Ex-Capitol riot prosecutors draft strategy for Congress to probe ICE conduct

A fractional twelve erstwhile U.S. Capitol insurrection prosecutors, who helped pb the largest transgression prosecution successful American history, person crafted a strategy memo to punctual Congress to analyse potential misconduct by national migration agents.   

The four-page memo, which was obtained by CBS News connected Sunday, details a bid of investigative recommendations for Congressional committees to probe allegations of excessive unit and different violations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents successful Minneapolis. The radical of prosecutors recommends Congressional investigators usage immoderate of the aforesaid tools and techniques employed by the Justice Department betwixt 2021 and 2025 successful investigating the Capitol siege, during which much than 140 constabulary officers were injured and much than 1,500 defendants were arrested.

The recommendations were shared with ranking members of the House Homeland Security Committee, the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight Committee, successful the aftermath of the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti successful Minneapolis. The Justice Department declined to unfastened an probe of the cause who changeable and killed Good, portion they were criticized for equivocating astir an probe into Pretti's killing.

The erstwhile prosecutors, each of whom departed the Justice Department successful 2025 aft President Trump's inauguration, urge Congress prosecute a radical of erstwhile FBI and Homeland Security agents who are "familiar with usage of force" policies.  

"You payment from the information that galore vocation agents and prosecutors person already near the FBI and Department of Justice, oregon program to bash so; galore volition beryllium consenting to articulation this effort," the memo said. "Once you've organized the team, disagreement your probe into wide categories of misconduct, including potentially: offenses against detained migrants, offenses against non-detained migrants, offenses against protesters and observers, and flaunting of tribunal orders."

The prosecutors' memo comes amid concerns that the Trump medication is not vigorously pursuing leads successful the Minneapolis killings and different related allegations of misconduct involving national migration enforcement personnel.

"The Department of Justice has nary evident involvement successful investigating CBP and ICE crimes, truthful it volition autumn to Congress to bash a comprehensive, nationalist probe into these agencies' misconduct," Brendan Ballou, 1 of the six erstwhile prosecutors who issued the memo, told CBS News. "By preserving grounds now, Congress tin tee up prosecutions successful the future, which successful crook volition discourage CBP and ICE misconduct successful the present."

The radical of erstwhile January 6 prosecutors besides recommended that Congress solicit tips, videos and photos of imaginable ICE and Customs and Border Protection misconduct from the public. In their memo, the prosecutors said the Minneapolis killings and different episodes of alleged misconduct person triggered "public revulsion" that is parallel to the choler and outrage aft the Capitol Insurrection.

The memo besides recommends Congress should spouse with "cooperative section and authorities instrumentality enforcement to alteration sharing of information" and hunt the societal media profiles of the known officers involved, arsenic good arsenic the victims themselves, to find their culpability.

The erstwhile prosecutors said Congress should besides "send preservation requests to Google and different exertion companies for 'geofence' information connected imaginable adjacent witnesses."  

The historical January 6 prosecutions were fueled by hundreds of tips from the public, including from volunteers who scoured the galore images and videos of the riotous onslaught connected the Capitol to find the imaginable identities of the radical involved.     

The Justice Department secured a 100% condemnation complaint successful assemblage trials against the Capitol attackers.

Mr. Trump reversed the successes of the Justice Department by granting clemency to much than 1,500 of his supporters who were convicted oregon charged successful narration to the Capitol riot. In his pardon, the president said the prosecutions were "a sedate nationalist injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American radical implicit the past 4 years."