Hennepin County Attorney seeks public tips in probe of alleged federal agent misconduct
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Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty says her office is investigating 17 alleged incidents of excessive force by federal immigration agents, and she’s asking the public to submit tips and evidence.
At a Monday news conference, Moriarty said that among other incidents, prosecutors are looking into former Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino’s use of chemical irritants on protesters near Mueller Park in Minneapolis on Jan. 21 as well as agents’ treatment of protesters at Roosevelt High School on Jan. 7.
Moriarty said that filing any criminal charges against federal agents would be legally complex but she’s prepared to do it.
“I’ve said this repeatedly and I want to be clear. There is no absolute immunity for federal agents,” Moriarty said. “And we must be fully prepared to litigate these issues before filing a charge in state court.”
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Moriarty noted that if agents were to be prosecuted, they could claim immunity under the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.
Any state-level prosecution of a federal agent would likely be moved to federal court but adjudicated under state law before a federal judge. If convicted under state law, even in federal court, an agent could not receive a presidential pardon.
In a statement late Monday, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said that Moriarty’s actions are “unlawful,” and repeated claims that federal agents are immune from state-level legal liability.
Moriarty is urging the public to submit any evidence of excessive force by federal agents to a new Transparency and Accountability Portal. She said that a similar portal used to collect evidence related to the fatal shootings of Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti is closed.
“We received over 1,000 submissions,” Moriarty said. “We feel pretty good about the idea that we’ve probably gotten everything that’s out there at the moment.”
Moriarty added the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension continues to investigate the shootings of Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti, but federal authorities are still refusing to cooperate and are “obstructing” the investigations.
“I do feel confident that we will be able to make charging decisions in those cases,” Moriarty said. “I can't say when that will happen, but I feel very confident that we will be able to make those decisions.”
Last month, Moriarty submitted formal requests to review evidence including videos and photographs that federal investigators collected at the shooting scenes. She also asked for the names of the agents involved. The feds have a deadline of March 3 to respond.
While federal authorities never named the agents who killed Macklin Good and Pretti, journalists quickly confirmed that ICE Agent Jonathan Ross shot Maclkin Good on Jan. 7 after examining court records in an unrelated case.
A week after Pretti’s Jan. 24 killing, ProPublica identified the men involved as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.
