Trump DOJ taps JAG lawyers as Minnesota US attorney’s office rapidly 'deteriorates'

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota is reportedly "deteriorating" and been left "seriously hobbled" in the fallout of Donald Trump's deportation surge, according to Politico, with usually military-focused JAG lawyers being called in to help handle cases.

ICE and CBP have been conducting a historically massive immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota's Twin Cities region for the last several weeks, with residents on the ground describing it as an ongoing campaign of harassment. The Trump administration is now facing severe political blowback following the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in shootings by federal agents.

Amid the ongoing legal fallout, Politico reported on Wednesday that the state's U.S. Attorney's office is dwindling in the face of resignations, which may continue in the near future. Typically staffed by around 50 criminal prosecutors, the office is currently down to 17, according to David Lillehaug, a former Clinton-era U.S. Attorney in the state who remains familiar with the office's inner workings, describing some of the most recent departures as "some of the crown jewels of the force."

Lillehaug described the staffing exodus at his old office as being similar to the one that has taken place at the Department of Justice, but on a much faster rate.

“Basically, what has been happening in slow motion with the Justice Department over a year hit the U.S. Attorney’s Office within a matter of days,” Lillehaug told Politico.

In an effort to "paper over" this growing problem, Politico reported that lawyers from other offices are being brought in to help handle the workload, including senior officials from the Office of the Eastern District of Michigan and JAG lawyers.

"The Justice Department has quietly tried to paper over these problems," Politico explained. "Lillehaug told me that senior officials from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Michigan have been brought in to effectively run the Minnesota office and that JAG lawyers who typically work in the military have been added to fill the gap, but this is not a long-term solution. A DOJ official said that the attorneys from the Eastern District of Michigan are assisting the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota and argued that this was a common occurrence when an office has an influx of cases or when specialized experience is needed. A person familiar with the situation added that JAGs are coming in to assist with charges against people assaulting, resisting or impeding federal officers."

Lillehaug lamented that this push to bolster the Minnesota office will see prosecutors pulled from "critical investigations and cases," including "white-collar or... narcotics or firearms" cases. Similar complaints have been made throughout the U.S. legal system, with the Trump administration prioritizing immigration cases above everything else.

"It’s going to be harder for federal and state law enforcement efforts to be cooperative,” Lillehaug added. “There will be a great deal of suspicion, especially with those who have not separated themselves from DHS and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

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