St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter celebrates drop in gun violence, pledges to fight Trump administration

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter pointed to a drop in gun violence and progress in repaving city streets during his annual State of the City speech on Monday and said he wanted St. Paul to be a national example of how cities can thrive.

St. Paul has had no gun-related homicides this year, Carter said, crediting the St. Paul Police Department’s new nonfatal shooting unit, which has focused on preventing “cycles of retaliation” that drive gun violence, he said.

Carter said police cleared 71% of nonfatal shootings in the last year, compared to 38% a year prior, and have seized 119 guns already in 2025 — all of which, Carter said, adds up to less gun violence.

“As of April 11 we’ve seen a 73% drop in nonfatal shootings and zero, I said zero, gun-related homicides this year.”

The wide-ranging speech at the city’s new North End Community Center came amid tension between Carter and the City Council, notably over the city’s 2024 budget and the location of a truck lot for the city’s new garbage hauler, and as Carter seeks reelection as St. Paul mayor after eight years in office, and with his star rising in the DFL.

Here are four other takeaways from Carter’s speech:

Carter underlined St. Paul’s pledge to not cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Our police officers will not become federal immigration agents,” Carter said, to sustained applause.

Carter said St. Paul would continue to be part of lawsuits against the Trump administration, such as the sanctuary city lawsuit the city joined in February, but said he wanted St. Paul to focus on working for St. Paulites, not against President Donald Trump’s administration.

“We will keep fueling our movement with love for one another, not hatred for someone else,” he said.

Carter said he believed weakening rent control will spur more housing construction in St. Paul.

“If we want more affordability, more access and more fairness, we need more homes, and we have to do everything we can to get them built,” Carter said.

But his speech emphasized adding apartments and condos in downtown St. Paul, with the aim of bringing 20,000 new residents downtown to help offset the emptiness of office buildings.

Even with city and state workers coming into their offices, there will be vacant space, he said.

Carter spoke about the centrality of the Wild arena in plans to bring life to downtown St. Paul, but prospects for state aid to renovate the Xcel Energy Center remain cloudy.

The one-cent sales tax St. Paul passed in 2023 has already started working, Carter said, with 50 miles of roads slated for $24 million worth of repairs. City parks and recreation centers are also in line for more than $23 million in renovations.

Citywide garbage service began on schedule April 1, and Carter said the Department of Public Works was already better equipped to clean up illegal dumping hotspots.

Carter said the Trump administration’s cuts to federal programs on which St. Paul relies are among the city’s biggest challenges. The wave of economic uncertainty set off by the president’s tariff announcements also threatens economic development and construction in the city.

St. Paul relies on federal funds for projects ranging from affordable housing to highway construction to removal of lead pipes from the drinking water system.