When two protesters were shot and killed by Department of Homeland Security immigration agents in Minneapolis in January, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche quickly shifted blame to local political leaders. In an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," Blanche claimed that the violence was a direct result of Minneapolis officials refusing to cooperate with federal agents carrying out the administration's aggressive deportation campaign. "We deport ten times the number of illegal aliens out of Texas," Blanche said. "Why do we hear nothing out of Texas about any of the same problems we have in Minneapolis?"
Six months later, that argument unraveled. In Houston, ICE agents shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop while he was driving to work. The agency claimed Salgado had "weaponized" his vehicle, but no body cameras were worn by the agents, and DHS has a documented history of falsely smearing victims. Less than a week after that, Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a young father, was killed in Biddeford, Maine, during another ICE traffic stop. Again, Guerrero was not a target of removal. Again, no body cameras. And again, an eyewitness contradicted the initial official account.
Blanche has not only deflected blame for these deaths but has also insisted that local authorities should have no role in investigating them. During his July 15 confirmation hearing, he told Senator Alex Padilla that involving state and local officials was unnecessary to ensure an independent investigation. Padilla responded by noting that six months after the Minneapolis killings, there has been "no justice."
The pattern extends beyond these three cases. After Renee Good was killed in Minneapolis, Blanche argued that the FBI should not investigate. The Trump administration smeared Good—a poet, legal observer, and mother—as a "domestic terrorist," and Trump himself posted that she had "violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE officer." For months, the administration blocked Minnesota officials from accessing evidence, only beginning to share it after a lawsuit.
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has pointed to pressure on ICE officers to hit "ridiculous numbers" of arrests, leading to rushed hiring and inadequate training that has resulted in innocent people being hurt and killed. The New York Times reported that ICE doubled its daily arrest tally in late June after White House pressure. When a temporary suspension of traffic stops was announced after the Texas and Maine killings, MAGA activist Mike Davis called Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin "weak" and "stupid." Trump quickly reversed the policy, declaring that ICE agents "are doing a GREAT job."
The broader toll is staggering: 32 people died in ICE custody last year, the highest number in decades. Hundreds more have been injured by aggressive crowd-control weapons used by DHS tactical units, according to a report from Physicians for Human Rights and UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center. Blanche's role at the Justice Department raises questions about whether he will prioritize Trump's directives over impartial justice. At his confirmation hearing, he caught himself saying, "I'm his lawyer... was his lawyer, and now I'm the deputy attorney general."
The American people deserve an attorney general committed to their safety and constitutional rights, not one who acts as a corrupt president's personal fixer. Senators from both parties should reject Blanche's nomination.
