WASHINGTON — A candidate for the job hasn’t been picked, but the Justice Department has laid the groundwork for the next U.S. attorney in Minnesota, who will be tasked with taking part in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Minnesota’s Republican members of Congress sent Trump a letter last week recommending three candidates for U.S. attorney, a post recently vacated by Biden appointee Andrew Luger.
The potential nominees are veteran lawyers Ronald Schutz, Daniel Rosen and Erica MacDonald, who served as U.S. attorney during Trump’s first term. Appointed by Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, the U.S. attorney would oversee a staff of 70 lawyers and other administrative personnel.
And that U.S. attorney, the top federal prosecutor in the state, would be expected to advance Trump’s agenda in the state and help immigration officials in their pursuit of undocumented migrants.
According to a memo from acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, Minnesota’s U.S. attorney would join those in other states in participating in a “newly established Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group.” That group would investigate and prosecute state and local officials who do not help federal authorities in their attempts to deport migrants.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Offices and litigating components of the Department of Justice shall investigate incidents involving such misconduct for potential prosecution…” the memo said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lacks the resources and manpower to carry out the scale of arrests and deportations Trump has promised, making cooperation from local officials critical for the success of their mission.
Prosecution of local officials who don’t cooperate has already begun. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating an upstate New York sheriff’s office for releasing an undocumented immigrant from custody in defiance of a federal arrest warrant because the immigrant had completed his sentence for third-degree assault.
Bove’s memo said state and local officials are required to aid federal authorities in immigration enforcement efforts under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which maintains that federal law takes precedence over state law.
However, the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution limits the federal government’s power to compel states to enforce immigration law.
Jason Marisam, a constitutional law professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, said different administration’s focus on different crimes. “That happens all the time,” Marisam said.
For instance, Marisam said Luger focused on illegal guns and gun-related violations of federal law for a good part of his tenure.
But Marisam also said “there are constitutional limits on how much the federal government can pressure state and local authorities.”
Mark Osler, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas and a former federal prosecutor, said investigating and prosecuting local officials could hamper the federal government’s crimefighting efforts.
“The danger there is is that criminal justice works best when there is cooperation between state, federal and local officials and this could cause some tension,” Osler said.
Trump has to replace most of the 93 U.S. attorneys from the Biden administration, a changeover that could take months.
But the Trump administration seems to want to replace some in key posts quickly. Still, a decision on nominations for the next U.S. attorney in Minnesota could take several weeks — or longer.
Trump could select anyone he chooses for the job, but here are the candidates recommended to the president by Reps. Tom Emmer, R-6th District; Pete Stauber, R-8th District; Michelle Fischbach, R-7th District and Brad Finstad, R-1st District:
—Ronald Schutz, a partner at Robins Kaplan law firm and graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School
Schutz was the former chair and current board member of the Center of the American Experiment, a Minnetonka-based conservative think tank.
He also served as chairman of the board of former Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s presidential campaign and is on several “top lawyer” lists, including the National Law Journal’s “Top 10 Winning Litigators in the United States.”
Schutz told MinnPost he contacted Emmer’s office the day after Trump was elected to express interest in the U.S. attorney’s job.
While he’s known for winning verdicts in intellectual property cases, Schutz has worked as a prosecutor before as a JAG (Judge Advocate General) in the Army. In one case, he secured a 50-year prison sentence for a soldier convicted of rape.
While Schutz is hopeful he’ll be the nominee, he said Trump could very well ignore the Minnesota lawmakers’ recommendations. “The White House is not constrained to nominate any of the three of us,” he said.
—Dan Rosen is another University of Minnesota Law School graduate who has 30 years of experience as a commercial litigator and is now in solo practice in Minneapolis.
Confirmed twice by a supermajority of the state Legislature to the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board, Rosen is also a Navy veteran and, according to the letter the GOP lawmakers sent Trump, a strong advocate for “charitable and community issues, especially matters of particular interest to the American Jewish community.”
“I’m grateful for the congressional delegation’s confidence in me and I’m highly motivated to act on the president’s agenda as U.S. attorney,” Rosen told the MinnPost.
—Erica MacDonald, a partner at the Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath law firm in Minneapolis, held the position of Minnesota’s U.S. attorney from 2018 to 2021.
Earlier in her career, when she served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Minnesota, she worked to prosecute crimes against women and children on the Red Lake Indian Reservation and prosecuted some of Minnesota’s first human trafficking cases. She has also served as a judge in the First Judicial District of Minnesota.
Having been in the job before, and having worked with much of the U.S. attorney office staff, MacDonald “is the one who will know the office the best,” Osler said.
It’s sheriff v policeman for U.S. marshal
In their letter to Trump, Minnesota’s Republican lawmakers also recommended two candidates for U.S. marshal in the state, a position also expected to be involved in carrying out Trump’s immigration policy.
One candidate is James Stuart, executive director of the Minnesota Sheriff’s Association. A former Marine, Stuart served three terms at the Anoka County Sheriff’s office.
Robert Kroll, a veteran police officer and former president of the Police Officer’s Federation of Minneapolis, was also recommended for the job.
Kroll became embroiled in controversy for defending the four officers who were accused and eventually convicted of killing George Floyd.
He also criticized the city’s response to the unrest that followed, demanding the deployment of more Minnesota National Guard troops to quash the violence.
As part of a settlement of two lawsuits filed because of his conduct, Kroll agreed to a ban from serving as a law enforcement officer in three of the state’s most populous counties (Hennepin, Ramsey and Anoka) for 10 years.
Ana Radelat is MinnPost’s Washington, D.C. correspondent. You can reach her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter at @radelat.
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