A Minnesota federal judge put limits Friday on the tactics that federal law enforcement are permitted to use in their handling of the ongoing protests in Minneapolis over the Trump administration’s surge of immigration resources to the city.
In an 83-page order, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez blocked federal agents who are deployed to Minnesota as part of the Trump administration’s immigration operations from using pepper spray or nonlethal munitions on, or arresting, peaceful protesters.
The order also bars federal law enforcement from stopping or detaining drivers and passengers when there is “no reasonable articulable suspicion” that people driving near protests are forcibly interfering with law enforcement operations.
Menendez, nominated to the bench by former President Joe Biden in 2021, called some of the allegations against agents “disturbing.” She cited descriptions provided to the court by protesters that law enforcement had threatened to break drivers’ windows, waited for protesters outside their homes, followed protesters to their homes or told the protesters they knew where they lived.
“There may be ample suspicion to stop cars, and even arrest drivers engaged in dangerous conduct while following immigration enforcement officers, but that does not justify stops of cars not breaking the law,” Menendez wrote, adding she is “mindful” that the ongoing protest activity in the state is “somewhat unique.”
“There is little discussion in the caselaw about situations like the ones playing out all over the Twin Cities, in which small groups of protesters are mobile and gather wherever immigration officers are attempting to make arrests or otherwise enforce immigration law,” Menendez wrote.
Menendez’s order will remain in effect until the recent mass surge of federal law enforcement to Minneapolis concludes.
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement responding to the ruling that the agency “is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.” She said agents have faced assaults, vandalism and other threats, but have “followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary.”
“We remind the public that rioting is dangerous—obstructing law enforcement is a federal crime and assaulting law enforcement is a felony,” McLaughlin said.
The ruling follows a weekslong uptick in immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis. Thousands of federal agents have been deployed to the area to seek out those suspected of being in the U.S. illegally and to investigate allegations of fraud in Minnesota.
The operations have drawn tense protests that were amplified after Renee Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent last week. In some cases, protesters and agents have clashed, with agents being reported using pepper spray.
A group of Minnesota protesters sued the Department of Homeland Security last month, alleging federal agents had “violently subdued” demonstrations against the agency’s immigration enforcement actions. The plaintiffs accused the government of engaging in a “campaign of constitutional violations” by infringing on protesters’ First Amendment right to free speech and Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizures.
Menendez found Friday that several of the protesters were likely to succeed in showing that their First and Fourth Amendment rights were violated after federal law enforcement personnel arrested them or sprayed chemical irritants at them.
Attorneys for the federal government earlier this month denied any constitutional violations, arguing that federal agents have needed to use pepper spray and arrests to quell “violent, obstructive, dangerous, and often criminal behavior” that has impeded immigration operations. They accused several of the plaintiffs of obstructing, assaulting or attempting to assault federal officers, or following ICE vehicles.
The Trump administration has also accused local officials who have strongly criticized the immigration operations of stoking chaos. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey are both under federal investigation for an alleged conspiracy to impede immigration agents, CBS News reported earlier Friday.
Both officials have denounced the probe, with Walz accusing the administration of “threatening political opponents” and Frey calling it an “obvious attempt to intimidate me.”
