Judge quashes subpoenas targeting Minnesota officials over immigration raids
A federal judge found the subpoenas were aimed at pressuring Minnesota officials to help enforce civil immigration law.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
3 min read
A federal judge has thrown out Trump administration subpoenas seeking records from Minnesota Democratic officials who opposed federal immigration raids. The ruling limits a Justice Department inquiry into whether state officials tried to obstruct immigration enforcement, according to Reuters and The Associated Press.
US District Judge Patrick Schiltz quashed the subpoenas in an order issued June 17 and unsealed Monday. The subpoenas targeted six state officials, including Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Reuters and AP reported.
Schiltz wrote that the subpoenas were mainly designed to pressure Minnesota officials into helping the federal government enforce civil immigration law. He also found that they were intended to harass and retaliate against officials for declining to do so.
“The Court finds that the dominant purpose of the challenged subpoenas is to coerce Minnesota officials into assisting the federal government with enforcing civil immigration law and to harass and retaliate against them for failing to do so,” Schiltz wrote in the decision.
Justice Department probe
The Justice Department opened the investigation during a period of aggressive federal deportation raids in Minnesota, Reuters and AP reported. The subpoenas sought broad information about whether officials’ public opposition to the raids amounted to an effort to impede federal authorities.
The Trump administration has faced repeated criticism that it has used investigations and threats of prosecution against political opponents and other domestic critics, according to Reuters and AP. The Minnesota case centered on officials who denounced the raids as federal overreach and intimidation aimed at cities that opposed the administration’s policies.
The raids set off widespread protests in Minnesota, particularly after federal agents fatally shot two US citizens, Reuters and AP reported. State officials sharply criticized the federal operations after those shootings.
The ruling comes after the Trump administration announced charges against 15 Minnesota activists who belonged to an organization that opposed the raids. Officials cited a directive to “counter domestic terrorism and organised political violence,” according to Reuters and AP.
Walz welcomes decision
Walz, a Democrat and Kamala Harris’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election, has frequently drawn criticism from Trump, Reuters and AP reported. He praised the court’s decision in a statement posted Monday on social media.
“Today’s ruling is a victory for the rule of law and our democracy,” Walz said. “A federal district judge found that the US Department of Justice’s investigation into me and other Minnesota elected officials was politically motivated, unconstitutional, and meritless.”
Walz added: “I will never stop exercising my constitutional rights to stand up for Minnesotans and the American freedoms we hold dear.”
The Justice Department’s next steps were not described in the reports. Schiltz’s order blocks the challenged subpoenas, removing a central tool in the federal inquiry into Minnesota officials’ resistance to the immigration raids.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.