Minnesota didn’t just introduce a bill — they snapped. They finally looked at the federal government’s behavior, at ICE’s long, greasy trail of civil rights violations, at the FBI’s stonewalling in the Alex Pretti execution, and said: enough. If Washington is going to act like a rogue empire with badges, then the people they terrorize should at least have the right to sue them like the rest of us when we break the law. And make no mistake, this bill didn’t come out of nowhere. It came out of the FBI slamming the door in Minnesota’s face and refusing to hand over a single shred of evidence in the Pretti case, a refusal so brazen that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension had to publicly announce that the FBI “will not provide access to any information or evidence” related to the killing. That’s not cooperation. That’s not oversight. That’s not law enforcement. That’s the federal government telling a state to sit down, shut up, and stop asking questions about why one of their citizens ended up dead on the pavement with ten bullets in him.
And the thing is, Pretti’s execution may have been the catalyst, but it’s not the whole story. Minnesota lawmakers didn’t wake up one morning and decide to pick a fight with ICE because of one shooting. They’ve been watching the pattern — the whole ugly, unconstitutional, authoritarian pattern — and they finally realized that if they don’t act, no one will. Because ICE isn’t just killing people. They’re stopping people on the street and demanding papers because they don’t look “American” enough. They’re using administrative warrants — pieces of paper they literally write themselves — to invade homes instead of getting judicial warrants, which the Constitution requires. They’re knocking phones out of people’s hands when those people are legally recording them, which is a First Amendment right. They’re telling citizens they’re now on a “domestic terrorist watch list” for daring to film federal agents in public. They’re acting like the Constitution is optional, like civil rights are negotiable, like oversight is a suggestion, and like the people they target should be grateful they weren’t shot.
So Minnesota lawmakers — led by Rep. Sandra Feist and Sen. Clare Oumou Verbeten — introduced a bill that would allow U.S. citizens to sue ICE for civil rights violations. And honestly, the fact that this is considered bold tells you everything about how far we’ve fallen. The bill would let people seek damages when ICE violates their constitutional rights, which is supposed to be the bare minimum in a functioning democracy. But because ICE has spent years operating like a federalized street gang with laminated IDs, the bare minimum now looks like a revolutionary act. The bill’s chances of passing are real — Minnesota’s DFL‑controlled legislature has already signaled support for accountability measures after the Pretti killing, and public outrage is not exactly in short supply. When the FBI refuses to share evidence with state investigators, when the federal government behaves like a brick wall with guns, when families can’t even get answers about why their loved one is dead, lawmakers start to realize that maybe, just maybe, the system is broken.
And the FBI’s refusal to share evidence isn’t some bureaucratic hiccup. It’s a five‑alarm, neon‑lit, screaming siren that something is deeply wrong. The BCA said they were “formally notified” that the FBI would not provide any investigative materials. Not some. Not limited access. Not redacted files. None. Zero. Zilch. They might as well have sent a fruit basket with a note that said “good luck with your little state investigation, peasants.” This is unprecedented, according to Minnesota officials, and unprecedented is the polite way of saying “this is the kind of shit that happens in countries where journalists disappear.”
And while the Pretti case is the spark, the tinder has been piling up for years. ICE has been caught lying about shootings. ICE has been caught raiding homes with fake warrants. ICE has been caught detaining U.S. citizens because they “looked foreign.” ICE has been caught telling people they can’t record them, which is a lie so bold it should be printed on a commemorative coin. ICE has been caught threatening people with watchlists like they’re handing out curses in a fantasy novel. And every time they get caught, they shrug, deny, or hide behind federal immunity. Minnesota’s bill is the first real attempt to crack that shield.
The truth is, this bill shouldn’t be necessary. The Constitution should be enough. Oversight should be enough. Accountability should be enough. But when the FBI refuses to hand over evidence in a police killing, when ICE treats civil rights like optional side quests, when federal agencies behave like they’re above the law, states have to step in. Minnesota is doing what the federal government refuses to do: protect its residents from the people who claim to protect them.
Unfugginbelievable doesn’t even begin to cover it. We are watching the federal government behave like a black‑box enforcement machine, and the only reason we know anything at all is because Minnesota officials are willing to say out loud what the feds hope no one notices. This bill is a line in the sand. It’s a warning. It’s a declaration that if the federal government won’t stop violating civil rights, then the states will drag them into court and make them answer for it. And if ICE doesn’t like it, maybe they should try following the Constitution for once instead of treating it like a suggestion printed on the back of a cereal box.
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