The Wall Street Journal reports:

Chris Madel was distraught as he left last Tuesday’s GOP gubernatorial debate at a suburban movie theater, where he had squabbled onstage with six other candidates ranging from the speaker of the house to the embattled founder of MyPillow about nearly every major political issue but immigration.

It rattled Madel that no one mentioned the thousands of federal agents stationed in and around Minneapolis. No one mentioned the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother, by veteran ICE agent Jonathan Ross, despite the fact that the lawyer representing Ross was on stage—Madel, who recently took the case pro bono.

“They didn’t ask one question about immigration but they asked about abortion,” he said. “It’s like, what are your priorities here?”

Madel, a trial lawyer and first-time candidate, confided in his wife that he was thinking of ending his campaign. On a scale of one to 10, she asked how certain he was, and he said seven. By Friday night, he was at 10.

“I can’t look my daughters in the eye and say I’m running as a Republican, when they’re pulling over Hispanics and Asians because of the color of the skin and what they look like,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “I did not sign up for that.”

“Our operations are lawful. They’re targeted and they’re focused on individuals who pose a serious threat to this community,” Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino said last week at a news conference in Minnesota.

Madel (pronounced “MAD-dle”) is among an increasing number of conservatives juggling competing perspectives. He supports cracking down on illegal immigration but rejects the administration’s methods for doing so. He is among the first Republicans to say the second part out loud.

In a video statement posted Monday morning announcing the end of his campaign, Madel said he supported the goal of Operation Metro Surge to deport “the worst of the worst,” but that the mission had expanded too far past its stated focus on “true public safety threats.” He said he personally had heard from local law-enforcement officers of Hispanic and Asian descent who had been pulled over by ICE.

“United States citizens, particularly those of color, live in fear. United States citizens are carrying papers to prove their citizenship,” he said. “That’s wrong.” [Continue reading…]