Feds launch probe of Walz, Minneapolis mayor, claiming obstruction

MINNEAPOLIS (CN) — The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into Minnesota state officials, including Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey — claiming state leaders have conspired to impede federal immigration agents in the Twin Cities.

The investigation stems from statements Walz and Frey made about the thousands of federal agents deployed to the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area in recent weeks, in what the Department of Homeland Security has called the largest operation in its history.

The operation has sparked protests and outrage, especially after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer-involved killing of Renee Nicole Good last week.

While encouraging Minnesotans to express their constitutional rights, Walz and Frey called for protests to remain peaceful — urging residents not to give the Trump administration any reason to increase enforcement more than it already has.

Both Democrats, Walz and Frey have outwardly condemned the Trump administration’s handling of the federal deployment, accusing agents of creating chaos and acting recklessly in their pursuit to follow Trump’s immigration agenda and plans to weed out fraud in the Twin Cities.

That conduct was the subject of a court order Friday, as a federal judge in Minnesota imposed limits on federal immigration agents’ actions toward peaceful protestors in the state.

In the ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Menendez, a Joe Biden appointee, instructs federal agents against interfering with those “engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity,” and limits the use of pepper spray and other crowd dispersal tools in retaliation towards bystanders and protestors.

The decision comes from a December lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, in which several Minnesotans claim they were tackled, threatened or otherwise interfered with by federal agents, all while exercising their rights to peacefully observe and protest.

Menendez also ruled against agents stopping or detaining protestors in vehicles who are not obstructing federal law enforcement, clarifying that the act of safely following federal agents does not, by itself, create reasonable suspicion to justify a vehicle stop.

The ruling echoes remarks of “ongoing brutality” against Minnesotans made by Walz, who responded to reports of the DOJ’s investigation in a post on X, where he said “weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic.”

“The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her,” he said.

Frey said this week that the Trump administration has created an unsustainable situation in Minneapolis.

“We cannot be in a place right now in America where we have two governmental entities that are literally fighting one another,” Frey said.

Frey added in a post on X that the investigation is an “obvious attempt” to intimidate him for standing up for Minneapolis.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has remained unyielding in her stance on Frey and Walz’s leadership, and called for them to “get their city under control” in a Thursday interview on Fox News.

“They are encouraging impeding and assault against out law enforcement which is a federal crime,” Noem said in the aftermath of a second federal officer-involved shooting Wednesday night. “This is putting the people of Minnesota in harm’s way.”

The investigation is reportedly focused on a federal statute which makes it a crime for two or more people to conspire to prevent federal officers from carrying out their official duties through “force, intimidation or threats,” — the same statute used to prosecute some of those involved in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots.

The investigation comes days after Minnesota state officials sued the Trump administration, claiming the federal deployment in the Twin Cities violated the U.S. Constitution and states rights.