'Turning point': Blue state may have just created playbook to hold Trump's ICE accountable

A Minnesota prosecutor's decision to criminally charge a federal immigration agent over a road rage incident could mark the first crack in the Trump administration's wall of ICE accountability — and potentially open the floodgates for states across the country to follow suit, Slate's Shirin Ali wrote Friday.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced what she believes are the first felony charges of their kind in the nation against a sitting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. faces two counts of second-degree assault after pointing his weapon at two Minneapolis residents sitting in their car during a traffic dispute in February. He was operating an unmarked vehicle, wearing street clothes and showed no identification.

Morgan admitted to pulling the gun during a voluntary interview with state troopers, claiming he feared for his safety after the vehicle swerved in front of him. The two occupants of the targeted vehicle had no idea they were dealing with a federal agent and immediately called 911.

Legal experts said the case cuts to the heart of a question the Trump administration has tried to keep off the table — whether federal immigration agents can hide behind immunity claims when their conduct has nothing to do with their official duties.

“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,” Harrison Stark, senior counsel at the University of Wisconsin Law School's State Democracy Research Initiative, told Ali.

The blue state could hand every other state a blueprint to hold ICE accountable, wrote Ali.

"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," Ali concluded.

Ali warned it could prove a "true turning point."