This week saw the first fatal ICE shooting since Minnesota. In Houston, an ICE officer shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.

It’s been six months since the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and the federal government hasn’t properly investigated either one. And it has stood in the way of state agents trying to find out what happened—failing, for example, to give state investigators access to Good’s car. The face of this federal response is Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general who is facing a Senate confirmation hearing next week. 

For a system that assumes the federal government keeps state and local law enforcement from committing civil-rights abuses, what happens when the roles are reversed? How far can states such as Minnesota go? 

The Atlantic’s staff writer Quinta Jurecic discusses the Good and Pretti investigations, how Blanche has warped the Justice Department, and how state prosecutors and federal judges are pushing back. 

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