Blog Details

Congress is ratcheting up its scrutiny of the killing of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol in Minneapolis on Saturday.

Top Democrats on the Dwelling Judiciary Committee on Monday requested Justice Department officers at quit records about the probe of Pretti’s killing to the panel by Monday, Feb. 2, in a letter to Attorney Trendy Pam Bondi got by CBS News.

Democrats on the panel, alongside with rating member Earn. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, are additionally searching for paperwork about the department’s decision to forgo a civil rights investigation into the immigration agent who shot and killed Renee Nicole Swish in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.

The letter accused the Trump administration of blockading local authorities from probing the 2 killings and failing to adequately investigate the Swish shooting, pointing to reviews that some federal prosecutors procure been urged to leer into Swish’s widow.

“Someone affirmatively ordered federal law enforcement to instead investigate Ms. Good’s widow. Someone affirmatively ordered line agents to block state prosecutors from accessing key evidence. Someone is now taking the same actions with regard to the killing of another American citizen,” the letter mentioned.

The Trump administration’s handling of the 2 shootings — which took station all the device by a surge of immigration brokers in Minneapolis — has drawn intense scrutiny. 

Prosecutors in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division procure been urged they would no longer investigate Swish’s death, an odd switch for a fatal shooting by an officer. And several federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned amid power to leer into Swish’s widow and take care of the case as an assault on a federal officer, CBS News has reported. The department has accused Swish of searching for to roam over an ICE agent with her car.

Pretti’s death is being investigated by ICE’s Quandary of starting up Security Investigations unit, FBI Director Kash Patel mentioned. Fresh and faded rules enforcement officers urged CBS News that switch is odd because HSI generally would now not investigate shootings by officers. 

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Bureau of Prison Apprehension withdrew from the Swish case earlier this month, asserting the Justice Department had refrained from dispute investigators from gaining access to proof. And dispute authorities sued the federal executive for allegedly blockading the BCA from gaining access to the scene of Pretti’s death, main a train to bar the Department of Quandary of starting up Security from “destroying or altering evidence.”

The Dwelling Democrats’ inquiry argued there’s a foundation for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to investigate the shootings. The letter alleged the Trump administration will be making “efforts to avoid accountability for several federal officers’ deprivation of rights under color of law,” referring to one legal offense that is on the total investigated by the division.

When requested for comment, a Justice Department spokesperson referred CBS News to a assertion earlier this month by Deputy Attorney Trendy Todd Blanche, which mentioned, “There is currently no basis for a criminal civil rights investigation.”

In a assertion to CBS News final week, an FBI spokesman mentioned: “The facts on the ground do not support a civil rights investigation. FBI continues to investigate the incident as well as the violent criminal actors and those perpetrating illegal activity.”

Other congressional panels procure launched their non-public investigations. As CBS News reported Monday, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee procure requested Assistant Attorney Trendy for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon to starting up out a civil rights investigation into Swish’s death.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, has proposed a recent legislative amendment that can require an self reliant Department of Quandary of starting up Security Quandary of job of Inspector Trendy to “deploy investigators to conduct investigations into all use of force incidents that have occurred” below the Trump administration’s civil immigration and inner enforcement operations.

Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who chairs the Senate Quandary of starting up Security Committee, has additionally requested testimony from the heads of ICE, Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Products and companies. Paul’s predict of used to be suggested Monday by fellow Republican Sen. John Curtis, a well-known-term senator from Utah.

Republican Earn. Andrew Garbarino, chair of the Dwelling Quandary of starting up Security Committee, additionally requested testimony from the leaders of the the same three companies.

Paul and Garbarino’s letters did no longer point out Pretti or Swish. Nonetheless the requests for testimony came as a rising selection of Republicans criticized or questioned the Trump administration’s response to Pretti’s death, or pressed for a plump investigation.