A US federal judge has issued an order restricting crowd control tactics that can be used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) against “peaceful and unobtrusive” protesters in Minneapolis.
Judge Katherine Menendez ruled Friday night that federal officers cannot arrest or pepper-spray peaceful protesters, including those that ICE agents are monitoring and observing.
The ruling comes ahead of planned weekend protests against the city’s widespread immigration crackdown and follows the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent earlier this month.
The US Department of Homeland Security said it was taking measures to protect officers from rioters.
On Friday, Minnesota officials urged protesters expected to take to the streets this weekend to maintain order and peace.
The state’s National Guard was put on alert and other police officers were deployed ahead of both expected anti-ICE demonstrations and a counter-march planned by a conservative influencer.
Judge Menendez’s 83-page order prohibits federal officers from arresting people and “using pepper spray or similar non-lethal munitions and crowd dispersal devices against persons engaging in peaceful and unhindered protest activities.”
The ruling, which stems from a lawsuit filed in December by a group of protesters, also prohibits agents from “stopping or detaining drivers and passengers in vehicles unless there is reasonable reasonable suspicion that they are forcibly impeding or interfering with their work.”
“The act of safely following (immigration officers) at a reasonable distance does not, in and of itself, create reasonable suspicion that would justify stopping a vehicle,” it says.
In a statement to CBS, the BBC’s U.S. affiliate, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson responded to the order by saying the agency is “taking appropriate and constitutional actions to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.”
The White House also criticized the verdict.
“This absurd ruling relies on a dishonest, left-wing narrative,” spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Politico. “Here is the truth: Federal agents acted lawfully to protect themselves and ensure the integrity of their operations when individuals attempt to intervene.”
Minneapolis has been on edge since Good’s Jan. 7 shooting Protests all over the city.
A few clashes between protesters and federal officers were reported last week.
Additionally on Friday the Ministry of Justice announced it was investigating two of the state’s top Democrats – Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey – over alleged attempts to obstruct federal immigration actions.
Both have condemned the ICE operation in the city.
“A reminder to everyone in Minnesota: No one is above the law,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an online statement.
The investigation was criticized by Walz and Frey.
“Weaponizing the justice system against one’s opponents is an authoritarian tactic,” Walz said in a statement.
