Over 1,700 international students across the U.S. have had their visa status changed.

11 University of Minnesota Students have had their Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, status terminated as of April 18 with no clear reason why.

This change has greatly impacted the International Student and Scholars Service, or ISSS, at the University, according to Associate Director of Student Advising and Counseling of ISSS Kathryn Gaylord-Miles.

“This is the first time that we’ve seen the federal government changing student records in this way, so there really is no past precedent,” Gaylord-Miles said.

The visa process is complicated, and the ISSS staff is working to help students navigate what is going on and provide resources, Gaylord-Miles said.

“It’s not really clear why student records are being terminated, and so we are getting questions from students about what can I do to prevent that?” Gaylord-Miles said. “And that’s a really hard advising question because we don’t know what’s driving these.” 

The University is working to provide personalized support to individuals regarding the visa process and international travel, University spokesperson Andria Waclawski said in a statement emailed to the Minnesota Daily.

“The University of Minnesota remains fully committed to supporting all members of our University community affected by immigration policies, and our leaders are closely tracking any potential changes to federal policies, laws, and other requirements,” Waclawski said in the statement.

What the law says

It is important to understand the difference between a visa being revoked and SEVIS termination, according to Sarah Peterson, an immigration attorney and adjunct professor at the UMN Law School.

A visa is a sticker in a passport that allows someone to board a flight or travel. If just the visa is revoked, that does not impact legal status, Peterson said.

However, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can begin the process to deport someone who has gotten their visa revoked, Peterson said.

SEVIS termination does directly impact a student’s immigration status, Peterson said. SEVIS is a government database that keeps track of international students and was historically used mainly by universities to terminate legal status in very specific circumstances.

“What’s new is that ICE has recently started terminating SEVIS records without notifying schools or students,” Peterson said. “This is highly unusual and could have serious implications for students’ legal status.”

According to Peterson, visa revocations used to be rare in the U.S., typically only driven by serious issues like security threats or criminal activity.

“Now, ICE appears to be terminating SEVIS records without explanation or communication. Universities are learning about the terminations only after the fact, usually when students are impacted,” Peterson said. “This is a significant departure from past practice.”

This is a developing legal issue, Peterson said. 19 attorneys general have asked a federal judge to block student visa cancellations.

According to Peterson, visa revocations are hard to fight because the Supreme Court held they do not have judicial review, which is the ability for a court to deem an action by the government as unconstitutional. 

What students can do

The ISSS is monitoring the database of international students on campus to check students’ visa status, Gaylord-Miles said.

“When we do notice that a student’s record has been terminated, we are reaching out to the student to let them know about what’s happened, and we’re reaching out to them with some resources to get them connected,” Gaylord-Miles said. 

ISSS has been able to notify students within a few hours of their visa status change in most cases, according to Gaylord-Miles. She said the students are then connected with Student Legal Services, who is working closely with our impacted students to help them understand what their next options might be.

Student Legal Services has a “Know Your Rights” guide with information about rights regarding immigration and ICE.

In addition to going through the international student database, ISSS is hosting different information sessions to keep students informed, Assistant Vice Provost and Director of ISSS Barbara Kappler said.

“We’ve curated additional information to be shared on the website, where we are posting specific tips and information in regards to changes in immigration at this time,” Kappler said. “The staff is working really hard to stay up to date and to be responding to the understandably complicated questions that people are bringing forward.” 

Kappler said it is also important to come together as a community to support international students.

“We recognize, and want to make sure the university community understands, the termination of the SEVIS records are upending the lives of the students and certainly causing great concern in the international community,” Kappler said.

The University of Minnesota Police Department has purchased 27 vehicles since 2021, with 2024 being the most expensive year, according to data from UMPD.

Most of the 27 vehicles were purchased in 2024 and 2022, but 2024 was the most expensive year, costing approximately $614,178. Coming in second, 2022 cost approximately $571,664, according to UMPD data. 

First-year student Sofia Littlefield said she sees the flashing lights from the UMPD police cars regularly and sees them patrolling around campus pretty often.

“Almost every time I walk to class, I’ll see at least one,” Littlefield said. “Whether or not they’re parked or just on the road.” 

