While 86% of those arrested by the Trump-Noem ICE raids have no violent criminal record, violent drug dealers are being let go in Minneapolis where the U.S. Attorney’s Office has been overwhelmed with flimsy ICE cases and a massive staffing exodus.
In one case, President Donald Trump and Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem let a “worst of the worst” violent drug offender go free, without consequence. The case of Corey Allen McKay is ugly and his dismissal threatens public safety.
The 12-time convicted felon has a three-decade record of violent crime, including strangling a pregnant woman and firing a shotgun under the chin of another person. He was up on methamphetamine distribution charges that would have put him away for 25 years.
Instead, he roams the streets of Minnesota that have been made less safe by ICE, Trump and Noem.
McKay’s case was dropped when the prosecutor retired. And while the acting U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen first asked for a delay, the Trump administration dropped the case abruptly.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office is overwhelmed due to severe understaffing. Since the start of Trump’s second term, 31 of 64 lawyers have either retired or resigned in protest of Trump administration policies that not only rejected prosecution of Renee Good killed by ICE but also overburdened the office with hundreds of immigration cases, many brought without cause.
Now, former attorneys in the office say it’s only going to get worse.
“The result will be a diminished ability to target dangerous fraudsters, sexual predators, violent gangs and drug traffickers,” John Marti, a Minneapolis lawyer who was a longtime fraud prosecutor in the office until 2015, told the Star Tribune.
Court records show the U.S. Attorney’s Office is bringing in inexperienced prosecutors from other states, asking judges to delay hearings and making deals with defense lawyers for cases to go away. Defense lawyers are taking advantage of the crisis in the office by requesting speedy trials, making it more likely that dangerous criminals are being set free.
In another case, a multiple-offense felon’s illegal possession of a weapon case was dropped because the U.S. Attorney’s Office missed a deadline for a speedy trial.
This result is the exact opposite of the Trump vow to arrest the “worst of the worst” and deport them. We agree with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, who called Noem and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller incompetent in running the ICE operation.
There’s more evidence ICE is becoming the biggest law enforcement disaster in U.S. history. A whistleblower who resigned as an ICE trainer this month testified Monday to Congress that the training system was “deficient, defective and broken” as the Trump administration cut training hours nearly in half from 584 to 240.
“New cadets are graduating from the academy despite widespread concerns among training staff that even in the final days of training, the cadets cannot demonstrate a solid grasp of the tactics or the law required to perform their jobs,” said lawyer Ryan Schwank. Other documents revealed other courses had been cut, including one on use of force and ICE’s legal responsibilities. Exams on pistol-shooting judgment and how to determine a person’s legal right to be in the country also were dropped.
So, all in all, we have untrained ICE agents assaulting innocent citizens, U.S. attorneys who want no part of this system and a total breakdown of public safety wherever ICE is involved as convicted violent felons go free.
This should give Democrats plenty of fodder to call for complete reform of ICE and its tactics and continue to withhold DHS funding. ICE killers of Renee Good and Alex Pretti should be prosecuted.
Anything short of major reforms is not acceptable and the responsibility for letting the worst of the worst go free will be on Trump and Noem.