US Justice Department probes Minnesota officials amid migration raids

A group of state officials, including governors of Minnesota and mayors of Minneapolis and Minnesota’s mayor, claim to be the subject of an investigation by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) after filing a lawsuit against the government for its controversial immigration raids.

Federal immigration officers were allegedly obstructing justice by preventing them from performing their duties, according to a report from US broadcaster CBS News late on Tuesday.

The investigation is the most recent development in a series of heated exchanges between Minnesota officials and President Donald Trump’s administration over immigration raids, including the one that involved an ICE agent fatally shooting Renee Good, a mother of three and a US citizen.

Governor Walz referred to the DOJ investigation as “political theater” in a statement released on Tuesday.

In response to calls for justice in the wake of Renee Good’s murder, violence, and chaos, the Justice Department investigation is directed at justice. He claimed that it is a partisan distraction.

Attorney General Ellison claimed in a post on X that the Justice Department had subpoenaed “records and documents related to my office’s work with respect to federal immigration enforcement, not for me personally.”

Given that the order came so soon after the state sued the Department of Homeland Security, which regulates ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Ellison described the action as “highly irregular.”

Ellison wrote on X that Trump’s DOJ is more focused on investigating my office than Renee Good’s death.

He declared, “I will not be intimidated, and I will continue to work to defend Minnesotans from this revenge campaign.”

Ellison’s office described the ICE raids as “dangerous, illegal, and unconstitutional stops and arrests, all conducted under the guise of lawful immigration enforcement” in a statement released last week.

Mayor of Minneapolis Frey characterized the DOJ investigation as an attempt to avert state officials.

According to The Associated Press news agency, Frey’s office previously made available a copy of the Justice Department subpoena, which requests “any records tending to show a refusal to assist immigration officials.”

A grand jury will examine the documents on February 3 to determine whether the lawsuit has any probable cause.

In December, the Department of Homeland Security launched an enormous immigration operation to dispatch thousands of ICE and CBP agents to the Democratic-led cities of Minneapolis and St Paul in Minnesota.

In early January, an ICE officer shot and killed Good, 37, who was observing an immigration raid as a citizen observer, in the country. Despite widespread public outcry across the nation, the DOJ has since decided not to investigate the shooting.