Cars play a big role in UMPD officers’ daily routine and maintaining a collection of public safety vehicles takes a lot of planning and consideration, University spokesperson Jake Ricker said in a statement.

“Patrol vehicles function as mobile offices for officers working 10-hour shifts and have much more equipment than a standard car or truck might,” Ricker said in the statement.

New police vehicles are purchased to replace old cars to ensure reliability and safety, as well as provide cars to new staff, Ricker said in the statement. 

“As the Department of Public Safety has hired more police officers and community service officers, more vehicles have been needed to support additional personnel and the initiatives they support, like the mutual aid expansion pilot in Dinkytown and the Gopher Chauffeur program,”  Ricker said in the statement.

Since 2021, UMPD has purchased 27 vehicles, according to data from the UMN Department of Public Safety. 

Thirteen of those vehicles are Ford Interceptors, with seven of them purchased throughout 2024, each worth about $48,023. These are SUV vehicles that Ford makes specifically for police use, according to the Ford website.

Along with the Ford Interceptors, UMPD also has a handful of Chevrolet Tahoes, purchasing seven in 2022, according to UMPD data. 

In 2024, UMPD also purchased a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van for $235,800, according to UMPD data. This made 2024 the most expensive out of the last five years for vehicle purchases, totaling approximately $614,178.

Most vehicles are used for patrolling, while others may be used for moving equipment or for K9 units, Ricker said in the statement.

“Other DPS vehicles are equipped to effectively respond to more novel situations, such as active threats and prolonged or large-scale safety events,” Ricker said in the statement. 

Vehicles UMPD purchased in the last five years that are not typical patrol cars include a Harley-Davidson motorbike in 2022, two Ford F150s in 2023 and the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter in 2024, according to UMPD data.

Ricker said in the statement that vehicles are used for a wide range of tasks, including moving light and camera trailers. 

The process to buy a new police vehicle can be complicated, because few vehicle companies make cars for law enforcement to use, Ricker said in the statement. Additionally, COVID-19 caused manufacturing shutdowns and delays and created a nationwide backlog in orders. 

“Even today, law enforcement vehicles continue to face longer wait times due to their specialized nature, contributing to higher operating costs, increased maintenance needs, and extended timelines for vehicle replacements,” Ricker said in the statement.

Tensions over displacement and negative health impacts remain as the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s (MnDOT) Highway 252 project continues into its environmental study phase.

The project aims to improve safety and mobility through expanding and changing the existing highway into a four- or six-lane freeway, MnDOT Major Projects Manager Amber Blanchard said. 

Highway 252 extends from I-94 through north Minneapolis, Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park. 

There have been at least 14 fatal crashes on the highway since 2003, five of them occurring between 2019 and 2023, according to data from MnDOT.

Blanchard said safety, vehicle mobility, walkability, land-use and property impacts are all considered when choosing the best way to change the existing highway.

“We want to make sure that MnDOT ultimately is there to do and make things safer for everyone,” Blanchard said. “Safety is paramount.”

MnDOT is still in the planning and review process, with construction set to begin in 2029. 

Community involvement

An important part of the project, which has been a years-long process, has been outreach to the Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park and Minneapolis communities which will be directly impacted by the expansion, MnDOT spokesperson Ricardo Lopez said. 

MnDOT has been increasing the amount of engagement and opportunities for feedback from the community, Blanchard said.

“We’re to the point where we’re meeting in the communities, virtually at least once a month,” Blanchard said.

In January, MnDOT began hosting meetings focused on a different topic surrounding the project each month called community table talks, Blanchard said. Last month’s talk was on environmental justice and equity, with the upcoming talk focusing on safety.

Starting this month are coffee chats, which will take place on the fourth Thursday of each month and are an opportunity for people to ask questions or give feedback on the project, Blanchard said.

According to Blanchard, MnDOT has received 736 emails and letters regarding the project.

“I read every one of them as the project manager,” Blanchard said. “Most of them to date have been more in the realm of ‘Hey. This is my opinion. I think you should do this type of thing.’ Some of them are questions, and we respond to those.”

Impacts on property

Last summer, MnDOT met with property owners and tenants who may be displaced or impacted by the project, Blanchard said. 

“Part of my goal since I came on board is to avoid property impacts if I can, first and foremost,” Blanchard said.

