A federal judge on Friday limited the actions of law enforcement agents deployed to Minneapolis amid protests over the Trump administration’s surge of immigration enforcement, ruling that federal personnel cannot arrest or use pepper spray on peaceful demonstrators.
“While there may be ample suspicion to stop cars and even arrest drivers engaged in dangerous conduct, that does not justify stops of cars not breaking the law,” U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez wrote in an 83-page order. She noted the protests in Minneapolis are “somewhat unique,” with mobile groups gathering wherever immigration officers attempt enforcement.
Menendez, nominated by former President Joe Biden in 2021, also barred federal agents from detaining drivers or passengers without “reasonable articulable suspicion” of interfering with law enforcement operations. She called reports that agents had followed protesters to their homes, threatened to break car windows, or identified where protesters lived “disturbing.”
The ruling comes after a spike in federal immigration operations in Minneapolis, which have drawn large-scale protests and heightened tensions following the shooting death of Renee Good, a Minnesota mother, by an ICE agent last week. Thousands of federal personnel have been deployed to enforce immigration laws and investigate alleged fraud.
A group of local protesters sued the Department of Homeland Security last month, alleging that federal agents had “violently subdued” demonstrations and violated their constitutional rights. Menendez found that several plaintiffs were likely to succeed in showing First and Fourth Amendment violations after being sprayed with chemical irritants or arrested.
The federal government has defended its actions, arguing that pepper spray and arrests were necessary to control “violent, obstructive, dangerous, and often criminal behavior” that impeded immigration enforcement. Officials said some protesters had attempted to assault agents or follow ICE vehicles.
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said Friday 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 added that agents “have faced assaults, vandalism and other threats” but have “used the minimum amount of force necessary.”
The order will remain in effect until the current federal deployment in Minneapolis concludes. The ruling underscores the tension between local protesters asserting constitutional rights and the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement push, which has also drawn scrutiny of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. Both officials have denounced a federal investigation into their actions, with Walz accusing the administration of “threatening political opponents” and Frey calling it “an obvious attempt to intimidate me.”
