Gov. Josh Shapiro Urges 'National Referendum' on Trump Policies and ICE Crackdown

In a Jan. 27 MS NOW interview, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro praised Minneapolis residents protesting DHS’s Operation Metro Surge as 'inspiring,' said Immigration and Customs Enforcement is 'acting outside the bounds of the law,' and warned Pennsylvania is preparing legally and in communities as though it could be the next target of a federal interior‑enforcement surge. Asked what he would do in Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s place, Shapiro said he would bring state charges against federal officers who shot peaceful protesters, signaling a willingness to push state prosecutorial power directly against federal agents. He called on Congress to 'put some guardrails around ICE spending' by tightening appropriations, framed 2028 as needing a 'national referendum on Donald Trump and his policies,' and recounted last year’s hammer‑and‑Molotov attack on the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion, which ended with a 25‑ to 50‑year attempted‑murder sentence. Shapiro also revisited the 2024 Harris VP vetting, saying a staffer’s question about whether he was a 'double agent for Israel' offended him and that he later asked to be taken out of contention, while still saying the country would have been better off if the Harris–Walz ticket had won. The interview positions Shapiro more clearly on the national stage as a 2028 aspirant who intends to run directly against Trump’s immigration agenda and to test the limits of state resistance to federal ICE operations.