The question of displacement has been a point of contention in the project. 

Advocacy groups such as Our Streets have raised concerns over property impacts. Our Streets spokesperson Joe Harrington said a big question moving forward is how many people could be impacted by the project.

“There’s still a pretty wide range of numbers of properties that could be seized,” Harrington said.

Lopez said there are two main considerations for the freeway — one being to make the freeway go above local roads and the other being to put it underground. 

MnDOT determined fewer property impacts if the freeway goes over the local road, Blanchard said.

“There’s no way I can totally eliminate impacts because that is not possible,” Blanchard said. “There will be impacts, but the thing we are doing is we’re trying to minimize and avoid some of them if we even can.”

Health and safety concerns

Harrington said another major concern regarding the project is the negative health effects associated with highways.

“It’s gonna reduce health outcomes by having more traffic and air pollution associated with that,” Harrington said.

Brooklyn Center Mayor April Graves has been outspoken about her issues with the project, including the prospect of more air pollution.

“We would literally have to pay for more traffic, more pollution, less access to our businesses and decreases to our already struggling tax base,” Graves said in a September 2024 statement.

In January, Graves said she wanted to make sure that both equity and Brooklyn Center residents are considered in the project.

Brooklyn Center is where there is the most amount of opposition to the project, Harrington said. It is also where Our Streets has done a lot of outreach about the issue with other local grassroots efforts to raise awareness about the project and its potential impacts.

“There’s a general sense in Brooklyn Center in particular, which is one of the, you know, most diverse, both racially and economically, suburbs in the Twin Cities region,” Harrington said. “And there’s a lot of understanding that this project is gonna have significant harms for the community.”

Blanchard said officials from Brooklyn Center are great to work with and have been coming to community engagement events.

“They are at the table, and that’s all we can say,” Blanchard said. “That’s all that we can expect from them is to be there and listen, and just hear what we have to say.

Overall, community engagement has been really important in this project, Blanchard said.

“We have a mission, and that really centers around transportation, and that is what we do,” Blanchard said. “But at the same time, we care about community needs and we care about things that are important to them, so listening to them and trying to come to compromises or if there’s anything we can do for the communities, we try to do that.”

Harrington said engaging with and listening to the community is a crucial part in preventing harm in infrastructure projects.

“We can’t continue to accept the calculus that undercuts communities of color and low-income communities who live near highways and exclude them from processes that will shape their community for generations,” Harrington said. “It’s fundamentally wrong, and it’s just an outdated mindset that needs to be changed.”

St. Paul City Council President Mitra Jalali (Ward 4) announced she will be stepping down from the City Council following this Wednesday’s council meeting to focus on her health.

The next president of the council will be Council Member Rebecca Noecker (Ward 2) with Council Member Hwa Jeong Kim (Ward 5) continuing as vice president, according to a statement from City Council spokesperson Jay Willms. 

More information regarding the appointment of an interim council member for Ward 4, which includes the neighborhoods of St. Anthony Park and parts of Como Park near the University of Minnesota St. Paul campus, will be announced in the coming weeks. 

Jalali announced her resignation in a Facebook post on Jan. 24, where she said she did not make her decision lightly. 

“It has been the honor of my lifetime to serve the residents of Saint Paul these last nearly seven years, both as a Councilmember and now Council President,” Jalali said in the post. “Today, I share the news that I have made the difficult decision to prioritize my health and begin a transition out of City Hall.”

Jalali was first elected to the City Council in a special election in 2018 and was elected city council president by the other council members in Jan. 2024. Before being elected, she worked for current Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison during his time as a representative in Congress. 

Jalali said in the post that she realized her health was being negatively impacted by her work while running for reelection in late 2023. 

“I struggled deeply with that reality, pushing ahead through a groundbreaking year while shouldering new responsibilities,” Jalali said in the post. “I stayed in the work the same way I have for the last nearly seven years, no matter the level of stress or emergency, because our community needs us to be our best, and because I love our city.”

In a statement, Noecker said she was grateful for Jalali’s leadership over the past year. 

“She has been a driving force for positive change, and she will be dearly missed,” Noecker said. “I deeply appreciate my colleagues’ support as I take on this new role, and I look forward to continuing our work to build a more resilient, vibrant, and inclusive Saint Paul.”

