The Department of Justice investigates Walz and Frey for allegedly impeding immigration agents in Minneapolis | Immigration in the United States

The Government of Donald Trump has taken another step in its crusade against the authorities of Minnesota and the city of Minneapolis, where it maintains a huge deployment of immigration agents since the beginning of January. This Friday, the Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation against the state governor, Tim Walz, and the city’s mayor, Jacob Frey, both Democrats, for an alleged conspiracy to impede agents.

According to several national media reports, the investigation is based on statements that Walz and Frey have made about the thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents that the Trump Administration sent to the Twin Cities region, as Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul are known.

The opening of an investigation against the officials represents a significant escalation in the political battle that Trump has unleashed against the State of Minnesota. It comes after the president threatened on Thursday to invoke the Insurrection Lawwhich allows the US army to be deployed on national territory, to quell the daily protests that have been taking place in Minneapolis since an ICE agent shot dead a US citizen on January 7.

Governor Walz quickly reacted to the news that he was being investigated through a publication on

The demonstrations have led to confrontations also almost daily between the agents and the participants, who demand that the immigration police leave the city. A week after ICE agent Jonathan Ross Renee Good tiros awaymother of three and poet, another immigration officer was involved in a second shooting, in this case against a Venezuelan migrant, who was shot in the leg after resisting arrest and attacking the agent, according to the version of the Department of Homeland Security.

There are more than 3,000 immigration agents in the city, and both state and local leaders have reiterated that they are not welcome. After Trump announced that he was considering sending troops to the city, Mayor Frey wrote on social media: “Minnesota needs ICE gone, not an escalation that brings in additional federal troops.” The councilor has described the situation in his city as “unsustainable”.

Governor Walz, for his part, asked the president to “lower the temperature” and put an “end to this campaign of retaliation” after his threat to apply the law of 1807. He also called on citizens to continue their protests peacefully, something he has been repeating since the demonstrations began.

The Trump Administration, however, accuses Walz and Frey of stirring up protests and promoting violence against immigration agents. And now, with this investigation, the Department of Justice seeks to determine whether his public statements have constituted criminal interference in the work of law enforcement.

According to CBS, which reported on the criminal investigation, Walz and Frey are being investigated for the crime of conspiring to prevent federal agents from carrying out their official duties through “force, intimidation or threats.”

Minnesota authorities and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul They sued the Trump administration last Monday for what they called a “federal invasion.” According to them, the deployment of immigration agents ordered by the president is unconstitutional because it violates the law of state sovereignty guaranteed by the US Constitution.

In response to another lawsuit filed by activists who allege that officers have violated their rights during the crackdown on protests, a federal judge on Friday imposed restrictions on the actions officers can take against demonstrations.

In an 80 page orderMagistrate Kate Menendez ordered officers not to retaliate against people “engaging in peaceful and unobstructed protest activities” and prohibited them from using pepper spray or other “crowd dispersion tools.” The judge also said that officers cannot detain or arrest individuals who are not “forcibly obstructing or interfering” with officers.