Dozens of federal prosecutors in Minnesota have resigned and several supervisors in the criminal section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division have announced their departures, amid turmoil over the federal investigation into the killing of a woman by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minneapolis, the agency said. "AP" people familiar with the matter.
The resignations follow growing tensions over a decision by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to exclude the state from the investigation into the killing of Renee Good, who was fatally shot in the head by an immigration agent last week. Attorneys in the Civil Rights Division, which typically investigates high-profile officer-involved shootings, were also recently told that the division would not be involved in this phase of the investigation, two people familiar with the matter said.
Among the departures in Minnesota is First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, who had led the state’s extensive investigation and prosecution of fraud schemes, two other people said. At least four other prosecutors in the Minnesota U.S. attorney’s office joined Thompson in resigning amid a period of tension in the office, the sources said. They spoke on condition of anonymity.
They are the latest in an exodus of career Justice Department lawyers who have resigned or been forced out due to concerns about political pressure or changing priorities under the Trump administration. Hundreds of Justice Department lawyers have been fired or voluntarily left over the past year.
Minnesota Democratic lawmakers criticized the departures, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling the resignations “a loss for our state and for public safety” and warning that criminal prosecutions should not be driven by politics. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said the departures raised concerns about political pressure on career Justice Department officials.
The resignations of the lawyers in the Civil Rights Division’s criminal section, including its chief, were announced to staff on Monday. The Justice Department said on Tuesday that the prosecutors had requested to participate in an early retirement program “well before the events in Minnesota” and added that “any suggestion to the contrary is untrue.”
Established nearly 70 years ago, the Civil Rights Division has a long history of investigating shootings of civilians by law enforcement officers, although prosecutors typically must overcome a high threshold to bring a criminal prosecution.
In previous administrations, the division has moved quickly to open and publicly announce such investigations, not only to reflect federal jurisdiction over potential civil rights violations, but also in the hope of allaying community anxiety.
In Minneapolis, the Justice Department during the first Trump administration opened a civil rights investigation into the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of city police officers, which resulted in criminal charges. The Minneapolis Police Department was separately scrutinized by the Joe Biden administration for possible systemic civil rights violations through what is known as a “model or indicator” investigation, a type of police reform investigation that is not favored in the current Trump administration’s Justice Department.