More departures at the US attorney's office in Minnesota, AP sources say

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A new wave of departures is rippling through the U.S. Attorney's office in Minnesota, where additional federal prosecutors are leaving at a time of mounting frustration with the Trump administration's stepped-up immigration enforcement and the Justice Department's response to fatal shootings of civilians by federal agents, two people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

The latest departures are on top of a half-dozen attorneys who left the office last month amid disagreements over the Justice Department's response to the shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. At least one supervisory agent in the FBI's Minneapolis office is known to have resigned last month as well.

The Minnesota Star Tribune reported Monday evening that eight lawyers have since departed the office or announced plans to do so. A person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss non-public personnel moves, confirmed that this number was correct and that more departures were likely. Another person also confirmed a new wave of departures in the office.

The office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The resignations reflect the turbulence that has roiled the state over the last month or so as law enforcement officials have clashed over how to respond to violent confrontations during the heightened immigration enforcement. Minnesota officials, for instance, raised alarm after federal officials blocked state investigators from accessing evidence in the Good shooting and declared that Minnesota has no jurisdiction to investigate the killing. The Justice Department also declined to open a civil rights investigation into her death.

After Trump administration officials initially said the Department of Homeland Security would lead the investigation into the subsequent killing of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol officers, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last week revealed that the Justice Department was opening a civil rights investigation aimed at determining whether the shooting of the intensive care nurse constituted a crime.

“We’re looking at everything that would shed light on what happened that day and in the days and weeks leading up to what happened,” Blanche said last Friday.