Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks to reporters after announcing he will not seek re-election at the Minnesota State Capitol on January 5, 2026 in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
Tim Evans Reuter
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday served six grand jury subpoenas on Minnesota authorities as part of an investigation into whether they obstructed or obstructed federal law enforcement during a large-scale immigration operation in Minneapolis-St. Paul Elia, a person familiar with the matter said.
Subpoenas seeking records were sent to the offices of Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, St. Paul Mayor Kaori Harr and officials in Ramsey and Hennepin counties, officials said.
The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The subpoena is related to an investigation into whether Minnesota authorities obstructed federal immigration enforcement through public statements, two people familiar with the matter said Friday. The focus then turned to potential conspiracy violations, they said.
Mayor: Subpoenas are fear-mongering.
Mr. Walz and Mr. Frey, both Democrats, argued that the investigation was a bullying tactic aimed at quelling political opposition. Frey’s office was ordered on February 3 to submit to the grand jury an extensive list of records, including “any evidence of cooperation with federal law enforcement” and “records that tend to show refusal of assistance to immigration officials.”
“We should not live in a country where people fear that federal law enforcement will be used for political action or to police local voices with which they disagree,” Frey said.
The Hmong immigrant and Democrat said she was “unfazed by these tactics” and would stand up for her community.
The subpoenas came as the Trump administration urged a judge to reject efforts by Minnesota and its major cities to halt a surge in immigration enforcement that has roiled Minneapolis and St. Paul for weeks.
The Justice Department called the lawsuit, filed on the heels of the shooting death of Renee Good by an immigration officer, “legally frivolous.” Lawyers argued that the Department of Homeland Security was acting within its legal authority to enforce immigration law.
The government said in a court filing on Monday that Operation Metro Surge had arrested more than 3,000 people in the country illegally and made the state safer.
“Simply put, Minnesota wants veto power over federal law enforcement,” Justice Department lawyers wrote.
Ellison said the government is violating free speech and other constitutional rights with unprecedented measures. He said armed officers were poorly trained and said the “aggression” must stop.
The lawsuit, filed Jan. 12, seeks an order to halt or limit enforcement. More lawsuits are expected, but it is unclear when U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez will issue a ruling.
January 15, 2026 – More than a week after Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on January 7 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, local independent photographer John Abernathy is detained during a demonstration in front of the Whipple Federal Building.
Tim Evans Reuter
Difficult to track arrests
Ilan Warman, a constitutional law professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, doubts the state’s case will succeed.
“Federal law is superior to state law, immigration enforcement is within the authority of the federal government, and the president can, within the law, direct more federal enforcement resources to states that have been less cooperative in the enforcement area than other states,” Werman told The Associated Press.
Julia Decker, policy director at the Minnesota Immigration Law Center, expressed frustration that advocates have no way of knowing whether the government’s arrest numbers and accounts of people in custody are accurate. American citizens were dragged from their homes and cars during riots in Minnesota.
“We’re talking about real people, and we may never know what’s going on with them,” Decker said.
Police say ICE is targeting off-duty officers
Menendez said in a separate lawsuit Friday that federal agents cannot detain or tear gas peaceful protesters who are not interfering with authorities.
Good, 37, died on January 7 while moving a vehicle that was blocking a street in Minneapolis where Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were operating. Trump administration officials say Officer Jonathan Ross shot her in self-defense, but video of the encounter shows the Honda pilot slowly turning away from him.
Since then, people have repeatedly confronted officers, blowing whistles and shouting abuse at ICE and the U.S. Border Patrol. They also used tear gas and chemical irritants against protesters. Bystanders recorded video footage of police using battering rams to enter homes, smash car windows and pull people from their cars.
Meanwhile, police in the area said an off-duty law enforcement officer was racially profiled by federal agents and stopped for no reason. Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said he has received complaints from residents who are U.S. citizens, including his own officers.
“These are all people of color who have experienced events like this,” Bruley said at a news conference.
President Donald Trump last week threatened to invoke the 1807 law and send troops to Minnesota, but backtracked, at least in public.
