DOJ issued subpoenas to Walz, Frey and other Minnesota officials

The Department of Justice (DOJ) issued subpoenas for at least five Minnesota officials. They include Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. The case seeks to determine whether state leaders obstructed federal immigration enforcement. According to PBS News, others subpoenaed were state Attorney General Keith Ellison, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, and officials from Ramsey and Hennepin counties.

A subpoena is a legal order compelling testimony or production of documents for an investigation. In this case, as it is a DOJ investigation, those involved will be required to testify before a grand jury. This group of citizens will hear evidence presented by prosecutors and decide if there is any probable cause to charge any of the officials with a federal crime.

"We said for the past two weeks that the federal government and this administration would not tolerate local officials doing what they were doing and have been doing, impeding federal officers and doing everything they could to encourage, rioters to do what they had been doing, which is assaulting and getting in the way of of federal officials," Todd Blanche, assistant attorney general, said speaking to Fox News.

"We said that we were investigating. I'm not gonna comment on on exactly what we're doing in this investigation, but this is exactly what we do when we investigate. We send grand jury subpoenas. We talk to witnesses to understand what's happening, and then that's what you see happening right now," he added.

At the same time, Blanche referred to the protesters who have taken to the streets of Minnesota in recent weeks, "They are not limiting themselves to going after federal officers. They're not limiting themselves to going after ICE officers. They're going after anybody and everybody that doesn't agree with their rhetoric. That is not a peaceful protest. We do not see this happening all over the country."

Both Walz and Frey have clashed head-on with the Trump administration since the tragic death of Renee Nicole Good during a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid.