Chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller told CNN that it's "highly unusual" for the federal government to ice out state investigators doing their own probe into a crime.
In Minneapolis this week, ICE agents shot and killed a woman who was partially blocking a one-way street near an ICE raid. Minnesota officials told the media that, at first, the feds were working with the the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) but abruptly stopped sharing information.
"The investigation would now be led solely by the FBI, and the BCA would no longer have access to the case materials, scene evidence or investigative interviews necessary to complete a thorough and independent investigation," the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said in a statement.
The BCA was established in 1927 and helps aid the Department of Public Safety in a broad range of probes that includes use-of-force and conflict investigations, The Minnesota Star Tribune wrote in 2021.
The BCA "has reluctantly withdrawn from the investigation," Evans wrote.
Miller, who was previously the Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism of the New York Police Department (NYPD), explained that in his experience if a federal agent was involved in a shooting they would also be interviewed by the district attorney, who would assist them with the crime scene. It's common practice across the country that a district attorney, the local prosecutor, is allowed to look at the evidence and decide whether to participate in that investigation or decline prosecution."
"This isn't normal," Miller went on. "What it signals is a breach of trust between state authorities, the force investigation unit of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. This is a special unit. This is what they do. They investigate police-involved shootings."
He said that it begs the question of when the federal government finds this officer did nothing wrong and clears him. "What level of trust will there be on the part of the people of Minneapolis or Minnesota in the independence and judgment of that investigation?" he asked.
In several statements on Wednesday and Thursday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem absolved the ICE officer who shot the woman from any culpability. Vice President JD Vance announced in a press conference Thursday that DHS is in charge of the investigation.
"I think that people are scrambling to take positions here," Miller assessed. "And the idea of the president saying this was within policy. The Secretary of Homeland Security saying he acted according to his training and legally. The vice president, saying saying that he enjoys immunity, and, you know, did what he had to do. Seeing members of Congress, who are obviously experiencing increasing pressure, as you know, the midterms look ahead and so on, say that they think it actually does need to be looked into is another another vein of that fracture."