U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents disperse tear gas during a patrol as they seek to arrest undocumented people during immigration enforcement activities in Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 12, 2026.
Octavio Jones | AFP | Getty Images
Federal agents in the Minneapolis area participating in the largest recent immigration enforcement operation in the United States cannot arrest or use tear gas against peaceful protesters who do not obstruct authorities, including when those people observe the agents, a Minnesota judge ruled Friday.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez relates to a suit filed in December on behalf of six Minnesota activists. These six people are among thousands who have observed the activities of Immigration, Customs and Border Patrol agents enforcing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the Minneapolis-St. Paul neighborhood since last month.
Federal agents and demonstrators have clashed several times since the crackdown began. The clashes intensified after an immigration agent fatally shot Renee Good in the head on Jan. 7 as she walked away from a location in Minneapolis, an incident that was filmed from multiple angles. Officers arrested or briefly detained numerous people in the Twin Cities.
Activists in the case are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, which says government agents are violating the constitutional rights of Twin Cities residents.
After the ruling, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin issued a statement saying her agency was taking “appropriate and constitutional action to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.”
She said people have assaulted officers, vandalized their vehicles and federal property and tried to stop officers from doing their jobs.
“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 ACLU did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday evening.
The ruling prohibits officers from detaining drivers and passengers of vehicles when there is no reasonable suspicion that they are obstructing or hindering officers.
Safely following officers “at an appropriate distance does not, in itself, create reasonable suspicion justifying stopping the vehicle,” the ruling states.
Menendez said officers would not be allowed to arrest people without probable cause or reasonable suspicion that the person committed a crime or was obstructing or interfering with officers’ activities.
Menendez is also presiding over a lawsuit filed Monday by the state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul seeking to halt the crackdown, and some of the legal issues are similar. She declined at a hearing Wednesday to grant the state’s request for an immediate temporary restraining order in the case.
“What we need most right now is a break. The temperature needs to come down,” Assistant State Attorney General Brian Carter told him.
Menendez said the issues raised by the state and cities in this case are “extremely important.” But she said it raises high-level constitutional and legal questions, and that for some of those questions there is little clear precedent. She therefore ordered both sides to file more briefs next week.
Source | domain www.cnbc.com
