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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTop DOJ officials quit after their division refused to probe Minnesota ICE shooting
At least four leaders of the Civil Rights Division resigned because the section's head, Harmeet Dhillon, decided not to investigate shooting of Renee Good.
NEW: Top DOJ officials quit after their division refused to probe Minnesota ICE shooting - At least four leaders of the Civil Rights Division resigned because the section's head, Harmeet Dhillon, decided not to investigate shooting of Renee Good.
— MaddowBlog (@maddowblog.bsky.social) 2026-01-13T04:15:22.198Z
www.ms.now/news/doj-civ...
Top leaders of the criminal section of the Civil Rights Division have left their jobs to register their frustration with the department after the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon decided not to investigate the ICE officers fatal shooting of Renee Good last week. The criminal section of the division would normally investigate any fatal shooting by a law enforcement officer and specializes in probing potential or alleged abuse or improper use of force by law enforcement.
The departures including that of the chief of the section, as well as the principal deputy chief, deputy chief and acting deputy chief represent the most significant mass resignation at the Justice Department since February. At that time, five leaders and supervisors of the departments Public Integrity Section, which investigates public officials for possible corruption, resigned rather than comply with an appointee of President Donald Trumps orders to dismiss the bribery case against then-New York mayor Eric Adams.
One source briefed on the reasoning for the resignations said the handling of the ICE shooting was not the only concern for the unit leaders and that some were concerned about other decisions by division leadership.,,,,
Goods shooting on Jan. 7 has galvanized Democrats and civil libertarians but also frustrated Minnesota politicians and state police investigators. On Jan. 10, the FBI announced it would be handling the investigation of Goods shooting on its own and blocked Minnesota authorities from their typical role in reviewing evidence and investigating the shooting themselves. On Tuesday night, the state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul filed a lawsuit attempting to block the Trump administrations immigration enforcement actions there, which Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced would grow following Goods death.
Cha
(317,007 posts)Human and have Hearts and Souls in that Rat's nest AKA DOJ
flamingdem
(40,799 posts)in the darkness Cha!
LetMyPeopleVote
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electric_blue68
(26,012 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(175,250 posts)Prosecutors in the U.S. attorneys office left after pressure to investigate the widow of a woman slain by an ICE officer.
Top prosecutors in D.C., Minneapolis leave amid turmoil over shooting probeâ©Prosecutors in the U.S. attorneyâs office left after pressure to investigate the widow of a woman slain by an ICE officer. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
— Jersey Craig (@jerseycraig.bsky.social) 2026-01-13T20:59:41.970Z
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/01/13/justice-department-civil-rights-resignations/
The departures include at least five prosecutors from the U.S. attorneys office in Minneapolis, including the offices second-in-command, according to emails obtained by The Washington Post and people familiar with the matter.
Their resignations followed demands by Justice Department leaders to investigate the widow of Renée Good, the 37-year-old woman killed last week by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot into her car, according to two people familiar with the resignations who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concern for retaliation. Goods wife was protesting ICE officers in the moments before the shooting. Prosecutors also were dismayed over the decision by federal officials to exclude state and local authorities from the investigation, one of the people said.
Five senior prosecutors in the criminal section of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division also said they are leaving, according to four people familiar with the personnel moves who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
The departures strip both the Civil Rights Divisions criminal section and U.S. attorneys office in Minnesota of their most experienced prosecutors. The moves are widely seen as a major vote of no-confidence by career prosecutors at a moment when the department is under extreme scrutiny......
This exodus is a huge blow signaling the disrespect and sidelining of the finest and most experienced civil rights prosecutors, said Vanita Gupta, the head of the division during the Obama administration and the associate attorney general during the Biden administration. It means cases wont be brought, unique expertise will be lost and the top career attorneys who may be a backstop to some of the worst impulses of this administration will have left.