Ramsey County Attorney John Choi issued guidance Tuesday to county law enforcement partners that appears to push back against potential obstruction by the federal government during investigations into alleged misconduct by immigration officers.
Choi issued a public statement noting that his office and the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office have opened criminal investigations into multiple federal agents after receiving reports from residents about alleged kidnapping, false imprisonment and aggravated assault.
“As the Chief Prosecutor, it is my expectation that we will investigate past and future allegations of criminal conduct by federal agents to seek the truth and hold accountable anyone who has violated Minnesota law,” Choi said in the public statement. “This is only the beginning of our work, and more investigations will follow by our local law enforcement agencies in Ramsey County. No federal, state, or local agency is above the law.”
The guidance comes amid tensions between the federal government and west metro and state authorities in Saturday’s fatal shooting of 37-year-old VA nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Pretti’s killing by Border Patrol officers was the third shooting in Minneapolis this month involving a federal immigration officer.
Choi also sent a letter Tuesday to all of the police chiefs in Ramsey County and to Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), affirming county officials’ authority to investigate allegations against federal officers. He issued guidance to law enforcement agencies on how to conduct investigations that would “ensure accountability and uphold the rule of law.”
Choi’s office released guidance on Jan. 13 about investigating use of deadly force, but revised it following a meeting on Monday with Ramsey County prosecutors, all of the county’s police departments and the BCA.
“While Federal Agents may act pursuant to federal authority, that authority is not unlimited,” Choi said in the letter to law enforcement partners.
Choi’s public statement and letter did not directly reference the Pretti killing, which has made international headlines after multiple videos captured several Border Patrol officers confronting Pretti, pushing a woman down and then struggling with Pretti as he attempts to help the woman. One video shows an officer removing a gun from Pretti’s waistband, which Pretti was carrying legally, before several shots are fired at Pretti, killing him as he lay in the street.
Pretti’s killing came at a volatile time for Minneapolis, which was still reeling from two other shootings.
A federal agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Macklin Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, in south Minneapolis on Jan. 7; another agent shot and wounded Julio Cesar Sosa Celis, a Venezuelan national, in north Minneapolis on Jan. 14. The shootings occurred as thousands of immigration officers patrol Twin Cities streets as part of “Operation Metro Surge,” the nation’s largest immigration enforcement operation ever.
Evans and Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Saturday that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security turned their agencies away from the scene of Pretti’s shooting. The BCA then took the unusual step of obtaining a warrant that day to access the scene — a public section of Nicollet Avenue near W. 26th Street — but found that federal authorities had left the area without protecting the shooting scene from possible interference from the public or others. Evans said at the time that BCA investigators had to leave the scene for their safety as protesters faced off with federal officers.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit Sunday on behalf of the BCA and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, asking that a federal judge prevent federal investigators from destroying evidence gathered at the scene.
Choi’s guidance lays out a procedure that starts with local police taking a report and assigning a case number for every report of alleged misconduct by federal agents. The local agencies will assign investigators to review evidence and refer possible felony charges to the county attorney’s office.
Prosecutors will review cases and make a charging decision. Choi said his office will use tools like state and federal court orders as necessary to preserve or gain access to evidence, witnesses incident scenes. His office would also impanel a county grand jury if necessary to access evidence, he said.
“Jurisdiction and the scope of lawful conduct are constrained by the United States Constitution, the Minnesota Constitution, federal and state statutes, and applicable case law,” Choi said in the letter. “Authority exercised by all law enforcement officers (federal, state or local) operating within Minnesota must be lawful and consistent with these constraints.”
The guidance also encourages the public to contact police if they witness or have been the victim of a potential felony-level crime committed by a federal officer.
