Sign up for Executive Dysfunction, a weekly newsletter that surfaces under-the-radar stories about what Trump is doing to the law—and how the law is pushing back.

On Thursday, Minnesota state prosecutors announced a historic set of charges against a federal immigration agent. Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. has been charged with two felony counts of second-degree assault for pointing his gun at two Minnesota residents as they sat in their car back in February, right in the midst of the Trump administration’s brutal immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, dubbed Operation Metro Surge. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said she believes that this might be the first charge of its kind nationwide.

Morgan is a 35-year-old Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent from Maryland, and on the evening of Feb. 5 he was ending his shift, driving back to a Minnesota federal building that had become ICE’s de facto headquarters during Operation Metro Surge. As he drove in an unmarked SUV, Morgan encountered rush-hour traffic, which he decided to bypass by unlawfully driving on the highway’s shoulder. He eventually encountered a white Cadillac slowly attempting to merge into a single lane of traffic. The driver of the vehicle, unaware that the SUV riding the shoulder was a federal agent, partially blocked the shoulder to prevent the SUV from cutting off the Cadillac.

This is when things went south. The Cadillac quickly returned to its position within the legal traffic lane, but Morgan did not continue along the shoulder. Instead, he pulled his SUV alongside the vehicle, rolled down his window, and pointed a handgun directly at both the driver and front-seat passenger. The Cadillac passengers said Morgan was wearing a black T-shirt and was yelling something they could not hear. Terrified for their safety, they did not roll down their windows, instead immediately calling 911.

According to the criminal complaint against Morgan, the Cadillac passengers were completely unaware he was a federal agent—his SUV did not feature any markings indicating law enforcement, it had no sirens or lights, and Morgan was not wearing an identifiable uniform.

This case presented an opportunity for Minnesota prosecutors to finally hold ICE agents accountable, after state officials have failed to get the Trump administration to hand over evidence in the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. In that case, they’ve filed a lawsuit in hopes of forcing the federal government’s hand.

In Morgan’s case, though, local police had access to all of their own evidence, including 911 call logs, witness statements, cellphone footage, and surveillance-camera footage. And when the Minnesota State Patrol followed up with Morgan in a voluntary interview, he admitted that he had pulled a gun on the Cadillac passengers, though he claimed that the vehicle had swerved in front of him and he “feared for his safety.” He also alleged that he yelled “Police, stop!” at them. He made no claims that he was conducting a law-enforcement operation or responding to an emergency.

If Democrats Fold On Their ICE Demands It Will Be a Disaster

The Trump administration has consistently claimed that federal agents conducting immigration enforcement have immunity to perform their duties. And under the Constitution’s supremacy clause, federal law enforcement are in fact protected from prosecution so long as their actions are authorized by federal law and necessary and proper to fulfill their official duties. However, states can prosecute federal agents under their own laws if their actions do not meet those criteria. And that is what Moriarty and Hennepin County will test in this case, which, if it succeeds, could be a precursor to charges in other such incidents, including the killings of Pretti and Good.

Given the information we have so far about Morgan’s actions and his statement, a court may find it difficult to afford him immunity. “This kind of incident in which at least it’s alleged the person brandished their weapon kind of as part of a road-rage incident,” Harrison Stark, senior counsel and director of special projects at the University of Wisconsin Law School’s State Democracy Research Initiative, told me, “that seems to be on the outer boundary of whether an officer is on duty or off duty.”

Popular in News & Politics

Trump’s Corrupt Pardon Campaign Has Somehow Hit a New Low

The further you get from the heartland of an officer’s law-enforcement duties, the more difficult it is for that officer to prove that their actions were either permitted under federal law or necessary to achieve federal law, Stark explained—this is the test courts use to determine whether a federal officer is entitled to immunity. “It’s hard to argue that brandishing a firearm during a traffic misunderstanding is either allowed by federal law or necessary and proper for fulfilling ICE’s duties,” he said.

That Minnesota prosecutors chose to bring this case sends a message to the White House: Just because you are a federal agent, that does not grant you license or immunity to violate state criminal law. In Minnesota and across the country, ICE has harassed people by yanking them out of their cars, dragging them by their hair, and smashing into their vehicles, all actions that cast a massive shadow of doubt over how this behavior is necessary and reasonably helps fulfill their federal duties.

If Minnesota is successful in prosecuting Morgan, it would set a new precedent for holding federal law enforcement accountable and provide a road map for other states to follow. Plus, it could finally force Homeland Security to change its ways, no longer insisting that its agents remain masked and unidentifiable. If the Cadillac passengers had known they were dealing with a federal agent, the entire incident with Morgan could have very well been avoided.

Sign Up for Executive Dysfunction

Delivered every Thursday morning.

© Slate