A GOP senator filed an ethics complaint against DFL Sen. Omar Fateh of Minneapolis, claiming Fateh falsely accused colleagues of conflating immigrants with terrorists and drug dealers and that he likened Republicans to white supremacists.

Fateh made his comments on Feb. 22 during debate on a bill, now law, that will allow unauthorized immigrants in Minnesota to obtain driver's licenses. Sen. Jeff Howe's complaint, dated April 24, cited Fateh's statements on the floor: "The fact is that our communities are much safer with our immigrant population. ... We heard them being called 'terrorists.' We heard them being called 'drug dealers.'"

Howe, of Rockville, said the actual Republican comments "differentiated between immigrants vs. foreign terrorists intent on attacks like those committed 9/11/2001." He said they also distinguished between immigrants and drug cartels profiting from drug smuggling and human trafficking.

The GOP complaint didn't become public until Thursday when the Senate Subcommittee on Ethical Conduct met briefly to consider it, along with a complaint filed last month by Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, against Sen. Glenn Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe. She alleged Gruenhagen violated Senate norms by sending an email with graphic images of gender transition surgery. Gruenhagen said in a statement that the complaint is without merit and that he expects the committee will decide it fairly.

In Howe's complaint, he asserted that Fateh also violated the Senate norms of accepted behavior and betrayed the public trust in another floor statement that day.

Fateh said the greatest threat of domestic terrorism comes from those who "look like many of the members that sit in the front." He also said the threat comes from "racially or ethnically-motivated violent extremists, specifically those who advocate for the superiority of the white race."

Republican senators, including Howe, sit in the front of the chamber. Howe wrote that Fateh's comment violated the Senate's code of conduct which requires they "treat each other and the public fairly, equally, and with dignity and respect."

Howe asked the ethics subcommittee to investigate. The committee met for a few minutes Thursday morning, but didn't discuss the substance of the Maye Quade or Howe complaints. The subcommittee is required to convene within 30 days of a complaint being filed and has three options: find no probable cause, proceed with an investigation or defer.

On a voice vote, the panel unanimously agreed to defer to a later date, but didn't decide when. The bipartisan subcommittee is made up of Chair Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis, Sens. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton, Andrew Mathews, R-Princeton and Jeremy Miller, R-Winona.

Through a spokesman, Fateh declined to comment.