At the request of the Minneapolis Police Department, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey asked Minnesota Gov. Walz to deploy the state’s National Guard to “help reinforce local law enforcement resources that have been stretched thin,” according to an emergency appeal filed Saturday with the U.S. District Court.
Tensions heightened following the death of Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti on Saturday morning. Multiple witness videos show that he was shot multiple times after federal agents wrestled him to the ground.
Some 1,500 Minnesota National Guard troops were sent to aid the police and provide security at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center, where protests against the Department of Homeland Security’s Operation Metro Surge have been ongoing.
Federal District Judge Eric Tostrud will hold a hearing this afternoon on an order he issued Saturday to block the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to Pretti’s death. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension filed a lawsuit Saturday alleging the Department of Homeland Security took evidence from the scene of the shooting, preventing state authorities from inspecting it.
The state’s investigative agency, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, was refused access to the site of the shooting, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said during a Sunday press conference. BCA was forced to withdraw from the investigation of the killing of Renee Good earlier this month after the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it would lead the investigation alone.
“I don't care if you're conservative, liberal or whatever, but you should at least be in favor of conserving evidence in a homicide,” Ellison said. “To have to go get an order from a judge to preserve that evidence is extraordinary and should alarm everyone who believes in equal justice under the law.”
Ellison said Operation Metro Surge, “which appears to be the largest single deployment or surge of immigration agents in the history of the country,” has cost the Minneapolis Police Department “north of $2 million in overtime” since the surge began.
The emergency appeal filed by Minneapolis and St. Paul city attorneys calls for an immediate halt to Operation Metro Surge. “Operation Metro Surge is not just unlawfully invasive; it is deadly,” the attorneys state.
The shooting of Pretti forced the Minneapolis Police Department to call back police standby and off-duty personnel and request mutual aid from at least five state and surrounding local law enforcement agencies “to help quell this situation and backfill patrol across the City of Minneapolis to respond to 911 calls,” the emergency appeal states.
“I think everyone is kind of waiting for folks on both sides to come together and just figure this thing out,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said on “Face the Nation” Sunday. “This is not sustainable. This police department has only 600 police officers. We are stretched incredibly thin. This is taking an enormous toll trying to manage all this chaos.”
The International Association of Chiefs of Police released a statement Saturday asking the White House to bring together local, state and federal enforcement leaders for policy-level discussions to find “a constructive path forward.” The IACP “emphasizes that effective public safety depends on comprehensive training, investigative integrity, adherence to the rule of law, and strong coordination among federal, state, and local partners.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Walz on Saturday demanding Minnesota share the state’s records on Medicaid and food and nutrition service programs, repeal “sanctuary policies” and allow the Department of Justice access to the state’s voter rolls.
