On Monday\u2019s broadcast of MSNBC\u2019s \u201cThe Beat,\u201d Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) reacted to the Department of Justice\u2019s lawsuit against the state\u2019s policy allowing illegal immigrants to get in-state tuition by saying that \u201cit\u2019s unprincipled. It is about blue state retaliation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Host Melissa Murray asked, \u201cSo, some have worried that the DOJ seems bent on targeting Democratic states and Democratic cities. It is now suing to stop a Minnesota policy that allows undocumented students to qualify for in-state tuition. Is all of this principled, or is it really just about blue state retaliation?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ellison responded, \u201cWell, honestly, it\u2019s unprincipled. It is about blue state retaliation. But I believe that some of this stuff is about the restoration of Jim Crow. Now, I don\u2019t want to sound alarmist. But when they\u2019re attacking \u2014 when they\u2019re taking the picture of Jackie Robinson off the walls, when we have to fight to get it back up there, when they\u2019re attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion at every turn, when they\u2019re combing through statutes to find anything that they can complain about, when they\u2019re rescinding consent decrees regarding police accountability issues, it seems to me that there\u2019s a bigger, deeper, wider agenda. And I think it\u2019s the restoration of a pre-1954 America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n