Operation Metro Surge deployed thousands of ICE and Border Patrol agents to Minneapolis in what DHS called the largest operation in the agency’s history. Two Minnesota residents, Renee Good and ICU nurse Alex Pretti, were fatally shot by federal officers during the operation. Blanche cleared the agents in both cases without investigating, then opened a federal probe into the governor and mayor who spoke out. This wasn’t an isolated pattern: months earlier, bodycam footage showed Blanche personally directing the arrest of Newark’s mayor and ordering agents to cut their cameras before making the arrest.
Across both cities, the record shows the same playbook – protecting federal agents from scrutiny while going after the local officials who criticized them. When DOJ leaders like Blanche signal that agents can expect protection rather than accountability, they cultivate a culture of impunity – one now facing renewed scrutiny after ICE officers killed two fathers in Texas and Maine within a single week.
Before becoming Deputy Attorney General, Blanche was Trump’s personal defense lawyer. In office, he has continued to act like one: shielding the president’s agents from accountability the same way he once shielded his client, while turning the Justice Department against the officials and critics who question their conduct.
Here’s what the record shows:
- Blanche Personally Directed Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s Arrest, the Incident Trump’s DOJ is Now Targeting Rep. LaMonica McIver Over, Aiding ICE Escalation. Bodycam footage made public in September 2025 shows Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel ending a phone call and telling fellow officers they were moving forward “as per the Deputy Attorney General of the United States,” a call attributed to Blanche, before directing officers to turn off their cameras and arrest Baraka outside Newark’s Delaney Hall ICE facility. MSNOW’s Nicolle Wallace said the episode, which resulted in the politically charged prosecutionof LaMonica McIver, revealed how central Blanche has become to DOJ’s targeting of Democratic officials, citing his prison interview with Ghislaine Maxwell and his defense of prosecuting anti-Trump protesters on racketeering charges as part of the same pattern.
- Blanche Cleared the Officer Who Killed Renee Good Before the FBI Finished Its Own Review. Then-Deputy Attorney General Blanche declared there was no basis for a criminal investigation into the ICE officer who shot and killed Good, telling reporters the DOJ doesn’t investigate every time “some Congressman thinks we should, because some Governor thinks that we should.” That public statement contradicted an internal FBI review that had already concluded the shooting met the threshold for opening a civil rights investigation. Instead, federal officials shifted their investigation onto Good’s partner, and at least six federal prosecutors resigned over the DOJ’s handling of the case.
- Blanche Called the Killing of ICU Nurse Alex Pretti “Humane” and Blamed the State for It. Days after Good’s death, a federal agent shot and killed Pretti during another enforcement encounter. Blanche appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press and defended federal agents broadly, saying “our agents are acting humanely” and that critics were focused on “two or three things” out of “thousands of arrests.” Asked about the Pretti shooting specifically, Blanche called it “entirely avoidable” if Minnesota’s governor and mayor had cooperated with federal agents.
- Blanche Threatened Walz and Frey With “Terrorism” Accusations Days Before Opening a Federal Investigation Into Them. As protests intensified, Blanche posted on X: “Walz and Frey — I’m focused on stopping YOU from your terrorism by whatever means necessary. This is not a threat. It’s a promise.” Days later, CBS News confirmed the DOJ opened an investigation into Walz, Frey, and other Minnesota officials over an alleged conspiracy to impede federal immigration agents. The probe also targeted Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, and county officials, sending six grand jury subpoenas that January.
- A Bush-Appointed Judge Threw Out the Investigation Blanche Helped Launch, Calling It “Blatantly Unlawful.” In June 2026, U.S. District Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz, a George W. Bush appointee, quashed all six subpoenas, writing that launching a criminal investigation to harass political opponents or coerce them into official action is “a blatantly unlawful and unethical use of the grand-jury process.” Schiltz called DOJ’s justification “risible,”or laughable, and concluded the subpoenas were issued to force Minnesota officials into assisting Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda. The investigation launched the same week Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act against Minnesota.
- Blanche Traveled to Minneapolis to Reassure Agents They’d Be Protected From Local Officials, While DOJ Stonewalled Minnesota’s Investigators. Blanche visited Minneapolis alongside FBI Director Kash Patel during the operation. Meanwhile, Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said the FBI formally refused to share evidence in the Pretti and Good investigations, a one-way arrangement BCA Superintendent Drew Evans publicly called “concerning and unprecedented.” Only this month, after Minnesota sued, has the DOJ begun turning over critical evidence, including previously withheld body camera footage and the vehicle Good was killed in.