The U.S. Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, focusing on whether they are impeding federal immigration enforcement from doing their jobs. Subpoenas are expected to be issued soon.
According to CBS News, a source explained that the investigation “stems from statements that Walz and Frey have made about the thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents deployed to the Minneapolis region in recent weeks.”
For example, last week, Frey said, “We’re in a position right now where we have residents that are asking the very limited number of police officers that we have to fight ICE agents on the street. We cannot be at a place right now in America where we have two governmental entities that are literally fighting one another.”
Frey is clearly legitimizing the idea of the Minneapolis Police Department confronting federal agents, giving the DOJ a basis to examine whether officials are encouraging or tolerating interference with federal law enforcement.
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Meanwhile, earlier this week, Gov. Walz called on citizens to record ICE operations to compile a database to be used “for future prosecutions.” There was nothing ambiguous about that. He wants to prosecute ICE agents for enforcing federal law.
Under 18 U.S.C. § 372, if two or more people agree to use force, threats, or intimidation to interfere with a federal official doing a U.S. government job, they are committing a crime. It covers plans to prevent someone from taking or keeping a federal job, to scare an officer into leaving the place where they are supposed to work, or to harm the officer or damage their property to disrupt their official duties. Anyone who joins such a plan can be fined, sent to prison for up to six years, or both.
Nearly 3,000 federal immigration agents have been dispatched to Minneapolis, with a stated objective of arresting people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally and probing allegations of fraud in Minnesota. The Department of Homeland Security has called the massive deployment the largest operation in its history.
The large-scale presence of federal agents has triggered widespread local backlash, sparking protests and clashes, especially after the killing of Minnesota resident Renee Good by an ICE officer last week.
Walz and Frey, both Democrats, have vocally denounced the federal deployment to the Twin Cities, accusing federal agents of creating chaos and undermining public safety through aggressive tactics.
Mayor Frey played the victim card, of course.
“This is an obvious attempt to intimidate me for standing up for Minneapolis, our local law enforcement, and our residents against the chaos and danger this Administration has brought to our streets,” Frey said in a statement to CBS News. “I will not be intimidated. My focus will remain where it’s always been: keeping our city safe.”
“Two days ago it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly,” Walz said in a statement. “Weaponizing the justice system and threatening political opponents is a dangerous, authoritarian tactic. The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her.”
Gov. Tim Walz is the subject of a separate criminal investigation into his role in the massive fraud scandal in Minnesota.
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