Minneapolis and Chicago mayors to deliver unofficial rebuttals to Trump's State of the Union address

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson will join several other Democratic elected officials and well-known actors in giving unofficial responses to President Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday night, according to a news release about the event.

Organizers are calling the "State of the Swamp" a boycott of Mr. Trump's address. Frey and Johnson are expected to join Democratic U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer, actors Robert De Niro and Mark Ruffalo, journalists Don Lemon and Jim Acosta and several others at the event. It's scheduled to take place at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. 

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger will deliver the official Democratic response to Mr. Trump's speech, according to party leaders in Congress.

"There are moments in our country's history when leadership is measured not by party loyalty, but by moral clarity. This is one of those moments," Frey said in the release. 

Johnson added, "Donald Trump's vision for America runs counter to the hopes and aspirations of the working people who wake up every single day and make our cities run."

Minneapolis and Chicago have both faced an influx of federal agents as part of a nationwide immigration crackdown by the Trump administration. Organizers, without expanding, cited the cities as faces "of the resistance to lawless actions" of the administration.

Border czar Tom Homan said on Sunday that more than 1,000 immigration agents have left Minnesota since he announced the end of Operation Metro Surge, and several hundred more were expected to leave in the coming days.

Johnson last month signed an executive order directing members of the Chicago Police Department to investigate and document any alleged illegal activity by federal immigration agents. Police will preserve and provide evidence of felony violations to the Cook County State's Attorney. 

Defiance.org, which is organizing the event, is a club for people "willing to take peaceful, lawful, defiant action to defend democracy" from Mr. Trump, according to its website.

WCCO has reached out to Frey's office for comment.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota said in a written statement on Friday that she's going to spend time "uplifting the voices of people doing good work in Minnesota and across the country" instead of listening to the president's address.