The Trump Justice Department issued subpoenas for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey in what appears to be an expanding investigation into the two Democrats’ strident anti-ICE stance.
The men denounced the subpoenas as intimidation tactics and insisted they won’t be cowed — though they have in recent days done more to call for calm from the residents who have been harrying federal officers in the streets.
As unrest continued in Minneapolis Mr. Walz over the weekend mobilized his National Guard to be prepared to help state and local authorities overwhelmed by demonstrations.
Meanwhile the Pentagon has reportedly readied active-duty troops to prepare for deployment on President Trump’s say-so.
The Associated Press said 1,500 soldiers from the Army’s 11th Airborne Division have been mobilized, apparently in preparation for carrying out Mr. Trump’s threat last week to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy regular troops to conduct law enforcement.
The dueling announcements came just days after a second shooting involving a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in the city this month, which ignited a new round of unruly protests.
SEE ALSO: Todd Blanche, deputy AG, defends DOJ stance on ICE shooting in Minneapolis
The demonstrators won a significant legal victory Friday when a federal judge ruled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents involved in the surge of arrests in Minnesota have been too aggressive toward observers and protesters.
Judge Katherine Menendez said ICE officers had “indiscriminately” blasted some protesters with pepper spray even as they walked away from the officers, which she said suggested it was more about retaliation for free speech activities than a response to an actual public safety need.
“Plaintiffs have established an ongoing, persistent pattern of defendants’ chilling conduct,” the Biden appointee said. “Taken as a whole, the record adequately illustrates that defendants have made, and will continue to make, a common practice of conduct that chills observers’ and protesters’ First Amendment rights.”
She also said federal agents have been overzealous in detaining people who have been bird-dogging the enforcement effort with their own vehicles.
Judge Menendez forbade detention or arrest of drivers unless the feds had good reason to think they were “forcibly obstructing or interfering” with the operation.
She left open the ability to use crowd control tactics when there’s a good law enforcement reason to do so amid increasingly unruly protests.
SEE ALSO: Reports that more than half of detained immigrants lack criminal records ‘wrong,’ Noem says
New demonstrations erupted in the wake of last week’s shooting, where an ICE officer fired and wounded an illegal immigrant after that man fled and resisted arrest, and was joined by two compatriots as they all beat the officer, according to DHS.
People in the neighborhood then began igniting fires and smashing government vehicles and even stole guns from an FBI vehicle.
Prosecutors on Friday charged one man, Raul Gutierrez, with stealing one of those, a Colt M16A1 rifle.
Mr. Gutierrez, a felon with several convictions, was caught on video grabbing the rifle case from the vehicle, authorities said. He was identified by a distinctive facial tattoo.
When authorities tried to nab him during a traffic stop on Thursday he fled on foot but was captured.
In an interview he first admitted he stole the gun but said two black males then stole it from him.
He later tried to walk back the whole story, an agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said in court documents. Then in a later interview he admitted to handling the rifle, and admitted he knew he was a felon, which made his possession illegal.
“This arrest underscores a simple truth. We will not tolerate individuals exploiting circumstances to engage in criminal activity,” said Travis Riddle, special agent in charge of the ATF’s St. Paul Field Division.
In addition to the rifle, a Glock 17M handgun, a Huxwrx suppressor, an FBI radio, a laptop, body armor and ammunition for both guns were also stolen from the vehicle, the ATF said.
Mr. Frey, the Minneapolis mayor, called the federal agents in his city an “occupying force” on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program on Sunday and added on another show that invoking the Insurrection Act would be “ridiculous.”
“It is not fair, it’s not just, and it’s completely unconstitutional,” he told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
He and Mr. Walz have been the face of resistance to ICE — and now are the subject of a Justice Department probe.
Trump officials say they’ve gone beyond rhetoric with some of their demonization of federal officers and calls to residents to take action.
Mr. Walz, in an address before the latest shooting Wednesday, urged residents to track and record ICE “atrocities” for the sake of future prosecutions.
After learning about his subpoena, Mr. Walz took to social media to denounce the probe, saying it was the latest in a string of retaliatory investigations into prominent Trump adversaries.
“Two days ago it was [Sen.] Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was [Federal Reserve Chair] Jerome Powell. Before that, [Sen.] Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic,” the governor said. “The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her.”
Renee Good was the woman shot and killed by an ICE officer during a confrontation on a Minneapolis street earlier this month.
Video of that shooting has divided the nation, with Trump backers saying it showed her ignoring commands to stop and aiming her SUV toward the officer, who had no choice but to shoot. Trump opponents said the officer put himself in danger and had space to get out of the way without shooting.
Mr. Frey, for his part, called the subpoena “an obvious attempt to intimidate me.”
“I will not be intimidated. My focus remains where it’s always been: keeping our city safe,” he said on social media.
