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DOJ officials quit after their division refused to probe Minnesota ICE shooting
At least four leaders of
the Civil Rights Division resigned because the section's head, Harmeet Dhillon,
decided not to investigate shooting of Renee Good.
Jan. 12, 2026,
11:05 PM EST
By Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian
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.”
A Justice Department official did not dispute the departures but said the
officials had requested early retirement prior to the Minnesota shooting,
adding that “any suggestion to the contrary is false.”
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.”
