He’s One of the Few People With the Power to Stand Up to ICE. Here’s What He’s Doing With It.

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All weekend long, the headlines out of Minneapolis have captured a moment that is by turns alarming and bizarre.

For instance, in the wake of the killing of Renee Good by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, protesters have been gathering at a federal building out by the airport in the bitter cold. Police have greeted them with chemical irritants.

Meanwhile, downtown, a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter tried to stage a protest in support of the Trump administration. But his small group was quickly overwhelmed—and pelted with water balloons. Locals blasted music from the movie Frozen and carried signs reading “ICE out of Minnesota.”

Around the time that Jan. 6–er was getting soaked, What Next host Mary Harris hopped on a call with Keith Ellison, the state’s attorney general. On a recent episode of What Next, the two discussed the challenging situation in Minneapolis, why it may take time to bring charges over Good’s killing, and how Ellison is standing up to President Donald Trump. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Mary Harris: I want to talk about what your office has been doing in the wake of the killing of Renee Good. You’re working with a local prosecutor to beseech the public to send you evidence in this case, and evidence more generally of how immigration enforcement is going down in the state of Minnesota?

Keith Ellison: Yeah, two different portals. One is through the Hennepin County attorney’s office for evidence concerning the death of Good, and the other one is just general information on what ICE is doing, what they’re up to. And they’re for two separate reasons. One is going to help us determine whether it would be appropriate to file charges against Jonathan Ross, and that decision has not been made yet. And I don’t want people to worry. It is the practice for criminal investigations to first investigate, then make a charging decision.

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It’s been days since Renee Good was killed. Many people have seen the video of her death through multiple angles, multiple different videos. Can you explain to me as a lawyer why the evidence I’ve seen is not sufficient to at least impanel a grand jury to consider charges against the officer who shot her?

The reason is very simple. Evidence is being gathered as quickly as possible. The final autopsy is not even done yet, and it might not be done in the normal course of events yet. But also, the local FBI, under the direction of the federal government, has been told to deny the state access to the car, which includes the windows that could show the trajectory of........

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