{"id":16990,"date":"2026-06-22T17:32:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T17:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=16990"},"modified":"2026-06-22T17:32:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T17:32:17","slug":"federal-judge-halts-trump-administration-effort-to-subpoena-walz-in-immigration-enforcement-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=16990","title":{"rendered":"Federal judge halts Trump administration effort to subpoena Walz in immigration enforcement probe"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, ERIC TUCKER and SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press<\/strong><\/p>\n

A federal judge has blocked an\u00a0attempt by the Trump administration\u00a0to subpoena Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and other state officials, calling it an effort to \u201charass and retaliate against them.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Top Justice Department officials can remain part of prosecution of press gala attack, judge rules<\/a><\/p>\n

In a ruling unsealed Monday, U.S. District Judge Patrick Schlitz found the \u201cdominant purpose\u201d of the subpoenas was to \u201ccoerce Minnesota officials into assisting the federal government with enforcing civil immigration law and to harass and retaliate against them for failing to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

The subpoenas seeking records were served in January as part of an investigation into whether Walz and other officials obstructed or impeded law enforcement during a sweeping immigration operation in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. They were sent to the offices of Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her and officials in Ramsey and Hennepin counties.<\/p>\n

The ruling is the\u00a0latest rebuke\u00a0by the federal judiciary of Justice Department efforts to aggressively implement the Trump administration agenda in courts and target the president\u2019s political adversaries through subpoenas and similar demands.<\/p>\n

The judge ruled that there appeared to be \u201cextremely weak to nonexistent\u201d connections between the information sought in the subpoenas and any possible criminal violation. The subpoenas seek materials \u201cthat largely if not entirely relate to constitutionally protected conduct,\u201d the judge wrote, noting that Minnesota has the legal right not to devote its resources to enforcing federal immigration law.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department \u201cis not conducting a criminal investigation,\u201d the judge wrote, \u201cbut is instead using the grand jury process for other (unlawful) purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The evidence that the subpoenas were issued for unlawful reasons is overwhelming, the judge said, arguing that the Justice Department \u201chas struggled \u2014 without success \u2014 to identify a single plausible investigatory justification\u201d for them.<\/p>

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