In Toledo, Ohio, Vice President JD Vance on Thursday attributed the chaos linked to the White House’s deportation policies to the influence of the “far left,” as he prepared for a significant engagement in Minnesota—a state now central to the national debate over the Trump administration’s stringent immigration measures.

“If reducing the disorder in Minneapolis is the goal, then the solution is to stop opposing immigration enforcement and acknowledge the necessity of having a border in this nation,” Vance declared while traveling to Minnesota. “It’s really quite straightforward.”

In Minneapolis, Vance is scheduled to meet with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. The city has been a hotspot for protests following the shooting of Renee Good, a mother of three, by an ICE agent earlier this month. Vance, a Republican, has been a prominent defender of the agent involved, stating that the unfortunate incident was “a tragedy of her own making.”

Additionally, Vance commended the authorities for apprehending demonstrators who disrupted a church service in Minnesota the previous Sunday. The demonstrators had entered the church, chanting slogans such as “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good.”

“These actions are frightening children who are simply there to worship on a Sunday morning,” Vance commented. “We will ensure that those responsible face imprisonment as long as we have the authority to enforce it.”

He added: “Just as you have the right to protest, they have a right to worship God as they choose. And when you interrupt that, that is a violation of the law.”

Some Minnesota faith leaders, backed by labor unions and hundreds of Minneapolis-area businesses, are planning a day of protests on Friday to push back against the administration’s crackdown. Nearly 600 local business have announced plans to shut down, while hundreds of “solidarity events” are expected across the country, according to MoveOn spokesperson Britt Jacovich.

“Masked federal agents are teargassing babies and pastors, seizing our neighbors and shipping them off to foreign torture prisons, and killing innocent people,” protest organizers wrote.

Gregory Bovino, the official who leads the White House’s border patrol operations, said federal agents had the authority to enter private homes in Minnesota without a judicial warrant as part of their crackdown.

“We don’t break in anybody’s homes. We make entry in either a hot pursuit with a criminal arrest warrant or an administrative arrest warrant,” Bovino said at a news conference.

The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that federal immigration officers were asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter houses without a warrant, according to an internal ICE memo, in what is a reversal of long-standing guidance meant to respect constitutional limits on government searches.

Bovino condemned Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Gov. Tim Walz – both Democrats – and other officials for using “violent rhetoric,” while describing city police as “missing in action” and protesters as “anarchists.”

Vance’s stop in Toledo was focused primarily on bolstering the Republican administration’s positive economic message on the heels of Trump’s appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The vice president also took the opportunity to boost some of Republicans’ important statewide candidates in this fall’s midterm elections, including gubernatorial contender Vivek Ramaswamy and U.S. Sen. Jon Husted.

Convincing voters that the nation is in rosy financial shape has been a persistent challenge for Trump during the first year of his second term. Polling has shown that the public is unconvinced that the economy is in good condition and majorities disapprove of how Trump’s handling of foreign policy.

Vance urged voters to be patient on the economy, saying Trump had inherited a bad situation from Democratic President Joe Biden.

“You don’t turn the Titanic around overnight,” Vance said. “It takes time to fix what is broken.”

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Carr Smyth reported from Columbus, Ohio, and Peoples from New York.