The Rochester City Council convened on January 21, 2026, to address an agenda dominated by intense public concern regarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities in the city. Following extensive public testimony describing widespread fear among immigrant communities, the impact on school attendance and healthcare access, and allegations of aggressive enforcement tactics, city leadership and the Police Chief responded with reassurances that local police do not collaborate with ICE and do not share resident data. The council subsequently approved two major development projects: a wireless tower and a regional sports complex, and a site development agreement with Mayo Clinic for downtown facilities.
Community Fear and Demands
Other Public Comments
Mayo Clinic Site Development Agreement (Item F10)
Ordinance Rezoning (Item J1)
Other Business and ICE Response
Please rise as you're able for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice. Thank you and uh welcome everybody to our January twenty-first uh city council meeting. Uh before we get started, I just wanted to give a thank you to Councilmember Miller and uh Public Works Director Niemier for shoveling the walkway to uh get you all in the room here. So thank you. Some servant leadership there from Councilmember Miller and just doing his job, Tyler. So we open uh each of our meetings with an open comment period, and this is an opportunity for anyone from the public to speak on items that we will not be taking public testimony during a public hearing later on the agenda. Each person has up to two minutes to speak for a total of 20 minutes. Now the council also has the ability if we go over those 20 minutes to uh to uh extend that period. Um I will be keeping track uh through two methods. One is the uh stop light here, and uh you'll see a green, it'll turn yellow, I think, when you have a minute left, and red when you are to stop. Also up uh to my left is the red uh digital clock, and that will count down the two minutes. I'd also ask each speaker to be concise to allow more people to speak and participants are also uh encouraged to limit comments generally to topics that are within the scope and jurisdiction of the council's ability to affect policy. Council members and staff do not respond to your comments during public comment, but will instead follow up on any specific requests separately. If you have materials to share with the council, please give them to the city clerk who's to my right, and she will distribute them to the council. You will be invited up uh in the order you signed up, and we will start with Kyle Pike. Council President, members of the City Council. My name is Kyle Pike. I'm a disabled combat veteran and a student of Winona State University, and I come before you with a very simple problem, plaguing your city. You have the Gestapo forces of an illegal tyrannical federal government seizing power in my home and corrupting the goodwill of an entire state, plaguing people of color as if they were othered to nothing but an alien and illegal, and you have done nothing hitherto this moment to stop the tyranny I never served to witness in my home. Rochester is a community for Somali Americans, for Latino Americans, for Irish and German Americans, for Italian Americans, for all Americans, legal or otherwise. And you are called tonight by a veteran of the armed forces of this country whose brothers and sisters are being plagued right now because of the color of their skin. You are demanded here forward that you take action to prevent the Gestapo Nazi forces illegally invading my home. I did not serve for the allow tyranny to destroy Rochester. I served to pre to prevent it from ever happening on my shores, where my ancestors proudly defended the flag for seven generations. I will not allow silence on this issue anymore. Thank you, Mr. Council President. I thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry. But no. I'm sorry. No. Thank you, Mr. Pike. I'm going to just say that, you know, we we're going to hear some very impassioned speeches, and uh we uh we need for you to refrain from applause. It allows the speakers for us to hear from more speakers. So please uh try to reframe even when there are very impassioned uh people speaking. So with that, we're gonna go to Jared uh Lucker. Gerard. Jared. Hi, my name is Jared Looker. I'm a resident of Rochester. Good evening, Mayor Norton, Council members, and residents of Rochester and fellow Americans. It's an honor to speak with you tonight to share my thoughts about the moment we're in, to acknowledge the stress, tension, and fear that so many of us are feeling right now. In particular, I want to acknowledge the acute pain, undue stress, and fear felt by members of our immigrant communities, our Somali brothers and sisters, our Mexican neighbors, and anyone who feels vulnerable, scared, or as though their rights are being questioned or their dignity is being tested. I do not pretend to have the answers, nor am I here to criticize you. I am here as an individual, as a father, a husband, and a friend, to pose a simple set of questions for us all to consider. What kind of city, county, state, and country do we want to live in?