Minneapolis live updates: ICE arrest powers expanded, memo says

A network of former Department of Justice officials released a statement on Sunday criticizing the department's handling of two fatal shootings in Minneapolis that have occurred at the hands of federal agents.

"The Justice Department has abdicated its role in seeking accountability for these fatal shootings by refusing to investigate allegations of unlawful, excessive force by federal agents in Minneapolis," Stacey Young, executive director and founder of the Justice Connection, said in a statement.

Young said that under any previous administration, the DOJ would have launched a civil rights investigation into the use of force in the killings of Alex Pretti on Saturday and of Renee Good on Jan. 7.

"Failures like these led to the departures of senior employees in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota, the Civil Rights Division, and the FBI -- adding to the loss of the institutional expertise necessary to guide the department in critical moments like these," Young said.

Young added that "a community can only trust law enforcement" when it knows agents will be held accountable for their actions.

"But instead of pursuing those investigations, the Justice Department has publicized spurious conclusions contradicted by evidence; perverted the term 'domestic terrorist' by applying it to victims and protesters; boxed out state and local law enforcement; and launched investigations into conduct by victims and surviving family members instead of the agents who fired the guns," Young said.

-ABC News' Pierre Thomas

Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama released a statement on Sunday saying the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a federal agent should be "a wake-up call to every American" that the nation's core values are "increasingly under assault."

"Federal law enforcement and immigration agents have a tough job. But Americans expect them to carry out their duties in a lawful, accountable way, and work with, rather than against, state and local officials to ensure public safety," the Obamas said. "That's not what we're seeing in Minnesota. In fact, we're seeing the opposite."

The former first couple said that people across the country have "been rightly outraged by the spectacle of masked ICE recruits and other federal agents acting with impunity and engaging in tactics that seem designed to intimidate, harass, provoke and endanger residents of a major American City."

"These unprecedented tactics -- which even the former top lawyer of the Department of Homeland Security in the first Trump administration has characterized as embarrassing, lawless and cruel -- have now resulted in the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens," the Obamas said.

The Obamas accused the Trump administration of "escalating" the tension in Minneapolis by offering the public explanations of the shootings of Pretti and Renee Good "that aren't informed by any serious investigation -- and that appear to be directly contradicted by video evidence."

They went on to say, "This has to stop. I would hope that after the most recent tragedy, administration officials will reconsider their approach, and start finding ways to work constructively with Governor Walz and Mayor Frey as well as state and local police to avert more chaos and achieve legitimate law enforcement goals."

The Minneapolis Police Department reported on Sunday that no arrests or reports of burglaries or fires occurred overnight.

Despite thousands of people taking to the streets of Minneapolis overnight to remember Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two residents who were fatally shot in recent days by federal agents, the city "remained overwhelmingly calm and peaceful," according to city officials.

"The memorials and gatherings were peaceful," Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement. “Thank you to our law enforcement partners, community organizations and leaders, City staff, and neighbors who helped keep things calm and safe last night. Let’s continue that collective effort today."

-ABC News' Victoria Arancio

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis is demanding a "thorough and impartial investigation" of Saturday's fatal shooting of a nurse in Minneapolis by a federal agent.

In a social media post, Tillis of North Carolina, said an impartial investigation of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, 37, is "the basic standard that law enforcement and the American people expect following any officer-involved shooting."

"For this specific incident, that requires cooperation and transparency between federal, state, and local law enforcement," Tillis said. "Any administration official who rushes to judgment and tries to shut down an investigation before it begins are doing an incredible disservice to the nation and to President Trump’s legacy.”

-ABC News' Chris Donovan