A federal judge in Minnesota on Friday issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting federal agents in and around the Twin Cities from arresting peaceful protesters or deploying nonlethal munitions and other crowd-control tools against them.
The 80-page ruling , written by U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez, a Biden appointee based in Minneapolis, comes amid rising tensions between the Trump administration and Minnesota officials, who have accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of escalating fear and violence on local streets.
The ruling is on a lawsuit that was filed prior to the horrific killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent last week Wednesday.
Menendez’s order bars Homeland Security and ICE officials involved in Operation Metro Surge from “using pepper-spray or similar nonlethal munitions and crowd dispersal tools against persons who are engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity.” The judge also prohibited federal agents from stopping vehicles that are following them, provided those vehicles are maintaining a safe and “appropriate” distance.
“The act of safely following” officers “at an appropriate distance does not, by itself, create reasonable suspicion to justify a vehicle stop,” Menendez wrote.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not respond on Friday evening.
