A US federal judge has issued an order limiting the crowd control tactics that can be used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (ICE) towards “peaceful and unobstructive” protesters in Minneapolis.
Judge Katherine Menendez ruled on Friday night that federal agents can’t arrest or pepper spray peaceful demonstrators, including those monitoring and observing ICE agents.
The ruling comes ahead of planned weekend protests against the widespread immigration action in the city and follows the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent earlier this month.
The US Department of Homeland Security said it is taking measures to protect officers from rioters.
On Friday, Minnesota officials urge protesters expected to take to the streets this weekend to stay orderly and peaceful.
The state’s National Guard has been placed on alert and other law enforcement officers have been deployed ahead of both expected anti-ICE demonstrations and a counter march being planned by a conservative influencer.
Judge Menendez’s 83-page order bars federal agents from arresting and “using pepper-spray or similar nonlethal munitions and crowd dispersal tools against persons who are engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity”.
The ruling, which stems from a lawsuit filed by a group of protesters in December, also limits agents from “stopping or detaining drivers and passengers in vehicles where there is no reasonable articulable suspicion that they are forcibly obstructing or interfering” with their work.
“The act of safely following [immigration agents] at an appropriate distance does not, by itself, create reasonable suspicion to justify a vehicle stop,” it says.
In a statement to CBS, the BBC’s US partner, in response to the order, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said the agency “is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters”.
The White House also criticised the ruling.
“This absurd ruling embraces a dishonest, left-wing narrative,” spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Politico. “Here’s the truth: federal agents have 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 7 January shooting, with protests across the city.
There have been some reported clashes between protesters and federal officers over the past week.
Additionally on Friday, the justice department announced it was investigating two of the state’s leading Democrats – Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey – over alleged attempts to impede federal immigration operations.
Both have condemned the ICE operations in the city.
“A reminder to all those in Minnesota: No one is above the law,” US Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an online statement.
The investigation was criticised by Walz and Frey.
“Weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic,” Walz said in a statement.