Moving forward, the council plans to continue to work on projects that will benefit the city, Noecker said in the statement.

“I will work hard every day to make sure our Council is fully equipped to pass good policy and fight for the interests of our constituents, especially in a time of uncertainty in federal and state government,” Noecker said in the statement. 

In her Facebook post, Jalali recapped much of the work she accomplished while in office, including fighting the first Trump administration’s immigration policies, working to improve affordable housing efforts and helping coordinate the city’s COVID-19 response. 

“Inclusion and equity are not words, but a public policy agenda that I dedicated my work for nearly seven years to make a reality in Saint Paul,” Jalali said in the post.

In 2024, four newly elected members joined the council, forming the first all-woman city council in St. Paul’s history, most of which were women of color. 

The impact of Jalali’s work will continue to guide the council as leadership changes, a joint statement from the council said. St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter will begin the search for an interim council member for Ward 4 after Jalali’s last council meeting this week. 

In the post, Jalali said she is looking forward to a healthier future.

“I will be proud for the rest of my life to have been part of our Council,” Jalali said in the post. “And I know my colleagues will carry the torch forward in their work ahead with the foundation we’ve built in our first year together.”

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison joined 21 other state attorney generals in suing President Donald Trump over an executive order to end birthright citizenship.

A federal judge temporarily blocked the executive order Sunday, which Trump plans to appeal, the New York Times reported. 

Birthright citizenship, a provision of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, grants citizenship to any person born in the U.S., regardless of where their parents were born.

Trump’s executive order goes against the constitution, Ellison said in a statement.

“For more than 125 years, the Supreme Court has clearly interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to eliminate any doubt or confusion that anyone born in the U.S. is automatically a U.S. citizen,” Ellison said in the statement.

Under Trump’s executive order, children born in the U.S. to people not lawfully in the country, and children born in the U.S. but whose parents were only in the country temporarily under a tourism or student visa, would not be citizens. 

According to Ellison’s statement, the end of birthright citizenship would restrict people’s access to a social security number, the ability to participate in federal programs and the right to vote. 

“I am using the power of my office and the law to join with other state attorneys general from coast to coast to quickly and clearly bring suit to stop this unprecedented, blatant breach of the Constitution by a President,” Ellison said.

The suspension of refugee admissions, asylum applications at the southern border and the attempt to prohibit birthright citizenship has stoked fear in immigrant and refugee communities, according to a statement from the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.

In addition to individuals losing access to federal programs, the executive order would also cause states like Minnesota to lose federal funding for programs such as Medicaid and foster care, according to Ellison’s statement.

On Jan. 26, federal Judge John C. Coughenour temporarily blocked the executive order, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional,” the New York Times reported. The decision blocks the executive order for 14 days and is renewable once it expires. 

Since his return to the White House, Trump has signed multiple executive orders regarding citizenship and immigration, including an order to indefinitely suspend refugee resettlement.

The International Institute of Minnesota, a refugee resettlement agency in the Twin Cities, is among the organizations impacted by these orders. 

According to an International Institute press release, the institute received an order on Friday to immediately stop helping new refugees through federal funding. The order impacts refugees who arrived in Minnesota in the last 90 days.

“The halt to existing funding could be catastrophic for refugees who recently arrived in Minnesota,” Jane Graupman, executive director of the International Institute of Minnesota, said in the statement. “The goal of our work is to help clients become self-sufficient as quickly as possible. Without providing support in these critical first months of arrival, people are essentially left stranded.”

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) announced they will not recommend a parkway or boulevard alternative to transform the I-94 corridor between St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Our Streets, a local organization that submitted the boulevard recommendation to MnDOT, and others criticized the decision as unsafe and wrong.

The recommendation is part of the ongoing Rethinking I-94 project which aims to reimagine the 7.5-mile-long stretch of the freeway that connects the Twin Cities. 

MnDOT presented the next steps for the project in the first I-94 Policy Advisory Committee meeting of the year on Jan. 17.

Looking toward the long-term future of the project, other ideas for Rethinking I-94 will be reviewed and analyzed throughout the year, MnDOT spokesperson Ricardo Lopez said.

