Bondi Offers Trump ICE Pullback From Minnesota in Exchange for Voter Database Access

US Attorney General Pam Bondi has offered to withdraw federal immigration enforcement agents from Minnesota in exchange for sweeping concessions from the state, including access to its voter database and welfare programme records. The controversial proposal came hours after a Border Patrol agent fatally shot 37-year-old Alex Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse, during protests against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.

In a three-page letter obtained by CBS News, Bondi laid out three specific demands to Governor Tim Walz, framing them as necessary steps to 'restore the rule of law' and potentially end Operation Metro Surge, which has deployed approximately 3,000 federal agents to the Twin Cities since December 2025.

Federal Demands Target Election and Welfare Systems

The attorney general's letter demands that Minnesota provide the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division with complete access to the state's voter registration database to 'confirm that Minnesota's voter registration practices comply with federal law'. The request specifically targets Minnesota's same-day voter registration and vouching system, which allows voters to register on Election Day and for registered voters to vouch for others' residency.

Bondi also demanded that Minnesota share 'all records from Minnesota's Medicaid and Food and Nutrition Service programmes, including Supplemental Nutrition Programme data with the federal government'. She claimed this would enable federal authorities to investigate fraud more effectively. The third demand calls for Minnesota to repeal sanctuary policies that limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, requiring all state corrections facilities to cooperate with ICE, honour immigration detainers, and permit ICE agents to interview detainees about their immigration status.

Timing Sparks Outrage Following Fatal Shooting

The letter's timing has intensified criticism of the Trump administration's approach to immigration enforcement. Pretti was shot multiple times around 09:00 on Saturday near the intersection of 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue in south Minneapolis while participating in protests against federal immigration operations. Verified videos and witness accounts contradict the Department of Homeland Security's account of the incident, with footage showing Pretti holding a mobile phone in his right hand with his left hand raised as federal agents confronted him.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara told CBS News' Face the Nation that Pretti was a legal gun owner with a valid permit to carry and had no criminal record beyond traffic tickets. 'The Minneapolis Police Department went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds and hundreds of violent offenders, and we didn't shoot anyone,' O'Hara said.

State Officials Reject Federal Authority Claims

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon's office had already rejected a similar DOJ request earlier in the week. In a 20 January response letter, Deputy Secretary of State Justin Erickson stated that the DOJ's Civil Rights Division 'failed to identify any legal authority allowing it to obtain the data, or any evidence that Minnesota's long-standing practices violate federal law'.

Governor Walz's office responded to Bondi's letter by urging the Trump administration to 'engage in a serious conversation about ending this federal occupation'. In a statement issued on Sunday, his office sharply criticised the conduct of federal immigration agents, including Saturday's fatal shooting of Pretti and the earlier shooting that killed Renee Good on 7 January. 'This is not common sense, lawful immigration enforcement. That is not what this occupation is about. And it's not what the attorney general's letter is about,' the statement read.

Federal Pressure on States Intensifies

The DOJ has filed lawsuits demanding unredacted voter registration databases from 23 states and Washington, DC, including Minnesota. Federal judges have recently begun dismissing these lawsuits, with a California federal judge ruling that the department has stretched civil rights laws beyond their intended purpose and warned that the requests threatened voter participation.

Minnesota's vouching system, which Bondi's letter specifically targets, has existed in some form for over 50 years. State data shows the vouching process was used for less than 0.6 per cent of voters in the 2024 general election, and 71 per cent of those people were already registered but had yet to update their address. The Trump administration has pressed for greater access to Minnesota jails and prisons for weeks, suggesting it may roll back immigration operations in the state if granted more authority to pursue people accused of being in the US illegally.

What This Means for Federal-State Relations

Bondi's letter represents an escalation in the Trump administration's use of immigration enforcement as leverage to obtain state-level election and welfare data. Legal experts have questioned whether the federal government has authority to condition immigration enforcement operations on states providing voter registration data. Minnesota officials maintain that state and federal privacy protections prevent them from sharing detailed voter information without clear legal justification. The controversy unfolds as Minnesota faces heightened scrutiny over a welfare fraud scandal, which the Trump administration has used to justify both increased immigration enforcement and demands for programme data.