Federal prosecutors served grand jury subpoenas Tuesday to Minnesota’s governor, attorney general, and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul as part of an investigation into whether they obstructed federal immigration enforcement during a sweeping crackdown in the Twin Cities area.

The subpoenas, which seek records, were directed to the offices of Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, and officials in Ramsey and Hennepin counties, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The investigation is examining whether Minnesota officials’ public statements constituted a conspiracy to impede law enforcement, according to two people familiar with the probe.

The subpoenas represent an escalation of the Trump administration’s federal immigration enforcement efforts over state and local resistance, raising constitutional questions about which authority—federal or state—controls immigration operations in major cities.

The Investigation and Official Response

The subpoena returned to Mayor Frey’s office requires a lengthy list of documents for a grand jury hearing scheduled for Feb. 3, including “any records tending to show a refusal to come to the aid of immigration officials,” according to the document Frey released publicly.

The subpoena directs officials to produce records related to their public statements and any coordination during the sweeping federal immigration enforcement operations that have roiled Minneapolis and St. Paul for weeks.

Mayor Frey, a Democrat, cast the subpoena as a political attack. “We shouldn’t have to live in a country where people fear that federal law enforcement will be used to play politics or crack down on local voices they disagree with,” Frey said.

Mayor Her, a Hmong immigrant and Democrat, said she was “unfazed by these tactics.”

Gov. Walz’s office issued a statement accusing the Trump administration of “not seeking justice, only creating distractions” through the probe.

Attorney General Keith Ellison said the federal government is violating constitutional rights through its immigration enforcement operations. He described federal officers as poorly trained and called the enforcement campaign an “invasion” that must cease.

The subpoenas came a day after the Justice Department urged a federal judge to reject Minnesota’s lawsuit challenging the immigration crackdown. Department attorneys called the state’s case “legally frivolous,” arguing: “Put simply, Minnesota wants a veto over federal law enforcement.”

The lawsuit was filed after Renee Good, 37, was killed on Jan. 7 while moving her vehicle in Minneapolis, which had been blocking a street where federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were operating. ICE officer Jonathan Ross said he fired in self-defense. Video of the encounter shows the Honda Pilot slowly turning away from him.

Constitutional law scholar Ilan Wurman of University of Minnesota Law School said he doubts the state’s legal arguments will succeed, noting that immigration enforcement is clearly a matter of federal control.

Federal Operations and Community Tensions

U.S. Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, who has overseen the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in major cities, said federal agents have arrested more than 10,000 people in Minnesota in the past year. He said 3,000 of those arrests occurred during “Operation Metro Surge” over the last six weeks, describing them as “individuals responsible for serious harm” and “not technical violations.” Bovino highlighted arrests of three people with criminal records from Laos, Guatemala, and Honduras.

“These are individuals responsible for serious harm,” Bovino said at a news conference, defending his officers’ actions as “legal, ethical and moral.”

Julia Decker, policy director at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, expressed frustration about the lack of transparency. “These are real people we’re talking about, that we potentially have no idea what is happening to them,” Decker said, noting that advocates cannot verify the government’s arrest numbers or descriptions of those detained.

Since Good’s death, members of the public have repeatedly confronted immigration agents, blowing whistles and yelling at ICE and Border Patrol officers. Officers have responded with tear gas and chemical irritants. Bystanders have recorded video showing federal officers using battering rams to enter homes and smashing vehicle windows to remove occupants from cars.

Police departments in the region reported that off-duty law enforcement officers have been racially profiled and stopped without cause by federal officers. Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said he received complaints from residents, including his own officers.

About three dozen people entered Cities Church in St. Paul on Sunday and disrupted a service. The church responded with a statement: “Invading a church service to disrupt the worship of Jesus—or any other act of worship—is protected by neither the Christian Scriptures nor the laws of this nation.”

Pastor Jonathan Parnell issued the statement on behalf of the congregation.

Nekima Levy Armstrong, a lawyer and local activist, called for a church leader who works at an ICE office to resign from the congregation, saying the dual role poses a “fundamental moral conflict.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described the protesters as “agitators” on social media, writing: “arrests coming.”

Vice President JD Vance is expected to travel to Minneapolis on Thursday for a roundtable with local leaders and community members, according to sources familiar with his plans who asked not to be identified because the visit had not yet been officially announced.