FINALLY: ICE agents faces LEGAL CONSEQUENCES

I'm joined now by the Attorney General. of Minnesota, Keith Ellison. Thanks so. much for taking the time. >> Great to be with you, Brian. >> So, you've now taken some action against. some of the ICE agents. in Minnesota. Can you explain some of. the action that's been taken just as of. today? >> Well, as of today, the Hennepin County. Attorney's Office and the Attorney. General's Office together have filed. charges. against the people who shot Julio Sosa. Solis in North Minneapolis on February.

14th. The officer involved is a fellow. who is now there's an active arrest. warrant for him. And you know, he is an. individual who is being sought out. His. name is Christian Castro. He is a an. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Agent. And he is charged with shooting. Julio Sosa Solis. as I noted before. So, that's what's. going on. That charge is as of today.

Already the Hennepin County Attorney. without my involvement has charged. individuals who in a road rage incident. were. were pointing guns through in to at a. moving car in traffic. And that was that. was charged out as a second-degree. assault terrorist threat only a few days. ago. And that individual is not yet in. custody, but there is an active warrant. for his or his arrest. So, right now there've been two criminal.

charges and there is an active. investigation on the individuals who you. may remember this dragged a Hmong. individual a Hmong man out of his home. in the freezing cold. The man had on. under he had on underwear and Crocs. And. he was the wrong person. They weren't. look he wasn't even the guy they wanted, but they dragged him out of his home and. had him in sub-zero temperature there. The Ramsey County Attorney is actively.

pursuing that matter. Now, you may want. to know about the good matter and the. and the Pretty matter. They are under. active investigation right now. We still. have not received any cooperation from. the federal government. That is no. deterrent. There's no such thing as. absolute immunity in the context of this. matter. So, those with just because you don't see it. every day doesn't mean we're not working. on it every day. We are working on it. every day. >> Now, in terms of these cases.

prior to you discussing Pretty and Renee. Good, has the federal government been an. obstacle to those charges or have they. been cooperative or neither? >> They have never been cooperative in any. sense. They simply have not been helpful. And. this is you know, I will tell you Brian, this is a weird because. we work with the feds all the time. Right. We work with the feds on task.

forces involving everything from. uh. sex trafficking, human trafficking, labor trafficking, you know, fentanyl, drug drug trans drug trafficking. We. work with the feds on the regular. And. I'm saying FBI, DEA, uh Treasury, different types of officers. are very familiar to us around here. So, simply because Trump wants to do this. this what I regard as an illegal action.

against the state of Minnesota and we. filed a civil lawsuit on on that. Uh. but that is when the the cooperation. ended. By the way, Brian, let me just. remind everybody, these folks are always saying, "Oh, the. state of Minnesota should have just. cooperated when it came to Operation. Metro Surge." Well, we did. Uh but they they they never cooperated. with us on anything and they demand. cooperation, but you know, the fact is. we've always complied with what the law.

required. >> Has the federal government threatened to. deprive you of any resources given the. fact that you've gone after ICE agents. who've broken the law? >> They not in connection with that. So, we. haven't heard. "You're not prosecuting these people, so. we're going to take this from you." Not. that. But they've done it in the in in. multiple other occasions, right? So, they're they're saying that they're good. they're withholding our Medicaid. funding. They're withholding our. educational funds. They're withholding.

funds connected to They tried to. regarding National Institute of Health. We sued them and got that back. They. They tried to withhold money regarding. AmeriCorps. We sued them on that one. They tried to withhold withhold money on. a whole range of things. I could keep. naming them, but I don't know if you. want a comprehensive list, folks can go. to my website and see it all. But like. whether it's National Institute of. Health, AmeriCorps, uh the supplemental nutrition. assistance, they have been trying to. take money that is rightfully.

supposed to come to Minnesota on. multiple occasions. The total, Brian, is 7.3 billion that. they've tried to take from us, but we. have successfully defended from them. >> In terms of the impending or possible. um prosecutions of the ICE agents who. shot and killed Renee Goodnough and Alex. Preddy, is there some concern that the. federal government might try and Bigfoot. you guys at the state level so that they. can take over the prosecution and then.

of course just. basically. seek to dismiss it in very much. >> Yeah. I mean they're they're very much. in the same way that they did for for. Eric Adams in New York where they have I. mean they can you know, they wanted to. be able to wield him as as a tool at the. at the local level, but ultimately their. goal was never to prosecute him. >> Well, what you're saying, I mean, I had. no role in the Kyle Rittenhouse case, but when I watch it, I look at a. prosecutor who doesn't seem very. motivated. >> Right. >> to get a conviction. So, I mean, I I if.

you're thinking that, you know, we're. going to take the case and then not. really prosecute the case, uh yeah, there there is that that could happen, but the state has an independent and. separate right to prosecute this case. all on its own. So, we would never do. what Trump does is and and engage in. vindictive prosecution. I think that's. morally wrong. But, we certainly would. uh charge out a case where the facts. uh of the matter violate, you know, the. law and hold those people accountable,

and they can't stop us from doing that. The reason that we haven't charged the. case out isn't because they they can. stop us, it's because they have withheld. the file, and you know, I'll tell you, Brian, I used to be a criminal defense. lawyer for 16 years. And if I was a. criminal defense lawyer, first thing I'd say is, "Where's the. file?" They didn't They didn't have the. whole file, you know? So, I think. there's probable cause in both Brady and. good to charge the case. I just think that we should try to do.

all we can to get the file. You may know. we have filed a lawsuit against the. Department of Homeland Security because. they're with They have a final agency. action denying us access, and there's no. legal basis for them to do so. So, we're. That matter is being litigated in the. civil context to make them give us the. documents and materials that we're. entitled to uh to complete our. investigation. >> There there was reports of some federal.

