A US federal judge has issued an order limiting the crowd control tactics that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents can use on “peaceful and non-obstructive” protesters in Minneapolis.
Judge Katherine Menendez ruled Friday night that federal agents cannot arrest or spray peaceful demonstrators, including those monitored and observed by ICE agents.
The decision comes ahead of planned weekend protests against the city’s sweeping 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 steps to protect officials from the rioters.
On Friday, Minnesota officials urged protesters expected to take to the streets this weekend to remain orderly and peaceful.
The state’s National Guard was put on alert and other law enforcement officers were deployed ahead of expected anti-ICE demonstrations and a counter march planned by a conservative influencer.
Judge Menendez’s 83-page order prohibits federal agents from arresting and “using pepper-spray or similar nonlethal munitions and crowd dispersal tools against people engaged in peaceful and unobstructed protest activity”.
The ruling, stemming from a lawsuit filed by a group of protesters in December, also limits agents from “stopping or detaining drivers and passengers of vehicles where there is no reasonably expressed suspicion that they are forcibly obstructing or interfering” with their work.
“The act of safely following (immigration agents) at a reasonable distance does not, by itself, create reasonable suspicion to justify a vehicle stop,” it said.
In a statement to CBS, the BBC’s US partner, in response to the order, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said that the agency “takes appropriate and constitutional measures to maintain the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters”.
The White House also criticized the decision.
“This unjustified ruling embodies a dishonest, left-wing narrative,” spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Politico. “Here’s the truth: federal agents act legally to protect themselves and ensure the integrity of their operations when individuals try to intervene.”
Minneapolis has been on edge since Good’s shooting on Jan. 7, with the citywide protest.
There were some reported clashes between protesters and federal officials last week.
In addition on Friday, the department of justice announced that it was investigating two of the state’s leading Democrats – Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey – for alleged attempts to restrict federal immigration operations.
Both condemned the ICE operations 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 your opponents is an authoritarian tactic,” Walz said in a statement.