State of Minnesota, Minneapolis and Saint Paul sue to halt ICE surge into Minnesota

This surge has resulted in tangible harm to the state of Minnesota and its people, as well as the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. As a result of this surge, municipalities have been forced to divert local law enforcement resources away from their normal public safety duties, emergency responder resources have been strained, schools have been forced into lockdowns and closures, businesses have been forced to close, and the rights of Minnesotans have been violated time and time again.

The State and the cities allege the surge amounts to a violation of the First and Tenth Amendments of the Constitution, as well as the Constitution’s guarantee of equal sovereignty between state and federal governments. They also allege the surge violates the Administrative Procedure Act.

The State and the cities seek an end to Operation Metro Surge and the deployments of thousands of DHS agents to Minnesota, as well as an end to the unlawful behaviors of DHS agents within the state, including but not limited to:

• using force against individuals peacefully engaging in constitutionally protected speech;
• arresting, threatening and using force against innocent bystanders;
• pointing firearms at individuals who pose no threat to DHS agents; and
• carrying out enforcement actions at sensitive locations like schools, churches, hospitals.

“The unlawful deployment of thousands of armed, masked, and poorly trained federal agents is hurting Minnesota,” said Attorney General Ellison. “People are being racially profiled, harassed, terrorized, and assaulted. Schools have gone into lockdown. Businesses have been forced to close. Minnesota police are spending countless hours dealing with the chaos ICE is causing. This federal invasion of the Twin Cities has to stop, so today I am suing DHS to bring it to an end.”

Four Oglala detainees located, three still in ICE custody

The four Lakota detainees were reportedly sent to a former concentration camp used during the Dakota Wars





...the tribe is demanding the immediate release of all enrolled tribal citizens held by immigration, written assurances that ICE will stop detaining Native Americans, and immediate government-to-government consultation.


At least one of the men has been released, but tribal leaders said the remaining three are being held at Fort Snelling, a site historically used as a concentration camp for Native people during the Dakota removal period.


“The irony is not lost on us,” Star Comes Out said in a statement. “Lakota citizens who are reported to be held at Fort Snelling — a site forever tied to the Dakota 38+2 — underscores why treaty obligations and federal accountability matter today, not just in history.”


Star Comes Out said when the tribe requested more information, leaders were told the tribe would need to enter into an immigration agreement with ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.


“The tribe does not intend to enter into an immigration agreement with ICE or Homeland Security,” Star Comes Out said in a letter to the U.S. Government shared with ICT. “We will not enter an agreement that would authorize, or make it easier for, ICE or Homeland Security to come onto our tribal homeland to arrest or detain our tribal members.”

Justice Department sees no basis for civil rights probe in Minnesota ICE shooting, official says



WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department does not believe there is currently any basis to open a criminal civil rights investigation into the killing of a woman by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis, a top department official said Tuesday.

The decision to keep the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division out of the investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Good marks a sharp departure from past administrations, which have moved quickly to probe shootings of civilians by law enforcement officials for potential civil rights offenses.


While an FBI probe is ongoing, lawyers in the Civil Rights Division were informed last week that they would not play a role in the investigation at this time, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal department deliberations.

And on Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement that “there is currently no basis for a criminal civil rights investigation.” The statement, first reported by CNN, did not elaborate on how the department had reached a conclusion that no investigation was warranted.

Six Prosecutors Quit Over Push to Investigate ICE Shooting Victim’s Widow

Joseph H. Thompson, a career federal prosecutor who was the acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota last year, was among those who resigned as the Justice Department sought to examine the woman’s supposed ties to activist groups.




Six federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned on Tuesday over the Justice Department’s push to investigate the widow of a woman killed by an ICE agent and the department’s reluctance to investigate the shooter, according to people with knowledge of their decision.

Joseph H. Thompson, who was second in command at the U.S. attorney’s office and oversaw a sprawling fraud investigation that has roiled Minnesota’s political landscape, was among those who quit on Tuesday, according to three people with knowledge of the decision.

Mr. Thompson’s resignation came after senior Justice Department officials pressed for a criminal investigation into the actions of the widow of Renee Nicole Good, the Minneapolis woman killed by an ICE agent on Wednesday.
Mr. Thompson, 47, a career prosecutor, objected to that approach, as well as to the Justice Department’s refusal to include state officials in investigating whether the shooting itself was lawful, the people familiar with his decision said.

The Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, said in an interview that Mr. Thompson’s resignation dealt a major blow to efforts to root out rampant theft from state agencies. The fraud cases, which involve schemes to cheat safety net programs, were the chief reason the Trump administration cited for its immigration crackdown in the state. The vast majority of defendants charged in the cases are American citizens of Somali origin.

“When you lose the leader responsible for making the fraud cases, it tells you this isn’t really about prosecuting fraud,” Mr. O’Hara said.



__________________


Mr. Thompson strenuously objected to the decision not to investigate the shooting as a civil rights matter, and was outraged by the demand to launch a criminal investigation into Becca Good, according to the people familiar with the developments, who were not authorized to discuss them publicly.

Mr. Thompson had originally set out to investigate the shooting in partnership with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, a state agency that reviews police shootings. Senior Justice Department officials overruled the decision to cooperate with the state agency.

12 Bishops speak in defense of immigrants.

ICE Prosecutor Who Runs Racist X Account Returns to Dallas Immigration Court



In February of last year, the Texas Observer reported that James “Jim” Joseph Rodden—an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) assistant chief counsel who acts as a prosecutor for ICE in immigration court in Dallas—operates a white supremacist X account named GlomarResponder...


The account has over 17,000 followers and has routinely posted hateful statements, including that “America is a White nation,” that “‘Migrants’ are all criminals,” and that “All blacks are foreign to my people,” in addition to posts with apparent praise of Adolf Hitler.


After the Observer’s initial story was published, Rodden was apparently pulled from federal immigration court schedules.

Upon receiving a tip from a source that works inside the Dallas Immigration Court, the Observer arrived at the courtroom of Judge Deitrich H. Sims... When the Observer opened the door to the courtroom, Rodden was sitting at the prosecutors’ desk.