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The Justice Department said on Friday that it will conduct a civil rights investigation into the death of Alex Pretti, a Veterans Affairs nurse whose killing by federal agents in Minneapolis resulted in a national backlash against President Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.

The announcement by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche marked a major turnaround in the Trump administration’s approach to the case, which officials had initially said would be confined to a relatively narrow use-of-force inquiry by the Department of Homeland Security.

As demonstrators fill city blocks and wind their way through downtown Minneapolis, hundreds of others are watching from the city’s elevated, enclosed Skyway, which links a variety of buildings. Some are cheering and holding anti-ICE signs. The subway stations leading to New York City’s Foley Square, across from ICE headquarters, spilled out protesters in advance of a rally. The square was packed with more than a thousand protesters bundled against the 6 degree windchill.  To fit more people, volunteers shoveled away snow — as a PA system blasted Bob Marley’s “War.” “Donald Trump’s administration is killing innocent people, arresting journalists, and destroying America’s moral authority,” Gov. Gavin Newsom of California wrote on X on Friday. He condemned the arrest of Don Lemon by federal authorities in California as the act of a “wrecking-ball presidency.” In a separate post on his personal social media account, the governor, a Democrat, compared the arrests to Russian authoritarianism, writing “Putin would be proud.”In an initial appearance on Friday afternoon, a lawyer with the federal government asked that Georgia Fort and two others indicted in connection with the Cities Church protest remain in custody, on the grounds that the allegations against them “qualify as a crime of violence.” The government lawyer further requested that all three be barred from entering Cities Church or contacting any of its congregants. The presiding district court judge denied all of those requests. All three defendants were ordered released as their cases move forward.

Florida Universities have partnered with ICE, stoking anxiety among students.

An unusual agreement between many Florida universities and federal immigration officials has caused a new wave of anxiety among students, as immigration raids around the country have swept up thousands and ignited protests.

The agreements give university police departments, after training from ICE, authority to conduct immigration enforcement and access to databases to check immigration status. It remains unclear to what extent university police departments have worked with ICE in practice.

The demonstration in downtown Minneapolis is packing the central district and moving slowly, with chants of “Who’s streets? Our streets!” Attendees are filling outdoor stairs in front of the government center and every other available public space. Light rail trains are having trouble making their way. Several Minnesota news organizations, including the Minnesota Star Tribune, criticized the arrest of the independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort. “The First Amendment recognizes the press as holding a distinct and protected role in our democracy,” they said in a statement, which was also signed by Minnesota Public Radio, the Minnesota Reformer, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, and Sahan Journal. “In America, we do not arrest journalists for doing their jobs.”Bruce Springsteen has the words “Arrest the President” plastered to his guitar. He is hugging the musicians, and the crowd is stomping.

Bruce Springsteen took the stage at a fund-raiser for Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the iconic First Avenue music venue in downtown Minneapolis. Rumors of Springsteen’s appearance had filtered through the crowd, so energy was building before he arrived. Springsteen sang his recently released song, “Streets of Minneapolis,” to protest ICE.

A crowd gathered in front of the Minneapolis courthouse as three people arrested in connection with a protest at a St. Paul church earlier this month awaited their arraignments inside. Among those arrested is the independent journalist Georgia Fort, whose name was on some of the protesters’ signs.

Becca Bollingmo, an ex-wife of the man charged with assault for spraying vinegar on Representative Ilhan Omar, said her children have been harassed since their father’s arrest. She asked that they be left alone. “They are estranged from their father and do not agree with his beliefs or actions,” she said. The two children, who are 20 and 22, said in a statement that what Anthony Kazmierczak did was “racist and dangerous” and fueled “by the hateful rhetoric he regularly consumed.” Bollingmo divorced Kazmierczak in 2009. She asked that her children not be named.

The Justice Department has opened a civil rights inquiry into the killing of Alex Pretti.

The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the shooting of Alex Pretti, the intensive care nurse who was killed in Minneapolis last weekend by federal immigration agents, Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, said on Friday.

The announcement marked a significant reversal in the department’s approach to Mr. Pretti’s killing, suggesting that after a week of lacerating criticism, it had decided to handle the high-profile incident in a manner more in keeping with how investigators have traditionally dealt with fatal shootings by law-enforcement officers. But even as Mr. Blanche disclosed the existence of the inquiry, he sought to downplay it.

The Minnesota attorney general, Keith Ellison, criticized the arrests of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort in a statement, saying that “no one should be arrested merely for holding a camera, asking hard questions or telling the public what we have a right to know.”

Ellison, a Democrat, added that “arresting the storytellers does not change the story: this dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional surge must end.”

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Protesters rallying earlier this week outside the offices of Senator Amy Klobuchar in Minneapolis. Credit…Victor J. Blue for The New York Times

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