DOJ opens criminal investigation into Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey over their anti-ICE statements

On Friday, January 16, 2026, news broke that federal prosecutors in the U.S. Department of Justice had opened a criminal investigation into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey — and, sources said, other Minnesota officials — over an alleged conspiracy to impede federal immigration agents during Operation Metro Surge, the roughly 3,000-agent ICE and Border Patrol deployment to the Twin Cities. Multiple sources told CBS News the inquiry is built on 18 U.S.C. Section 372, a Reconstruction-era statute that makes it a crime for two or more people to conspire to prevent federal officers from carrying out their duties "by force, intimidation, or threats." A U.S. official said the probe stems from the officials' public statements criticizing the deployment, which had intensified after an ICE agent shot and killed Minnesota resident Renee Good on January 7.

The investigation arrived alongside open hostility from the Justice Department's senior leadership. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — who visited Minneapolis with FBI Director Kash Patel — had posted that he was "focused on stopping" Walz and Frey "by whatever means necessary," adding, "This is not a threat. It's a promise." Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote that "No one is above the law," and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused the two Democrats of encouraging assault against federal officers. Walz called the move a "dangerous, authoritarian tactic," noting that "the only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her," and Frey called it "an obvious attempt to intimidate me for standing up for Minneapolis." The following week, the department served subpoenas on Walz, Frey, Attorney General Keith Ellison, the office of St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, and two counties.

The Standing records this as a weaponization of the Justice Department and a politicized investigation aimed at punishing and chilling critics of the administration. As CBS News noted, public criticism of federal policy has historically been treated as protected speech absent direct coordination to obstruct officers; here the government reached for a rarely-used conspiracy statute against elected officials for their words. Because no charges have been filed, the conduct is recorded as an investigation and targeting act rather than a prosecution of protected speech. It is part of the Operation Metro Surge episode and a broader 2026 pattern of DOJ investigations of administration critics.