Minnesota sues feds for access to ICE shootings evidence

State and local attorneys filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday to access evidence for three Twin Cities-area shootings that involved Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison held a news conference to accuse the federal Justice and Homeland Security departments of withholding evidence.

State officials sought evidence collected in the fatal shootings of Minneapolis protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti, along with the case of Julio Sosa-Celis, who was shot in an altercation that also injured a police officer. Moriarty said that federal investigators initially agreed to conduct a joint investigation with the state on the morning Good was fatally shot, but went back on that agreement just hours later.

Federal officials who withhold evidence violate Minnesota’s rights as a sovereign state under the 10th Amendment, Moriarty added. State officials will fight for transparency and accountability since there’s little confidence in Trump officials conducting independent investigations into the federal shootings, she said.

The DOJ and DHS aren’t even planning to investigate Good’s shooting, Ellison claimed. Given a long history of state and federal cooperation, it’s extraordinary that this case needed to be filed at all, he said. There’s no rational basis to withhold evidence given the shared jurisdictional venue, Ellison added.

How is the Trump administration responding? Federal and state lawyers clashed almost immediately after Pretti’s shooting death. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters in late January that the DHS and FBI had opened a standard investigation into the Pretti shooting.

WORLD reached out to DHS and the Justice Department for comment but did not receive an immediate response on Tuesday. 

Dig deeper: Read my report about the DOJ opening a civil rights investigation into Pretti’s shooting.