Minnesota officials filed a complaint on Tuesday, March 24 against the Trump administration following the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. They believe this is the only way to access the evidence they need to independently investigate the three shootings committed by ICE federal agents.
“I am ready to fight for transparency and accountability that the federal government seeks to avoid at all costs,” said County Prosecutor Mary Moriarty to the press on March 24. “There must be an investigation whenever a federal agent or a state agent takes someone’s life in our community,” she added.
The unprecedented decision of the Minnesota legal authorities is also a reaction to the statements of the Trump administration, which claimed that Minnesota authorities did not have sufficient competence to investigate. They want to conduct their own investigations because they do not trust the federal government to investigate itself.
An anti-immigration operation without precedent The administration deployed thousands of agents in the Minneapolis and St. Paul region to combat immigration as part of a national deportation campaign ordered by President Trump. The Department of Homeland Security considered this immigration control operation – one of the largest – a success. However, it sparked criticism from Minnesota leaders who denounced the conduct of the agents.
The Department of Justice announced in January that it was opening a federal investigation into civil rights violations for the murder of Alex Pretti, but stated that a similar federal investigation was not justified in the case of the murder of Renee Good.
Contradictory evidence from images In both cases, initial accounts of the shootings by federal officers – at least partially – were contradicted by video evidence. Mary Moriarty explained that the federal government “adopted a policy of categorical evidence retention.”
The prosecutor finds this practice particularly alarming. She emphasizes that if she filed a complaint, it is because the federal government systematically blocked Minnesota investigators when they requested access to shooting case files, including additional information such as the names of the agents who fired.
Risk of collusion? Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division does not investigate all law enforcement shootings, only doing so when the circumstances and facts justify an investigation. Blanche, appointed by the president to the head of the Justice Department, was Trump’s personal attorney in his 2024 criminal trial in New York, where the president was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business documents.
Mary Moriarty is not alone in filing a complaint. Alongside her are Keith Ellison, the Attorney General of Minnesota, and Drew Evans, the head of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, who are investigating the shootings by law enforcement agents.
The plaintiffs argue that the federal government’s refusal violates administrative law, as well as the 10th Amendment, which gives states the power to enforce their laws.
An “unprecedented and extraordinary” situation Attorney Keith Ellison highlights the unprecedented nature of the situation. It is rare for the federal government to refuse to investigate shootings by law enforcement officials jointly. “I must emphasize how absolutely extraordinary, how unprecedented, and how utterly unnecessary, if justice is our goal, it is to have to engage in this lawsuit,” he said to the press on March 24.
The situation is also noted by Rachel Moran, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, who states that this kind of procedure is unusual and that local administrations generally do not try to investigate crimes committed by federal officers.
Regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, it could have significant implications for federal and state power. If a federal judge grants the state’s request, it could provide legal support for state and local officials to investigate federal agents. If the federal government is allowed to withhold evidence, it could discourage cooperation between the federal government and states.
