H/t to Liz Oyer.
From CBS:
Prosecutors in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division were told they will not play a role in the ongoing investigation into a fatal shooting of a woman in Minneapolis by a federal immigration officer, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Leadership in the Civil Rights Division, overseen by Harmeet Dhillon, informed staff in the division's criminal section that there would not be an investigation, two sources said. Normally, after a high-profile incident involving a fatal shooting by an officer, attorneys from the criminal section fly out to the scene. Multiple career prosecutors offered to do so in this case, but they were told not to do so, one of the sources added.
While investigations into the excessive use of force can be pursued solely by a U.S. Attorney's office without direct involvement from the Civil Rights Division, it is customary for the division's federal prosecutors to take the lead on high-profile investigations like the one in Minnesota.
From the Civil Rights Division website:
Congress created the Civil Rights Division in 1957 to uphold the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans, particularly some of the most vulnerable members of our society. The Division enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, disability, religion, familial status, military status and national origin.
Except, apparently, Renee Good - who was killed by an ICE agent a few days ago.
From another section of that same website, we learn that the Civil Rights Division, under 18 U.S.C. § 242 is tasked to investigate "Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law" specifically:
This provision makes it a crime for someone acting under color of law to willfully deprive a person of a right or privilege protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States. It is not necessary that the offense be motivated by racial bias or by any other animus.
Defendants act under color of law when they wield power vested by a government entity. Those prosecuted under the statute typically include police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and prison guards. However other government actors, such as judges, district attorneys, other public officials, and public school employees can also act under color of law and can be prosecuted under this statute.
This apparently doesn't apply to Renee Good, who was killed by one of Trump's ICE agents a few days ago.
Interesting part of the story, Harmeet Dhillon is in fact an immigrant herself - born in India and grew up in The Bronx and then North Carolina and became a US citizen when she was 12. She's the one who, I suppose, decided against using the Civil Rights Division to investigate an ICE agent who killed a US citizen.
Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick also voted to confirm Dhillon as head of that division.
Senator McCormick, are you OK with the Civil Rights Division not investigating the killing of Renee Good?
