At least four leaders of a Justice Department unit that investigates police killings have resigned in protest over the administration’s handling of the fatal shooting of a motorist in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, according to three people briefed on the departures.
Top leaders of the criminal section of the Civil Rights Division have left their jobs to register their frustration with the department after the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon decided not to investigate the ICE officer’s fatal shooting of Renee Good last week. The criminal section of the division would normally investigate any fatal shooting by a law enforcement officer and specializes in probing potential or alleged abuse or improper use of force by law enforcement.
The departures – including that of the chief of the section, as well as the principal deputy chief, deputy chief and acting deputy chief – represent the most significant mass resignation at the Justice Department since February. At that time, five leaders and supervisors of the department’s Public Integrity Section, which investigates public officials for possible corruption, resigned rather than comply with an appointee of President Donald Trump’s orders to dismiss the bribery case against then-New York mayor Eric Adams.
One source briefed on the reasoning for the resignations said the handling of the ICE shooting was not the only concern for the unit leaders and that some were concerned about other decisions by division leadership.
“Investigating officials to determine if they broke the law, defied policy, failed to deescalate, and resorted to deadly force without basis is one of the Civil Rights Division’s most solemn duties,” said Kristen Clarke, who led the division in the Biden administration.
“Prosecutors of the Civil Rights Division have, for decades, been the nation’s leading experts in this work.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Good’s shooting on Jan. 7 has galvanized Democrats and civil libertarians but also frustrated Minnesota politicians and state police investigators. On Jan. 10, the FBI announced it would be handling the investigation of Good’s shooting on its own and blocked Minnesota authorities from their typical role in reviewing evidence and investigating the shooting themselves. On Tuesday night, the state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul filed a lawsuit attempting to block the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions there, which Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced would grow following Good’s death.
Vice President JD Vance has defended the ICE officer, saying one day after Good’s death and with no investigation, that the shooting was justified. Trump himself made inaccurate claims that Good had “run over” the ICE officer, which video evidence contradicts.
Democrats accused the Trump administration of trying to seize the evidence in the shooting as part of what they called a coverup.
Late last week, according to a source briefed on the matter, a deputy for Dhillon relayed to the criminal section that Dillon had decided the office would not conduct a separate DOJ investigation of the ICE officer and whether he improperly used deadly force. Dhillon’s decision not to have her criminal section investigate the ICE officer’s shooting of Good was first reported by CBS News. In the days after the ICE officer shot Good, Dhillon retweeted a post on X in which a prosecutor warned people not to ram ICE officers because they will use deadly force. While federal officials claim Good was driving into the officer, video evidence shows her wheels were turned away from him when the officer opened fire and killed her. The department’s Civil Rights Division was created in the wake of the 1957 Civil Rights Act to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans. The division had about 380 attorneys when Trump took office in January but quickly saw a large exodus after Dhillon took the helm, as she insisted the division would align itself with the president’s priorities. She said in April that she welcomed the departures of civil rights lawyers. “I think that’s fine,” Dhillon said. “We don’t want people in the federal government who feel like it’s their pet project to go persecute police department based on statistical evidence or persecute people praying outside abortion facilities instead of doing violence.” “The job here is to enforce the federal civil rights laws — not woke ideology.”
Carol Leonnig is a senior investigative reporter with MS NOW.
Ken Dilanian is the justice and intelligence correspondent for MS NOW. Recommended
