WASHINGTON (AP) — Minnesota officials filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday accusing the Trump administration of withholding evidence related to three shootings by federal officers, including the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
The lawsuit claims that the federal government reneged on its promise to cooperate with state investigations after Operation Metro Surge, asking the court to order they comply.
The administration sent thousands of officers
to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area for the immigration crackdown as part of President Donald Trump’s national deportation campaign. The Department of Homeland Security considered its largest immigration enforcement operation ever a success but was staunchly criticized by Minnesota’s leaders and raised questions over officers’ conduct.
The lawsuit said the federal government is not permitted to “withhold investigative evidence for the purpose of shielding law enforcement officers from scrutiny where a State is investigating serious potential violations of its criminal laws, targeting its citizens, within its borders.”
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.
