing is over."
Oh my god.
On the radio, NRSC-endorsed Michele Tafoya says that gas prices are spiking because of the Iran war that she supports and that people should “take one less trip to Starbuck’s” and to “just try to be patriots” about it.#mnsen pic.twitter.com/GOvkgZTqV7
— danny (@dabbs346) March 19, 2026
Tafoya then told Americans to "try to be patriots" about a war that was started early on a Saturday morning with no approval from the US Congress.
"Whether you agree with it or not, we're there," she concluded. "And we've got to support our men and women in uniform. That's a big one."
Fred Wellman, a Democrat running for the US House of Representatives in Missouri, said that Tafoya's comments made her look incredibly out of touch.
"Working people can’t get to their second job and pay for gas," Wellman wrote in a social media post. "Uber drivers are losing money doing the job. Small business are in the red for overhead. Prices are spiking because of insane diesel fuel costs. But when you’re a rich lady it’s patriotic to skip coffee. The other 80% wonder how they will eat at all."
Democratic strategist Matt McDermott expressed shock that Tafoya thought it would be a good idea to tell Americans to drive less to support a war that polls show is historically unpopular.
"The average person scrolling social media for the past few weeks has to be thinking that Republicans have absolutely lost their minds," McDermott wrote. "This is some of the most insane, tone-deaf messaging ever from a political party."
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