The US state of Minnesota filed a lawsuit against the federal government on Tuesday to gain access to evidence needed for an independent investigation into the shooting of federal agents. during the January anti-immigration raids. According to the lawsuit, the federal government failed to keep a promise to cooperate with Minnesota state officials in the investigation. TASR informs about it based on the report of the AP agency.
Federal agents from the US Border Patrol (USBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shot and killed two US citizens during raids – Alex Pretti and Renée Good. In addition to their cases, the lawsuit seeks access to evidence in the case of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, who was shot in the right thigh by a federal agent.
The lawsuit says the federal government has no right “to withhold investigative evidence to protect law enforcement officials from scrutiny when a state is investigating serious violations of its criminal laws involving its citizens and occurring within its territory.”
“We are ready to fight for the transparency and accountability that the federal government is desperately trying to avoid,” Hennepin County District Attorney Mary Moriarty told reporters. According to her, the federal government is “categorically withholding evidence”, which she described as unprecedented and alarming.
President Donald Trump’s administration launched Operation Metro Surge in December. As part of it, she sent thousands of federal agents to Minnesota in an effort to crack down on illegal immigrants. Federal authorities say that during raids in the metropolitan area of Minneapolis and St. Paul arrested more than 4000 people. The Trump administration calls them dangerous aliens staying in the US illegally. At the same time, however, they also detained many people without a criminal record, including children and US citizens, AP reminds.
