A federal judge on Monday blocked the Justice Department from forcing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and other officials to turn over records in its probe of Democratic resistance to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, calling the move retaliatory.
In a 30-page ruling, district Judge Patrick Schiltz found that subpoenas were “part of an unconstitutional effort to coerce Minnesota officials into assisting the federal government with enforcing civil immigration laws and to harass and retaliate against them for failing to do so.”
“The Department is not conducting a criminal investigation, but is instead using the grand jury process for other (unlawful) purposes,” wrote Schiltz, an appointee of former President George W. Bush.
His ruling voids subpoenas sent to the offices of Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, and officials in Ramsey and Hennepin counties. The subpoenas had sought records and information on whether Democratic officials had obstructed immigration enforcement through their public resistance to the administration’s deployment of thousands of agents to detain migrants accused of living in the US illegally.
CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
