Minnesota’s Misinformation Website and Lawsuit Escalates Tension with Federal Officials

A new Minnesota website has been launched to counter what state officials describe as federal misinformation following the fatal shooting of two residents by immigration agents during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The unprecedented divide between state and federal authorities has deepened, with experts calling the situation a troubling departure from decades of interagency cooperation.

Minnesota has also taken legal action to preserve evidence from Saturday’s shooting of Alex Pretti after state investigators were denied access to the scene by federal authorities. This follows the earlier shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on January 7.

Experts note that the current standoff contradicts years of established cooperation between local and federal law enforcement agencies. The state’s aggressive stance comes in response to what they view as the federal administration’s deviation from standard practices, including refusing state officials access to evidence and preventing the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division from investigating the shootings.

“It’s not even a question of collaboration at this point. It’s such a broken relationship,” said Jimmy Gurulé, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame and former federal prosecutor. “How did it get to this point, where state and local law enforcement have such little trust in the federal agencies they feel they need to go to court?”

The Minnesota Department of Corrections’ new website specifically addresses what they characterize as Department of Homeland Security misinformation following Pretti’s death. The site presents evidence countering federal claims, including documentation showing that Minnesota authorities have consistently honored federal requests to detain individuals under deportation orders.

The department has also published videos demonstrating peaceful transfers of custody from state prisons to federal authorities for several individuals whom the Trump administration had claimed were arrested during immigration enforcement actions.

Additionally, state officials have challenged federal characterizations of criminal histories of individuals targeted in operations. In one case related to Saturday’s operation near where Pretti was shot, the department stated they had no record of custody for the individual in question and could only find decade-old misdemeanor traffic violations, contradicting U.S. Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino’s claim of a “significant criminal history.”

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and state attorney general’s lawsuit in federal court seeks to preserve evidence collected by federal officials from the Pretti shooting. A federal judge has granted a motion preventing the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence,” though federal officials have called the lawsuit and allegations “ridiculous.”

Chris Mattei, a former federal prosecutor who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations, noted the unusual nature of the current situation: “What you would expect in normal times is the Justice Department would open an investigation into the circumstances of the shooting. They have been the independent body that would investigate it. But it would seem that this Justice Department and this Civil Rights division have zero interest in enforcing constitutional rights for citizens in the immigration context.”

The Department of Homeland Security has stated that it will conduct its own investigation into the Minneapolis shootings, rather than allowing the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to investigate, as has been standard practice.

Tensions were further inflamed when White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller characterized Pretti as an “assassin,” though White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has since tried to distance President Trump from those remarks, noting that the president never used such terminology.

“You don’t express your conclusion before an investigation and make it public. That is unheard of and upside down,” Gurulé said of Miller’s characterization.

Signs of potential reconciliation emerged following a call between Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and President Trump. According to Walz’s office, the governor advocated for an impartial investigation of the shootings, and Trump agreed to discuss with DHS ensuring that state investigators could conduct an independent investigation.

The two leaders also discussed more coordinated approaches to immigration enforcement, with the governor’s office reaffirming that Minnesota would continue honoring requests to detain non-citizen individuals until federal authorities can take them into custody.

This unprecedented rift highlights the growing tensions between federal and state authorities over immigration enforcement strategies and the handling of officer-involved shootings, raising significant questions about interagency cooperation and accountability in law enforcement operations.