Justice Department prosecutors resign amid turmoil over Minnesota ICE shooting investigation

Washington– Nearly a half-dozen federal prosecutors in Minnesota have resigned, and several supervisors in the Criminal Division of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division have issued notice of their departure amid unrest over the federal investigation into the killing of a woman by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis, according to people familiar with the matter.

The resignations come in the wake of growing tensions over the Trump administration’s decision to bar the state from participating in the investigation into the shooting of Rene Judd, who was fatally shot in the head by an immigration agent last week. Lawyers with the Civil Rights Division, which generally investigates high-ranking officer shootings, were recently informed that the division would not participate at this point in the investigation, two people familiar with the matter said.

Among those departing in Minnesota was First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, who was leading the expanded investigation and prosecution of fraud schemes in the state, two other people said. At least four other prosecutors in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office joined Thompson in resigning amid a period of tension in the office, the sources said. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

They are the latest in an exodus of career Justice Department lawyers who have resigned or been forced to resign over concerns about political pressures or shifting priorities under the Trump administration. Hundreds of Justice Department lawyers have been fired or left voluntarily over the past year.

Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota criticized the resignations, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the resignations “a loss for our state and public safety” and warned that prosecutions should not be driven by politics. Gov. Tim Walz said the departures raised concerns about political pressure on career Justice Department officials.

The resignations of attorneys in the Civil Rights Division’s criminal division, including its chief, were announced to staff on Monday. The Justice Department said Tuesday that those plaintiffs had requested to participate in an early retirement program “long before the events in Minnesota,” adding that “any suggestion to the contrary is incorrect.”

Established nearly 70 years ago, the Civil Rights Division has a long history of investigating shootings of civilians by law enforcement officials although prosecutors typically need to cross a high bar to launch a criminal prosecution.

In previous administrations, the department has moved quickly to open such investigations and announce them publicly, not only to reflect federal jurisdiction over potential civil rights violations but also in hopes of allaying the community anxiety that sometimes accompanies shootings involving law enforcement.

In Minneapolis, for example, the Justice Department during the first Trump administration opened a civil rights investigation into the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of city police officers, leading to criminal charges. The Minneapolis Police Department has been separately scrutinized by the Biden administration for possible systemic civil rights violations through what is known as a “pattern or practice” investigation, a type of police reform investigation that is out of favor in the Trump administration’s current Justice Department.