The Justice Department on Tuesday issued subpoenas to several Minnesota officials, beginning an investigation into whether those people obstructed federal immigration operations in the state.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her and two other officials from Ramsey and Hennepin counties received subpoenas.
A spokesperson for the City of Minneapolis confirmed to Scripps News that Mayor Frey received a grand jury subpoena. Attorney General Ellis provided a statement, which read in part:
"Today, my office has received a criminal grand jury subpoena from the Department of Justice. It is a subpoena for records and documents, not for me personally. Everything about this is highly irregular, especially the fact that this comes shortly after my office sued the Trump Administration to challenge their illegal actions within Minnesota."
The Associated Press reported that other officials had received subpoenas, citing a source who was not authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing investigations.
RELATED NEWS | Justice Department investigating whether Minnesota's Walz and Frey impeded immigration enforcement
News of a potential investigation into the officials broke last week. At the time, both Frey and Walz characterized the investigation as an intimidation tactic.
It comes as the Department of Homeland Security and its agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, continue an unprecedented immigration crackdown called Operation Metro Surge. The deployment involves more than 2,000 federal agents in the Twin Cities, where they have clashed with protesters and where one agent shot and killed Renee Good on January 7.
Minnesota sued the Trump administration over the surge last week, asking a court to halt a massive federal immigration operation they claim is unconstitutional, politically motivated and endangering public safety.
The administration has asked the judge to reject the case.
At a press conference on Tuesday, DHS officials said agencies had made more than 10,000 arrests of "illegal aliens" since President Trump took office. 113 arrests occurred over the MLK weekend.
Border Patrol Commander at Large Gregory Bovino said Minnesota leadership has not worked closely with DHS, as leadership in other states such as Louisiana have.
"It's that collusion and corruption between elected officials and these anarchists that are intent on creating violence for law enforcement," Bovino said.
Marcos Charles, the executive associate director for ICE enforcement removal operations, called on Walz and Frey to turn over known suspects "instead of releasing them back onto the street to victimize our neighborhoods."
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
