More Prosecutors Resign After Trump DOJ Push To Investigate ICE Shooting Victim’s Widow

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — At least six federal prosecutors in Minnesota have resigned amid internal disputes over the Justice Department’s handling of the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Nicole Good.

Those who stepped down include Joseph H. Thompson, a longtime career prosecutor who served as acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota last year, along with senior prosecutors Harry Jacobs, Melinda Williams and Thomas Calhoun-Lopez, the Times reported.

The departures followed pressure from senior Justice Department officials to pursue an investigation into Good’s widow while declining to open a civil rights investigation into whether the ICE agent’s use of deadly force was lawful.

According to The New York Times, Thompson objected both to the focus on the victim’s family and to the Justice Department’s refusal to include state authorities, including the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, in reviewing the shooting. The resignations came amid growing outrage over Good’s killing and escalating protests in Minnesota and nationwide.

In a statement released Tuesday, Gov. Tim Walz called Thompson "a principled public servant" and described his resignation as a major loss for the state. Walz said Thompson spent more than a decade working closely with state regulators and law enforcement to prosecute large-scale fraud involving public programs and to advance major violent crime cases.

Walz also criticized the Trump administration, saying the resignations were "the latest sign" that nonpartisan career professionals are being pushed out of the Department of Justice. He said Minnesota’s efforts to detect fraud and ensure accountability would continue regardless of who leads the U.S. attorney’s office.

Thompson oversaw several sweeping fraud investigations that federal officials have cited as justification for a massive immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota.

An expanded deployment would bring roughly 3,000 federal immigration officers to the Twin Cities, a number that exceeds local police forces.

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Reporting from the Associated Press was used in this story.