Judge restricts federal response to Minnesota protests amid ongoing outcry over ICE shootings

By Hanna Park, Taylor Romine, CNN

(CNN) — A federal judge ruled Friday that agents carrying out the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration operation in Minnesota can’t arrest or deploy certain crowd-control measures against anyone “engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity.” The order comes as outcry continues to build over two shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis over the course of a week.

The new restrictions on federal agents also come amid word that the Department of Justice is investigating Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over possible obstruction of federal law enforcement, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. The probe raises the possibility of criminal consequences for the two Democratic leaders, who have openly rebuked the surge of federal activity that began last month.

Groups of protesters continued to decry the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis during the day and into the night Friday, despite frigid temperatures. Demonstrations intensified last week after 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good was fatally shot in her car by an ICE agent, and again a week later when another agent shot and injured a Venezuelan man accused of “violently” resisting arrest, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Ruling protects peaceful protests

Federal agents working in the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota are not allowed to arrest or retaliate against peaceful protesters or use “pepper-spray or similar nonlethal munitions and crowd dispersal tools” against them, US District Judge Katherine Menendez ruled in a preliminary injunction issued Friday.

Menendez also said the agents can no longer stop and detain drivers when there is “no reasonable articulable suspicion” they are forcibly obstructing or interfering with federal operations. “The act of safely following” the officers, “at an appropriate distance does not, by itself, create reasonable suspicion to justify a vehicle stop,” the judge added.

The order only applies in Minnesota and only to agents involved in the current operation, and does not apply to other federal officers handling routine duties elsewhere, the order specified.

In a response to the ruling, the Department of Homeland Security said it is “taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.”

Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that despite these threats, agents follow training and use “the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public, and federal property.”

The preliminary injunction was requested by activists who filed a lawsuit last month alleging the federal government was violating their constitutional rights. The case is separate from a different lawsuit filed by Minnesota and the Twin Cities on Monday seeking a court-ordered end to what it calls a “federal invasion” during Operation Metro Surge.

With protests expected to continue, here’s what else to know:

• Walz and Frey respond: Neither the Minnesota governor nor the Minneapolis mayor confirmed the reported DOJ investigation for possible obstruction of federal law enforcement, but both accused the Trump administration of trying to intimidate its political opponents. A host of Democratic governors and members of Congress issued statements casting the reported investigation as an abuse of power.
• Outcry over federal tactics: Democratic members of Congress held a field hearing at Minnesota’s state capitol Friday to highlight alleged abuses happening during the immigration crackdown. American citizens going about their daily business are getting tackled or detained due to their ethnicities, lawmakers and local residents said at the hearing. A DHS spokesperson insisted federal agents do not use racial profiling to make arrests.
• Ongoing protests: Protesters gathered again Friday at Minneapolis’ Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, the staging facility for immigration operations. Federal officers in tactical gear forcefully moved a group of protesters away from the street, and at least one person appeared to be detained after triggering a heavy response from at least five agents. CNN reached out to DHS for details.
• No Insurrection Act “right now,” Trump says: The president reiterated Friday he’s willing to use the Insurrection Act to send US troops into Minnesota but said, “I don’t think there’s any reason right now to use it.” Trump has threatened multiple times to invoke the centuries-old law if state and local leaders don’t quell unrest.

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CNN’s Holmes Lybrand, Kaitlan Collins, Hannah Rabinowitz, Elizabeth Wolfe, Julie In and Emma Tucker, Jake Tapper, Julia Vargas Jones, Sarah Moon and Orlando Ruiz, Kevin Liptak and Samantha Waldenberg contributed to this report.