prosecutors who had left the DOJ as the. result of how the DOJ was comporting. itself, you know, with these ICE agents. and and and so on. Are any of those. folks working alongside you all at the. state level, um given the fact that, you. know, if the DOJ isn't going to do it, at least there are prosecutors, good. prosecutors, who are willing to do this. work at the Minnesota state level? >> Well, I'll tell you, man, I think I. hired maybe about four or five of them. >> Okay. >> You know, we we have a bunch of feds who. and former feds who are working here and.

are doing really good work. >> Yeah. >> And I you know, quite honestly, man, you. know, as I told you, Brian, I used to be. a criminal defense lawyer, now I'm a. prosecutor. I've done various, you know, roles in the criminal justice system. And what I learned over time is that a a. ethical, good, conscientious prosecutor. is actually, um. uh really a joy to work with because. they'll dismiss cases that ought to be. dismissed. They'll charge what they can prove.

They'll ask for the proper amount of. time or whatever the sentence should be, and you understand that you're going to. have to argue with them because as a. defense counsel, you have a duty of. zealous representation of your client. But you don't feel that there's. something underhanded or bad going on. And the content and you know, so these. these folks had they felt that they a. moral imperative, and they said, "We. cannot square working at this in under. this Justice Department uh with our. conscience." And so they quit, and I.

think that's what ethical people do. >> I mean, that that's the reason that. they're not in the DOJ because you can. see by the way the DOJ has comported. itself over the last year and a half. that their their allegiance is to is to. Donald Trump. It's not to the law, it's. not to the Constitution. Right. The I. mean, they're they're there expressly. because they are going to be loyal to. him and do his bidding. That's why there. prosecutors like Lindsey Halligan and. Alina Habba, um who can stay in these. positions as long as long as they can. before they're rightly um rightly thrown. out, but like but these people their.

their their allegiance is to is to Trump. and his and and um you know, his his uh. prosecuting his political opponents and. uh. and that's why. >> let me say Brian, you know, uh. there were people in the Minnesota. US Attorney's office who were told no, you're not going to investigate and. prosecute the people who killed Renee. Good. You are going to investigate and. potentially prosecute her wife who was. on scene. >> Yeah. >> And they said uh.

here where do I where do I submit my. resignation? >> Yeah. >> We there were over 14 of them who fit in. fell into that category, maybe more now. I haven't been keeping track, but it. began you begin to wonder. who's there? >> Right. >> Well, for a while they got a bunch of uh. judge. judge advocate general people to just. try to fill in, but you know, JAGs have their own jobs. to do, you know? So, you want to drop. them into here and use their obligation.

to follow your orders uh to do their do. the work, but that they've never done. before and probably haven't done the. same way. So, that's what they were. dealing with. That's why we under. Operation Metro Surge you had all these. uh these habeas corpus petitions that. were not being. uh addressed and the there were cases. that were actually dismissed because. they got rid of all the good people,

they brought in some. replacements, and then that the real. cases started piling up, and then you. got up against the uh due process the. right to speedy trial right, and there. had to be some cases dismissed. So, they're actually Trump's making us less. safe. >> Yeah. Yeah, well, I'm I'm glad that. y'all are working um not only not. allowing the federal government to. dictate who gets to be above the law by. allowing these ICE agents to commit. criminal acts with impunity, that you're. taking this on, but also that you've got.

prosecutors uh who weren't willing to. allow that, you know, to allow. themselves to be uh uh run roughshod. over by staying at the DOJ. Um with with. the last couple of minutes that we have. left, I wanted to ask uh one question on. a different topic entirely, and that is. the topic of redistricting. So, can you. give a lay of the land of And And I. should let folks know that that uh. Minnesota's congressional map is 4-4. Republican and Democrat. It's a pretty. blue state. Um you know, I've been on a. tear about redistricting since we've. seen what the Republicans are doing in. state after state after state across the.

country, be it from Texas to Ohio, Missouri, North Carolina, Florida, South. uh Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama. And what Democrats have to show. to push back is like California, and. that's it. And so, can you talk about. what the process would look like for. redrawing the maps uh in Minnesota and. the appetite for redrawing the maps in. Minnesota? Obviously, too late for 2026, but moving forward. >> Well, you know, um. there's a strong sense of basic fairness.

in Minnesota. There's a strong sense. that if you want people to vote for you, you don't redraw the map, you go talk to. them and sell them on the program that. you're going to govern on. And so, it's nothing that we want to. rush into, but we have seriously considered it. because. uh of what Trump is doing uh in Texas. and in other places. >> Yeah. >> Uh and it's deeply, deeply disturbing. And so, um I think that we're going to. pick up some some seats in Minnesota.

without changing the map at all. But, you know, to answer your question, uh we. it's something that we would entertain, but we're 50-50 in the State House, and we're uh and we have a slight. majority in the Senate. So, we're really. not in a position to do it, but would we. do it? I mean, as long as Trump is. pushing Texas and Tennessee to cheat, what other choice do we have? My. My hope would be we would have. independent redistricting every state of.

the union. We don't need an unfair. advantage, but we're not going to sit by. and let them have an unfair advantage. >> Yeah. I think I think pushing back against. this idea that the Republicans that the. Democrats will unilaterally disarm, I. think is is the right move on this. >> No, I mean but at the same time. Democrats want to play by the rules and. be fair, but they don't. So what do we do? Just. sit back and take it on the chin? Absolutely not.

>> Perfectly put. We'll leave it there. Attorney General Ellison, thank you so. much for taking the time. >> You have a good one, Brian. Stay in. touch.