Democrats Decry Bondi’s ‘Blackmail’ Letter to Tim Walz Following CBP Shooting

Democrats on Sunday roundly denounced U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, calling the demands laid out by the Trump administration following a fatal shooting by a Border Patrol agent “blackmail, pure and simple.”

Bondi’s letter suggests that Walz could alleviate the chaos surrounding a massive deployment of federal immigration officers by meeting a few of the Trump administration’s demands, including the sharing of Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program data with the federal government, giving the Department of Justice access to the state’s voter rolls and repealing its sanctuary policies.

A number of prominent Democrats have interpreted Bondi’s letter to mean that the Trump administration would draw down the federal presence in Minnesota if the state meets the three conditions outlined in the letter, which does not make any explicit promises. It’s unclear whether Bondi has the power to call off the federal officers currently in the state, which fall under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security.

In a fiery interview on MSNOW Sunday morning, Sen. Chris Van Hollen called the letter “blackmail” and suggested that the surge of federal manpower to Minnesota was a political maneuver.

“What they’re saying is: ‘We’ll stop these lawless activities, we’ll stop these killings of American citizens if you hand over your voter registration data,’” Van Hollen added. “It just shows that the Trump administration is trying to essentially use federal government power to impose its will on the people of Minneapolis for purely political reasons.”

The Department of Justice did not immediately return a request for comment from NOTUS about what action it would take if the demands were met.

Sen. Chris Murphy echoed the sentiment in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union,” telling host Dana Bash that he found the letter “alarming.”

“In this letter Bondi says, ‘Well, we’ll get the ICE officers out of Minneapolis if you give us control of your voter lists,’” Murphy said. “This letter seems pretty definitive proof that they are trying to trade the presence of ICE and the murder and mayhem that they are causing for control of Minnesota’s elections. That’s just wild.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that Bondi was trying “extort voter files.” Sen. Ruben Gallego called it a “shakedown.”

“They’re using fear to get their hands on voter information. In America, you don’t get to strong-arm your way into our elections,” he wrote on X.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Sunday on CBS that he had not read Bondi’s letter and refused to answer questions about it.

As part of the administration’s demands, Bondi also wants all detention facilities in Minnesota to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and let federal agents interview detainees in custody to determine their immigration status.

The letter comes on the heels of a shocking incident Saturday in which a federal agent shot and killed a 37-year-old U.S. citizen in Minneapolis. The Department of Homeland Security claimed that the man approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a handgun, and the agent “fired defensive shots” in return.

Video footage, however, shows officers approaching the man and attempting to pin him to the ground before firing shots.

Following the shooting, Bondi accused Walz of refusing to enforce the law and not supporting federal immigration officers. She said that a recent anti-ICE protest at a Twin Cities-area church was “perhaps the most disappointing” in a string of recent incidents involving local protesters.

“Whether state and local politicians stand in the way or not, we will work every day to protect Americans and make Minnesota Safe Again,” Bondi wrote in the letter.