ICE Prosecutors Shocked—Shocked!—to Find Lack of Accountability
Roughly half a dozen prosecutors and several supervisors have reportedly resigned from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, citing a lack of support in prosecuting a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer who shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis. The Independent’s report details an agency more concerned with optics than accountability. Apparently, prosecuting federal
agents for killing civilians is just too much 'turmoil' for the very department sworn to protect civil rights. (How… inconvenient for their brand.) This isn't an isolated incident; it's a feature, not a bug, of an entrenched system. The Washington Post reported in 2020 that federal prosecutors rarely charge officers in fatal shootings, citing an 'exceptionally high legal bar' for federal charges.
It raises the obvious question: if the Justice Department's own Civil Rights Division can't get justice for a civilian killed by a federal officer, what exactly is the division for? Protecting the 'right' of federal agents to face no consequences, it seems.