“It looks like late 2025 or potentially early 2026 is when we’ll be publishing what’s called the draft scoping decision document,” Lopez said. “That will be the big document that includes all this analysis about our recommendations.”

After this, there will be a public comment period on the different alternatives proposed in the document in 2026, Lopez said. 

Our Streets advocacy and policy manager Alex Burns said there is still time to restore the boulevard alternative back into Reimagining I-94. 

“The decision is not final,” Burns said. “Our focus is on doing everything we can during the coming months to raise awareness about this project, the consequences of it and to connect people with decision-makers so that, hopefully, the accurate options can be restored for the next phase of this process.”

The decision was reached partly due to concerns over increased traffic congestion on nearby streets from the boulevard, as well as concerns about increased starting and stopping of vehicles creating more opportunities for collisions, Lopez said. 

“It wouldn’t do so great for walkability, bikeability and safety,” Lopez said. “A freight-separated freeway means that vehicles and pedestrians and bicyclists are not sharing the same time and space.”

Burns said only looking at the increased number of possible instances of collisions does not necessarily mean keeping I-94 a freeway is the safer option. 

Because cars are not frequently stopping on freeways, there are fewer points for collision, Burns said. However, due to the faster speeds, Freeway crashes are more dangerous.

“While a crash may occur less often, a crash that results in permanent injury or death is more likely to occur on I-94,” Burns said. 

Additionally, Burns said it doesn’t make sense that MnDOT considers a boulevard plan that includes protected bike lanes and new sidewalks bad for walkability while basing safety on these possible collision points. 

“By that logic, the safest transportation system for people walking and biking would be to either ban all people walking and biking or turn every street into a freeway,” Burns said. “There are ways we can make this a wonderful place to walk, but I mean, they’re not really interested in having that conversation.”

While Rethinking I-94 is a long-term project, MnDOT is committed to developing an alternative, Lopez said. 

“We’re working to make sure that we can get to an alternative that everybody can live with,” Lopez said.

Around $25,000 from the 2025 Minneapolis budget will be used to develop an LGBTQ+ mental health program.

The amendment, one of over 70 written by the city council, is a one-time funding increase to the Minneapolis Health Department to improve mental health care for LGBTQ+ residents, according to the budget.

The Minneapolis City Council passed the 2025 Minneapolis budget Dec. 10 which was vetoed by Mayor Jacob Frey the next day. The veto was overridden by the city council on Dec. 12. 

Details for what this program will look like are limited. Council Member Jason Chavez (Ward 9), the author of the amendment, said in a statement that the LGBTQ+ mental health program would be established in collaboration with an unnamed community organization.

The community organization will be contracted to set up the mental health program with the one-time $25,000 funds from the Minneapolis Health Department, Chavez said in the statement.

Chavez said that this program will provide an important service for the LGBTQ+ community who are more at risk of mental health issues.

“LGBTQIA+ individuals are significantly more likely to experience mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts compared to non-LGBTQIA+ people,” Chavez said in the statement.

Kat Rohn, executive director of OutFront Minnesota, said during the presidential election there was an increase in anti-transgender and other anti-LGBTQ advertising, exacerbating a pre-existing mental health crisis in the community. 

“What we’ve seen in general is an uptick in mental health concerns amongst the LGBTQ(+) community, particularly over the last couple of years as we’ve seen harmful legislation pass in a lot of states,” Rohn said.

It is a positive sign that the city is supporting access to mental health resources, Rohn said.

“Our culture and society and communities need investment in this space, and they also need them to be targeted at communities who are currently most impacted and underserved by the mental health environment,” Rohn said.

Holistic approaches to mental health care are shown to be effective in treating symptoms of anxiety and depression, Chavez said in the budget amendment. 

“It is important to address those disparities as the City has an obligation to protect the health and welfare of its residents,” Chavez said in the amendment. 

Rohn said having these kinds of services available will make for a stronger and safer community for LGBTQ+ people. 

“Folks, at least within LGBTQ(+) communities, are going to be much more comfortable going to providers who are well trained to handle LGBTQ(+) client needs and community concerns,” Rohn said. “Or even better yet, folks who are themselves also members of the community and can really understand and relate to the experiences that folks might be having.”

In a statement a week before he vetoed the now-adopted budget, Frey said the amendments diverted city funds to “pet projects” with little longevity. 

