Two fatal shootings during a federal immigration sweep of the Twin Cities form the backdrop of a landmark ruling that has struck down six grand jury subpoenas targeting some of Minnesota's highest-ranking elected officials. Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz made his decision public Monday — it carries a June 17 date — invalidating subpoenas that had been directed at Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, and senior figures from both Hennepin and Ramsey counties.
The immigration enforcement campaign at issue, Operation Metro Surge, arrived in the Twin Cities in December 2025 and turned lethal within weeks. Renee Good, a mother of three, was fatally shot by immigration agents on January 7, 2026; Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse with the Veterans Affairs, was killed on January 24, 2026. Both were U.S. citizens. Federal prosecutors claimed they were investigating whether state and local officials had obstructed those enforcement activities, and the subpoenas demanded a full year's worth of internal records — emails, texts, and policy documents tied to local immigration practices.
Schiltz, a George W. Bush appointee, dismantled that rationale across 29 pages. The Justice Department had pointed to four items as the foundation for its sweeping inquiry: a separation ordinance drafted by a Minneapolis city council member, a statement from another council member about an eviction moratorium, Ramsey County internal guidance discouraging staff from sharing data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Hennepin County training materials on how employees should handle ICE warrants and arrests. The judge found a glaring hole in that logic — prosecutors never subpoenaed the Minneapolis council members who had actually written those measures. "One would expect that, before launching a sweeping investigation into nearly the entire political structure of a sovereign state, the Department would have identified at least one instance in which a county employee actually obstructed a law-enforcement officer after being told of his or her employer's policy," Schiltz wrote. "Yet the Department has been unable to identify a single such instance."
Rather than serving a genuine investigative purpose, the subpoenas' "dominant purpose," the judge concluded, was "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." Prosecutors, he noted, had "struggled – without success – to identify a single plausible investigatory justification for the subpoenas."
Beyond the abuse-of-process finding, Schiltz ruled that the subpoenas ran afoul of the 10th Amendment, which reserves to states powers not expressly delegated to Washington. He characterized the department's actions as "part of a broader campaign to coerce state and local officials in Minnesota to assist the Trump administration in its enforcement of immigration laws." Using grand jury authority "in order to 'harass political opponents or to coerce them into taking official action – particularly official action that the federal government cannot directly require those political opponents to take – is a blatantly unlawful and unethical use the grand-jury process,'" he wrote.
Ellison, who has brought dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration since its second term began, offered a pointed response. "The facts are clear: the Trump administration is targeting me because I'm standing up for the people of Minnesota," he said. "In America, we settle our political differences at the ballot box, and it should disturb every American that Donald Trump is weaponizing the criminal justice system against people he disagrees with."
Walz framed the outcome in broad democratic terms, calling it "a victory for the rule of law and our democracy" and saying he was proud to have defended his constitutional rights throughout the immigration surge. "The U.S. Justice Department is pursuing criminal investigations into the president's political opponents," he said. "This case was just one example of that, but we are seeing daily reminders of this administration's lawlessness – in Minnesota and around the country."
Mayor Frey also welcomed the ruling. "Minneapolis is a city of heroes where loving your neighbor is an act of patriotism that puts America first before any politician," he said, adding: "No one should be targeted for questioning those in power. No community should be expected to accept harmful policies without objection."
The Justice Department signaled it would press on. A spokesperson said: "The Department takes the unlawful obstruction of federal law enforcement operations extremely seriously and will continue to act in full compliance with the law to investigate these matters."
Informational content only, not legal advice. Consult a licensed immigration attorney.