From: ahk@chinet.com   
      
   Six prosecutors quit after push to investigate ICE shooting victim's   
   widow   
   The New York Times   
   January 13, 2026   
      
   Six federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned Tuesday over the Justice   
   Department's push to investigate the widow of a woman killed by an   
   Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and the department's   
   reluctance to investigate the shooter, according to people with   
   knowledge of their decision.   
      
   Joseph H. Thompson, who was second in command at the U.S. attorney's   
   office and oversaw a sprawling fraud investigation that has roiled   
   Minnesota's political landscape, was among those who quit Tuesday,   
   according to three people with knowledge of the decision.   
      
   Thompson's resignation came after senior Justice Department officials   
   pressed for a criminal investigation into the actions of the widow of   
   Renee Nicole Good, the Minneapolis woman killed by an ICE agent on   
   Wednesday.   
      
   Thompson, 47, a career prosecutor, objected to that approach as well as   
   to the Justice Department's refusal to include state officials in   
   investigating whether the shooting itself was lawful, the people   
   familiar with his decision said.   
      
   The other senior career prosecutors who resigned include Harry Jacobs,   
   Melinda Williams and Thomas Calhoun-Lopez. Jacobs had been Thompson's   
   deputy overseeing the fraud investigation, which began in 2022.   
   Calhoun-Lopez was the chief of the violent and major crimes unit.   
      
   Thompson, Jacobs, Williams and Calhoun-Lopez declined to discuss the   
   reasons they resigned. The Justice Department did not immediately   
   respond to a request for comment.   
      
   The fraud cases, which involve schemes to defraud safety net programs   
   managed by state agencies, were the chief reason the Trump   
   administration launched an immigration crackdown in the state. The vast   
   majority of defendants charged in the cases are of Somali origin.   
      
   Tuesday's resignations followed tumultuous days at the U.S. attorney's   
   office in Minnesota as prosecutors struggled to manage the outrage over   
   Good's killing, which set off angry protests in Minnesota and across the   
   nation.   
      
   After Good was shot, the Justice Department decided to forgo a civil   
   rights investigation that would establish whether the ICE officer's use   
   of deadly force was justified. That decision led several career   
   prosecutors at the department's civil rights division in Washington to   
   resign in protest, MS Now reported Monday.   
      
   Instead, the Justice Department launched an investigation to examine   
   ties between Good and her wife, Becca, and several groups that have been   
   monitoring and protesting the conduct of immigration agents in recent   
   weeks. Shortly after Wednesday's fatal shooting, Homeland Security   
   Secretary Kristi Noem referred to Good as a "domestic terrorist."   
      
   Becca Good said in a statement last week that she and her wife had   
   "stopped to support our neighbors" when they got into a tense   
   confrontation with ICE agents that led to the shooting. "We had   
   whistles," Becca Good wrote. "They had guns."   
      
   Thompson strenuously objected to the decision not to investigate the   
   shooting as a civil rights matter and was outraged by the demand to   
   launch a criminal investigation into Becca Good, according to the people   
   familiar with the developments, who were not authorized to discuss them   
   publicly.   
      
   Thompson had originally set out to investigate the shooting in   
   partnership with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, a state   
   agency that reviews police shootings. Senior Justice Department   
   officials overruled the decision to cooperate with the state agency.   
      
   Drew Evans, the superintendent of the bureau, called Thompson's   
   departure a major setback for the effort to root out fraud in the state   
   and for public safety.   
      
   "We're losing a true public servant," Evans said. "We really need   
   professional prosecutors."   
      
   "The absence of a credible and comprehensive investigation into Ms.   
   Good's killing stands to undermine trust in our public safety agencies,"   
   Evans added.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)