JTA — The US federal government’s top prosecutor in Minnesota is a prominent Jewish attorney who once sat on the board of a Jewish group now protesting the Trump administration’s immigration offensive in the state.

Daniel Rosen, who was confirmed in October as the US attorney for Minnesota, is increasingly finding himself in the hot seat as his office faces a wave of internal protests and resignations over the Justice Department’s handling of investigations into the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Over the last weeks the department has also opened controversial investigations into several Democratic officials in the state, as well as journalists and protesters who disrupted a church service, leading to criticism that the department is weaponizing its resources against political opponents.

Late Friday, US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that the Justice Department would open a civil rights investigation into Pretti’s death at the hands of Homeland Security agents. Rosen’s office had at first taken a similar step after Good’s death, before shifting its investigative focus to Good’s family instead — prompting internal blowback from within his office.

His office is currently at half its full staffing level, according to the Washington Post, which reported that staffers confronted him personally about Justice’s response to the Good and Pretti killings.

Rosen’s personal attitudes about what’s happening in Minnesota are not known. But prior to the ICE surge, he told Jewish Insider that “prosecution of violent hate crimes is certainly at the highest level of priority for me.”

“Jewish history tells us that Jews fare poorly in societies that turn polarized, and where that polarization evolves into........

© The Times of Israel