The Justice Department has issued subpoenas for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey in what appears to be an expanding investigation into their strident stance against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The two Democrats denounced the subpoenas as intimidation tactics and insisted they wouldn’t be cowed, though they have done more in recent days to call for calm from residents who have been harrying federal officers in the streets.
As unrest continued in Minneapolis, Mr. Walz mobilized the National Guard over the weekend to be prepared to help state and local authorities overwhelmed by demonstrations.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has reportedly readied active-duty troops to prepare for deployment on President Trump’s say-so.
The Associated Press said 1,500 soldiers from the Army’s 11th Airborne Division have been mobilized, apparently in preparation for carrying out Mr. Trump’s threat last week to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy regular troops to conduct law enforcement.
Days before the dueling announcements, a second shooting this month involving a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in the city ignited a new round of unruly protests.
SEE ALSO: Todd Blanche, deputy AG, defends DOJ stance on ICE shooting in Minneapolis
The demonstrators won a significant legal victory Friday when a federal judge ruled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents involved in the surge of arrests in Minnesota have been too aggressive toward observers and protesters.
Judge Katherine Menendez said ICE officers had “indiscriminately” used pepper spray on some protesters even as they walked away from the officers. She said that suggested the law enforcement response was more about retaliation for free speech activities than about addressing an actual public safety need.
“Plaintiffs have established an ongoing, persistent pattern of defendants’ chilling conduct,” the Biden appointee said. “Taken as a whole, the record adequately illustrates that defendants have made, and will continue to make, a common practice of conduct that chills observers’ and protesters’ First Amendment rights.”
She said federal agents have been overzealous in detaining protesters bird-dogging the enforcement effort with their own vehicles.
Judge Menendez forbade the detention or arrest of drivers unless the federal officers had good reason to think they were “forcibly obstructing or interfering” with the operation.
She left open the option to use crowd-control tactics when officers have a good law-enforcement reason to do so amid increasingly unruly protests.
New demonstrations erupted in the wake of the shooting Wednesday, when an ICE officer fired and wounded an illegal immigrant who had fled and resisted arrest. He was joined by two compatriots as they all beat the officer, the Homeland Security Department reported.
People in the neighborhood began igniting fires and smashing government vehicles, and even stole guns from an FBI vehicle.
Prosecutors on Friday charged Raul Gutierrez with stealing one of the guns, a Colt M16A1 rifle.
Mr. Gutierrez, a felon with several convictions, was caught on video grabbing the rifle case from the vehicle, authorities said. He was identified by a distinctive facial tattoo.
When authorities tried to arrest him during a traffic stop Thursday, he fled on foot but was captured.
In an interview, he first admitted he stole the gun but said two Black males then stole it from him.
He later tried to walk back the whole story, an agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said in court documents. In a later interview, he admitted to handling the rifle and knowing that, as a felon, his possession was illegal.
“This arrest underscores a simple truth. We will not tolerate individuals exploiting circumstances to engage in criminal activity,” said Travis Riddle, special agent in charge of the ATF’s St. Paul field division.
In addition to the rifle, a Glock 17M handgun, a Huxwrx suppressor, an FBI radio, a laptop, body armor and ammunition for both guns were stolen from the vehicle, the ATF said.
Mr. Frey called the federal agents in his city an “occupying force” on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program Sunday and added on another show that invoking the Insurrection Act would be “ridiculous.”
“It is not fair, it’s not just, and it’s completely unconstitutional,” he told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
He and Mr. Walz have been the face of resistance to ICE and are now the subjects of a Justice Department investigation.
Trump officials say their demonization of federal officers and calls for residents to take action have gone beyond rhetoric.
In an address before the shooting Wednesday, Mr. Walz urged residents to track and record ICE “atrocities” for the sake of future prosecutions.
After learning of his subpoena, Mr. Walz took to social media to denounce the investigation. He called it the latest in a string of retaliatory investigations into prominent Trump adversaries.
“Two days ago it was [Sen.] Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was [Federal Reserve Chair] Jerome Powell. Before that, [Sen.] Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic,” the governor said. “The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her.”
Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer during a confrontation on a Minneapolis street earlier this month.
Video of that shooting has divided the nation. Trump supporters say the footage shows her ignoring commands to stop and aiming her SUV toward the officer, who had no choice but to shoot. Trump opponents say the officer put himself in danger and had space to get out of the way without shooting.
Mr. Frey called the subpoena “an obvious attempt to intimidate me.”
“I will not be intimidated. My focus remains where it’s always been: keeping our city safe,” he said on social media.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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