In a news conference Monday, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said her office is investigating alleged misconduct by federal immigration officers connected to Operation Metro Surge, a crackdown that prompted protests in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Moriarty said the investigation could result in criminal charges, including against Border Patrol official Greg Bovino.
Moriarty said her prosecutors are already looking into 17 cases. She cited an incident on Jan. 21 in which she said Bovino threw a smoke canister at protesters. She also pointed to an incident on Jan. 7 involving federal officers making an arrest outside a high school and deploying chemical irritants while students and staff were in the area.
Moriarty said her office is preparing for a legal fight and framed the effort as a commitment to handle the matter “correctly.” “Make no mistake, we are not afraid of the legal fight, and we are committed to doing this correctly,” Moriarty said. “Operation Metro Surge caused immeasurable harm to our community.”
The Department of Homeland Security responded later Monday night, arguing that enforcement decisions by federal officers remain a federal responsibility and that states cannot prosecute them. In a statement, DHS said, “What these States are trying to do is unlawful, and they know it,” and added that federal officials acting within their duties are immune from liability under state law.
DHS also said local officials should instead consider how their actions have endangered federal law enforcement officers. The statement did not address the specific cases Moriarty outlined. A message seeking Bovino’s response was not immediately returned, according to the report.
Moriarty’s office said it is gathering evidence from the public as well as from official channels. She said the office has set up an online portal where people can upload photos, videos and eyewitness accounts from any point during Operation Metro Surge. Prosecutors have said they will also look at the circumstances surrounding the deaths of two people killed in January amid the crackdown—Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Moriarty said her office is investigating those deaths and is “confident” it can pursue charges. She added that her prosecutors are prepared to sue the federal government to obtain evidence they have requested for the investigations if they do not hear back by Tuesday. “The question is, should we charge in federal court? Do we expect the federal government to obstruct us? I would say they’re already doing that,” Moriarty said.
The federal government has taken some steps as well. The U.S. Department of Justice opened a civil rights inquiry into Pretti’s death, but the DOJ said it saw no reason for a civil rights investigation of Good’s death. The FBI also barred state investigators from accessing evidence in Good’s case, according to the report.
Legal experts said the process will likely require prosecutors to determine whether officers acted unlawfully and whether their actions fell outside authorized duties. Rachel Moran, a criminal law and policing professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, said investigators may examine conduct such as unjustified use of chemical irritants, actions prosecutors say involved assaults, or property damage, depending on the evidence developed. “These would be situations where the state has to determine: Is there evidence that agents acted unlawfully and outside the scope of their authorized duties?” Moran said. She added, “I think agents did illegal things here. I watched it.”
Mark Osler, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas who previously served as director of the criminal division for a year under Moriarty in 2023 and 2024, said prosecutors can provide more clarity even if charges do not follow. “One of the most important roles that prosecution has … is truth-telling, is to bring to the surface what actually happened at a given time,” Osler said. “We’ll all know more than just what we saw in those initial videos by the time she’s done. I’m confident of that.”
Moriarty said the investigation would focus on incidents in Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs. She also said her office’s work is part of efforts to seek transparency and accountability regarding how officers carried out enforcement during the operation.