The US justice department is investigating Minnesota\u2019s political leaders for allegedly conspiring to obstruct the Trump administration\u2019s controversial immigration crackdown there, according to multiple reports.<\/p>\n
The investigation, which CBS News first reported<\/a>, marks an extraordinary use of federal power to challenge two of the crackdown\u2019s most vocal Democratic critics, including the state\u2019s governor, Tim Walz, and the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey.<\/p>\n Walz, who was also the Democratic nominee for vice-president in 2024, responded to news of the investigations in a post on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo days ago it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic,\u201d Walz wrote<\/a>. \u201cThe only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement<\/a> to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Frey said: \u201cI will not be intimidated.\u201d<\/p>\n This is an obvious attempt to intimidate me for standing up for Minneapolis<\/a>, our local law enforcement and our residents against the chaos and danger this administration has brought to our streets,\u201d the mayor added.<\/p>\n \u201cMy focus will remain where it\u2019s always been: keeping our city safe. America depends on leaders that use integrity and the rule of law as the guideposts for governance. Neither our city nor our country will succumb to this fear. We stand rock solid.\u201d<\/p>\n The Washington Post reports that the justice department has already issued subpoenas for both men<\/a>, and intends to serve them within hours.<\/p>\n The shooting of Rene Good by ICE officer Jonathan Ross last week set off nationwide protests and turned Minneapolis into a flashpoint of resistance to the Trump administration\u2019s increasingly draconian immigration crackdown. Homeland security has deployed about 3,000 immigration enforcement officers to Minnesota<\/a>, which is five times the size of the Minneapolis police force.<\/p>\n Local and federal officials have also clashed over the investigation into Ross\u2019s shooting. A New York Times analysis of witness videos<\/a> appeared to show that Ross had sidestepped the car Good was driving and she did not present a threat to him as he drew his service pistol and fired on her three times at close range.<\/p>\n But federal authorities, including Donald Trump<\/a> and his vice-president, JD Vance, have repeatedly defended Ross\u2019s actions and the FBI took the unusual step of refusing to cooperate with state investigators, who have the power to bring criminal charges against Ross if warranted, but need access to evidence to do so.<\/p>\n