“If all of these amendments pass, it would represent a departure from good government and fiscal responsibility that Minneapolis residents want and deserve,” Frey said in the statement. “It would amount to cutting needs while adding wants.”

Chavez said in a statement that Frey requesting the council to withdraw many of the amendments at the last hour was unacceptable.

“While the mayor and his administration are calling these ‘pet projects’ and ‘wants rather than needs,’ I will always fight for making investments in the residents and small businesses of Ward 9 and Minneapolis as a whole,” Chavez said in the statement.

The 2025 Minneapolis mayoral candidates attacked incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey’s decision to veto the 2025 budget passed by the council Tuesday. 

Frey vetoed the around $1.9 billion budget on Wednesday night, over concerns the city council was acting fiscally irresponsible. Frey appears to be the first Minneapolis Mayor to ever veto a budget. In a 9-4 vote Thursday, the council voted to override that veto. 

In a statement released Wednesday, Council Member Emily Koski (Ward 11), one of four candidates to announce a mayoral run, said the council worked hard to lower Frey’s proposed property tax levy increase from 8.1% to 6.8%.

“We made tough choices and cut spending where we could — choices that the Mayor initially rejected and rebuffed,” Koski said in the statement. “We worked to reprioritize current spending to address your needs.”

The budget adopted by the council included over 70 amendments, all of which were passed with residents’ priorities in mind, Koski said in the statement.

“I am disappointed and disheartened to hear the rhetoric and narrative being used against this work, specifically the characterization of amendments that reprioritized spending to meet residents’ needs, your needs as pet projects,” Koski said in the statement. “These aren’t pet projects these are your top priorities.”

Rev. DeWayne Davis, who announced his candidacy in October, denounced Frey’s veto in a post on X.

“We can’t veto our way to better Minneapolis,” Davis said in the post. 

Sen. Omar Fateh (DFL-Minneapolis) called Frey’s veto “dangerous and harmful” to residents of the city in a post made on X. 

“Minneapolis is full of people that are working hard to move our city forward, but with every veto, Mayor Frey sets us backward,” Fateh said in a statement.

The budget adopted by the council included crucial public safety services, support for small businesses and services for housing and homelessness, Fateh said in the post. 

“These are exactly the kind of services that we need to make Minneapolis the vibrant and loving city that we know it can be,” Fateh said in the post. 

In an interview with the Minnesota Daily, mayoral candidate and former City Council candidate Brenda Short criticized Frey’s veto as “disrespectful to the community.”

Frey’s veto is proof the city needs a change in its leadership, Short said.

“The community is a victim of Mayor Frey,” Short said. “We’re the victims and I don’t want to be a victim anymore.”

As the Republican and DFL parties prepare for a split in the Minnesota Legislature, party leaders said at a joint panel they will prioritize bipartisanship and compromise in the upcoming legislative session.

In a panel Tuesday hosted by the Humphrey School at the University of Minnesota, DFL and Republican leaders previewed what Minnesotans should expect for the coming year, primarily concerning the state budget and navigating shifts in party control.

Rep. Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park), Rep. Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring), Sen. Jordan Rasmusson (R-Fergus Falls) and Sen. Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul) spoke at the panel. 

After the 2024 election, Minnesota’s state government went from a DFL trifecta to a 67-67 split in the House, with the DFL holding the majority in the Senate by one seat.

Democratic Speaker of the House Hortman said with a closely divided legislature, it is important that the work done throughout the session is in the interests of Minnesotans. 

“I think every single member of the legislature has a choice, whether they wanna be petty and small and personal and partisan, or whether they want to focus on the work that people of Minnesota sent us here to do,” Hortman said in the panel.

Republican Assistant Minority Leader Rasmusson said in the panel that voters “restored balance” to the legislature in the 2024 election, and everything that passes will have to be on a bipartisan basis.

“As it stands right now, there are 101 Democrats who are looking to show up on the first day of session and 100 Republicans,” Rasmusson said in the panel. “It’s virtually as close as it can get, in the legislature, and I think that is Minnesotans telling us that they expect us to work together.”

As the state gears up to pass another biennial budget, Republican House Minority Leader Demuth (R-Cold Spring) said in the panel that she is confident a bipartisan budget will pass on time. 

While both sides agreed bipartisanship was needed, agreement on how to approach the budget was harder to reach. 

It is projected that the state will have less money than originally thought for the next biennial budget. The initial $1.7 billion projected budget surplus fell to a $1.1 billion state budget surplus, budget officials said. 

Limiting spending in the next budget would increase accountability for nonprofits that receive grants from the state government, Demuth said.

“When we also are looking at the amount that was spent, we have unaccountable nonprofits,” Demuth said in the panel. “Not saying that those things should be cut in any way, but there’s no accountability for over one billion dollars that was given out to nonprofits.”

Her Republican colleague Rasmusson agreed and said increasing oversight of nonprofits could prevent wasteful spending.

“I do think we have seen, whether it’s with Feeding Our Future or other high profile instances of waste, fraud and abuse, that we do have to have appropriate oversight on making sure that public dollars that are coming from taxpayers are wisely used,” Rasmusson said in the panel.

However, Hortman said people and organizations who take advantage of government grants through nonprofits are caught and brought to justice.

“It’s an absolute absurdity to suggest that there is no oversight when most of the people involved in the Feeding Our Future fraud are in prison right now,” Hortman said in the panel. 

Going after nonprofits is not a budget solution, Hortman said. She added it risks the partnerships the state has built with some nonprofits that provide essential services, which without, would force the state to hire more employees to do those jobs.

“If we want more state employees doing this work instead of very effective nonprofits, that’d be an interesting new direction coming from Republicans,” Hortman said in the panel.

St. Paul residents voiced support and concern for Mayor Melvin Carter’s proposed 7.9% property tax levy increase in the 2025 budget during Monday’s Truth in Taxation meeting.

The Truth in Taxation annual meeting was the final opportunity for residents to voice their thoughts to the council before the final vote on the 2025 budget on Dec. 11. 

Previously, the St. Paul City Council expressed support for decreasing Carter’s budget by around $6 million and capping the property tax levy at 5%. However, Carter said in November cutting the proposed budget would result in shortened library hours, cuts in funding to recreation centers and the loss of 16 police officers.

St. Paul residents packed the council chambers Monday — some in support, some skeptical and others strongly against the proposed budget, the biggest source of conflict being the property tax increase.

St. Paul resident Jimmy Sande said his property tax estimate from Ramsey County went up by about 26% under the proposed budget.

“Just like everybody else, I got the bill and just about fell over,” Sande said. “It was a tough pill to swallow.”

However, Sande was also concerned about the prospect of losing more police officers if the budget is significantly cut and said the city needs to figure out a way to fund necessary services without the property tax increase. 

“I think we gotta start thinking differently because what we’re doing is not working,” Sande said during public comments.

This sentiment was echoed by resident Brian Dobie who said the tax increase could force families to move out of the city.

“I’ve lived here in the city for 55 years, and you guys are trying to run me out,” Dobie said during public comments. “I believe in paying my fair share. This doesn’t work for families.”

Some residents, such as Joan Cossack, were in support of the budget due to its funding of climate change initiatives. Around $1.4 million in climate change investments are a part of the proposed budget, according to St. Paul Chief Budget Officer Jay Willms.

“Home weatherization and climate actions are enduring financial benefits that give families more protection and more agency for their lives,” Cossack said during public comments. “The city of St. Paul has the ability right now to make these important investments.”

Resident Drew Harper said it is crucial that climate action is included in next year’s budget and feels the current proposed budget does not go far enough.

“It is simply unacceptable to remove funding for climate action,” Harper said during public comments. “The most expensive action is inaction, and we will require the leadership to fund client action.”

Kelly Anderson, whose comment to the council received applause from the audience in the chambers, expressed concern for the increased property tax, adding she already pays “intensely high” taxes.

“I’m a lifelong Democrat,” Anderson said during the meeting. “I saw the property tax hike and thought it was ridiculous.”

At the end of the meeting, City Council President Mitra Jalali said the council is listening to the public’s concerns.

“I want to acknowledge what we hear very clearly at this table, the stress — the stress in all these different directions,” Jalali said. “The stress in the cost of living going up, the stress of property taxes increasing, the stress and anxiety of not having city services that actually help you through hard times.”