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WASHINGTON (AP) — On Tuesday, Minnesota authorities initiated a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging that it has withheld crucial evidence related to three incidents involving federal officers, including the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
The lawsuit argues that the federal government broke its commitment to assist with state-led probes following Operation Metro Surge, urging the court to mandate compliance. This operation saw thousands of officers deployed to the Minneapolis and St. Paul regions as part of President Donald Trump’s nationwide efforts to intensify immigration enforcement. While the Department of Homeland Security lauded the operation as its most extensive immigration crackdown to date, it drew sharp criticism from Minnesota officials and sparked debate over the behavior of federal officers.
The legal filing states that the federal government should not “withhold investigative evidence to shield law enforcement officers from scrutiny when a state is probing serious potential breaches of its criminal laws, affecting its citizens, within its jurisdiction.”
Requests for comment have been dispatched to both the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department.
Emails seeking comment were sent to DHS and the Justice Department.
The Justice Department in January said it was opening a federal civil rights investigation into Pretti’s killing but has said a similar federal probe was not warranted in the killing of Good. The decision in Good’s case marked a sharp departure from past administrations, which moved quickly to investigate shootings of civilians by law enforcement officials for potential civil rights offenses.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has said that the department’s Civil Rights Division does not investigate every law enforcement shooting and that there have to be circumstances and facts that “warrant an investigation.”
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said Tuesday that the federal government “has adopted a policy of categorically withholding evidence,” calling the practice unprecedented and alarming.
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Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa.