Federal and local law enforcement ties strain after ICE shootings in Minneapolis and Portland

Cooperation between federal, state and local law enforcement is fraying after a series of shootings involving immigration agents, including an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis and a separate incident in Portland that wounded two people.

State investigators said federal authorities excluded them from the Minneapolis inquiry, and Portland police said they received no information from federal officials for hours after that shooting, according to reporting. The incidents have prompted public rebukes from local leaders — Mayor Jacob Frey told ICE to leave Minneapolis, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner warned ICE agents to “get the eff out of here” or face prosecution, and Gov.

Gavin Newsom criticized what he called “masked men snatching people in broad daylight.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem disputed that state investigators were cut out of the Minneapolis probe, saying they lacked jurisdiction and urging a focus on preventing violence and fraud.

Experts and former officials say the breakdown in routine coordination could imperil investigations that typically rely on multiagency cooperation, from tracking violent criminals to probing fraud. Craig Futterman of the University of Chicago Law School said, “I don’t know that we, at least in the United States, have lived this history before,” and John Sandweg, a former acting ICE director, warned, “we all lose,” if collaboration collapses.

Key Topics

Politics, Ice, Minneapolis, Portland, Renee Nicole Good, Law Enforcement