U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz laying out three conditions the state must meet before federal immigration agents would consider scaling back their footprint in Minneapolis — including turning over voter registration records.
Bondi pinned the recent unrest on state and local officials, arguing their leadership and public messaging helped fuel tensions surrounding the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations. She told Walz he could “restore the rule of law.”
The Context
The letter follows the killing of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, who was shot by a Border Patrol agent during a federal immigration enforcement operation. The shooting happened less than three weeks after Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was shot and killed by an immigration agent in the same city.
Both deaths triggered widespread protests and condemnation, while competing accounts from federal and state officials — along with bystander video from each incident — intensified scrutiny and criticism.
Federal agents claimed Pretti resisted violently, and Security Secretary Kristi Noem said an official fired “defensive shots.” Walz rejected that version, calling it “nonsense” and “lies.”
After the shooting, the odds of a government shutdown surged when Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats would block a Department of Homeland Security funding package.
What To Know
In the letter, Bondi listed three demands:
- The Department of Justice must be given Minnesota’s voter registration records.
- Minnesota must repeal its “sanctuary policies.”
- The state must share records related to Medicaid and Food and Nutrition Service programs.
Bondi also cited what she described as a sharp rise in attacks on federal personnel — claiming a 1,300 percent increase in violence against ICE officers and a 3,200 percent increase in vehicular attacks — as justification for maintaining operations.
She argued Minnesota officials’ rhetoric contributed to the danger, writing: “You and other Minnesota officials have refused to support the men and women risking their lives to protect Americans and uphold the rule of law.”
Bondi singled out Walz for referring to federal law enforcement as “Trump’s modern-day Gestapo,” and criticized Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for saying, “ICE: Get the f*** out of Minneapolis.”
Political Fallout
The letter quickly drew online backlash from Democratic voices.
Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut posted on X: “This has never been about safety or immigration. It’s a pretext for Trump to take over elections in swing states.”
Democratic strategist Matt McDermott also weighed in with a post viewed more than 4 million times, writing: “As insane as this sounds, it’s true: Pam Bondi sent Minnesota officials a letter today saying ICE would leave the state if Minnesota turns over its voter files to the Trump Administration.”
What People Are Saying
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, in a post on X on January 24: “I just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning. Minnesota has had it. This is sickening. The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi, in the letter: “You and your office must restore the rule of law, support ICE officers and bring an end to the chaos in Minnesota.”
DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement shared via email: “Last night, following the heinous murder of US citizen Alex Pretti at the hands of a federal immigration agent, Pam Bondi drafted and sent a threatening letter to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz attempting to extort the state into handing over its voter rolls as part of an ongoing campaign to undermine local elections and build a national database for Trump’s political revenge and retribution. The Trump administration thinks it can threaten and intimidate through violence and coercion, but they’re wrong. The DNC will stand with local elected officials and fight like hell, including in the courts, to protect our democracy and the rights of voters in Minnesota and across the country.”
Richard W. Painter, a law professor and former chief White House ethics lawyer from 2005 to 2007, posted on X: “This sure sounds like extortion.”
The Voter Protection Project wrote on X: “That’s not immigration policy. That’s leverage. Even more, it’s election interference dressed up as ‘enforcement.’”
What Happens Next
Walz had not publicly responded to the letter as of reporting.
