Minnesota officials say DOJ probe is retaliation after lawsuit over ICE raids

A widening standoff between Minnesota and the Trump administration took a sharper turn this week after top state and city officials said they are now under investigation by the US Department of Justice, just days after suing the federal government over immigration raids in the state.

Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey are among those caught up in the probe, which will examine whether Minnesota officials conspired to obstruct justice by interfering with federal immigration enforcement, according to reporting by CBS News.

The investigation lands amid an already volatile clash over Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Minnesota, including the raid in which an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three and US citizen.

Walz confirmed the DOJ inquiry on Tuesday and dismissed it outright.

“This Justice Department investigation, sparked by calls for accountability in the face of violence, chaos and the killing of Renee Good, does not seek justice,” he said. “It is a partisan distraction.”

Ellison said his office received a subpoena demanding records related to its work on federal immigration enforcement, calling the timing “highly irregular,” especially since the state filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security on January 12.

“Trump’s DOJ is more focused on investigating my office than the killing of Renee Good,” Ellison wrote on X. “I will not be intimidated, and I will not stop working to protect Minnesotans from this campaign of revenge.”

That lawsuit accuses federal agents of carrying out “dangerous, illegal, and unconstitutional stops and arrests” under the banner of immigration enforcement.

Frey echoed the retaliation argument, saying the probe appears designed to intimidate state and local leaders. His office released a copy of the DOJ subpoena, which seeks records showing “any refusal to come to the aid of immigration officials”, according to the Associated Press.

A grand jury is expected to review the materials on February 3 to determine whether there is probable cause to proceed.

The investigation unfolds against the backdrop of a massive federal immigration operation launched in December, when thousands of ICE and Customs and Border Protection officers were deployed to Minneapolis and St Paul as part of Trump’s broader crackdown on undocumented immigrants in Democratic-led cities.

That operation drew international attention after the killing of Good earlier this month. Despite widespread outrage, the Justice Department has declined to investigate the shooting.

Trump has since escalated his rhetoric, threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act against Minnesota and ordering 1,500 active-duty soldiers in Alaska to be ready for possible deployment to the state, according to Reuters.