Hirono, colleagues call for civil rights probe into death of Minneapolis resident Renee Good

Hawai‘i Democrat U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono joined several of her Senate colleagues — including Democrat members of the Senate Judiciary Committee — in urging the U.S. Department of Justice to heed the calls of career prosecutors and open a civil rights investigation into the death of Renee Good.

Good was was fatally shot by a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officer last month in Minneapolis, Minn.

Senators emphasize in their letter to Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon that the Justice Department decision not to investigate Good’s killing represents a broader trend of the department refusing to enforce civil rights laws in favor of carrying out President Donald Trump’s political agenda.

“Your decision not to investigate the [Immigrations and Customs Enforcement] agent’s conduct is a marked departure from past administrations of both parties, which historically have taken swift action to open civil rights reviews of many fatal interactions with law enforcement,” wrote the senators. “These investigations have been conducted even when criminal charges were considered unlikely.”

The letter comes as Dhillon announced that the department’s Civil Rights Division would not investigate Good’s killing — rebuking the reported request of career prosecutors at the Justice Department to do so and despite the leading role the Civil Rights Division office normally assumes in investigating potential civil rights violations.

The letter was sent toward the end of January, before an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis about 2 weeks after Good was killed.

“After you informed Division personnel that you would not consider opening an investigation into whether the [Immigrations and Customs Enforcement] agent violated federal law, several career prosecutors — including the head of the Criminal Section, which is responsible for these investigations — accelerated planned departures from the division,” the letter says.

Multiple career prosecutors — according to public reporting — in the Civil Rights Division offered to lead an inquiry into the shooting, which at the federal level is usually led by the division’s Criminal Section.

Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche — second-in-command at the Department of Justice — reinforced Dhillon’s decision to take an investigation off the table when he publicly claimed there was “no basis” for a civil rights probe into Good’s death.

Blanche’s assertion is contradicted by an Federal Bureau of Investigation agent’s determination — after an initial review — that sufficient grounds exist to open a civil rights investigation into the agent who shot Good.

“Instead of investigating Ms. Good’s killing, [Department of Justice] has announced the U.S. Attorney’s office in Minnesota would investigate alleged connections between Ms. Good and her widow and groups that have been monitoring [Immigrations and Customs Enforcement] activity in Minneapolis,” wrote the senators.

They say the Justice Department ordered federal agents to conduct its investigation without Minnesota’s local authorities, and refusing to share investigative materials or permit a joint investigation is “highly unusual.”

Six lawyers from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Minnesota also resigned in protest.

“Your decision not to investigate Ms. Good’s killing reflects a trend in the division under your leadership of ignoring the enforcement of civil rights laws in favor of carrying out President Trump’s political agenda,” senators conclude. “This trend, combined with apparent political interference in investigative and prosecutorial decisions, undermines public trust, the legitimacy of our institutions and the rule of law.

“We urge you to listen to career prosecutors and open a civil rights investigation into the death of Ms. Good.”

The letter was signed by Hirono and the following lawmakers:

• U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Sen. Dick Durbin or Illinois
• Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.
• Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey.
• Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware.
• Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
• Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff of California.
• Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont.
• Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

Full text of the letter is available online.