A US judge on Friday ordered federal law enforcement involved in the immigration crackdown in Minnesota to stop pepper spraying and detain and arrest peaceful protesters.
The preliminary order issued by Judge Katherine Menendez of the U.S. District Court in Minnesota applies to federal agents and officers involved in Operation Metro Surge, a controversial anti-immigration campaign launched by the administration of President Donald Trump, who has promised to arrest criminal immigrants for deportation across the country.
It will remain in effect until the mission is completed or circumstances no longer require it, Menendez wrote. The judge stated that the federal process began in Minnesota on December 4 in Minnesota.
The ruling orders federal law enforcement to stop taking action against peaceful protesters, including those demonstrating against federal agents and officers.
The injunction currently prohibits “retaliation against persons who engage in peaceful and unobstructed protest activity, including monitoring the activities of Operation MetroSurge,” according to Friday’s ruling.
Federal law enforcement was also ordered not to detain or arrest lawful protesters, and to use pepper spray against them as a crowd dispersal measure; Or stop vehicles when there is no reasonable suspicion that those inside are obstructing the immigration efforts of federal agents and officers.
The injunction is a response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on December 17 on behalf of six protesters and observers who claimed that their constitutional rights, including freedom of speech and the right not to be subjected to unreasonable searches and seizures, were violated by federal agents. The plaintiffs were arrested, detained, pepper sprayed, and had firearms pointed at them during an immigration enforcement operation, according to the ruling.
The lawsuit names Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as defendants; Todd Lyons, Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement; In addition to many other officials and agencies of the Ministry.
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that officers and agents showed restraint amid what she described as riotous protests.
“DHS is taking appropriate and constitutional actions to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters,” she said via email. “Rioters and terrorists assaulted law enforcement, set off fireworks at them, slashed their tires, and vandalized federal property.”
McLaughlin defended the law enforcement officers, saying they “followed their training and used the minimum force necessary to protect themselves, the public and federal property.”
It did not say whether the Trump administration would appeal the ruling.
The Trump administration is launching a tough crackdown on immigrants in an attempt to arrest hundreds of thousands of what its officials described as criminals who are in the country illegally. High-profile immigration detention missions were launched in San Diego, Los Angeles, New York and other major cities starting last year as Trump pressured the Department of Homeland Security and its agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to show the public the high detention numbers.
Trump said Thursday on Truth Social that he will invoke the Insurrection Act if Minnesota leaders cannot deal with protesters whom the president has described as “professional agitators” and “insurrectionists” who he claims are attacking ICE officers and agents.
Trump said officers and agents were “just trying to do their jobs.”
By invoking the rarely used 1807 law, the president said he would have the authority to deploy the military domestically without congressional approval.
Menendez’s decision on Friday comes after an ICE officer in Minneapolis shot a protester in her SUV in a federal law enforcement zone on January 7. The killing of Renee Nicole Judd, 37, sparked widespread criticism, with federal officials saying the officer who shot her was acting in self-defense, claiming she was trying to run over the officer.
Some, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, have disputed the department’s account. Eyewitness accounts and video of the incident reviewed by NBC News raise questions about whether the vehicle posed a direct threat, although basic details are still under investigation.
Interactions between federal law enforcement and protesters were tense at times, and Minneapolis officials called for calm and discouraged violence.
A federal officer on Wednesday shot a Venezuelan man in the leg as he attempted to conduct a traffic stop, the Department of Homeland Security said. The department claimed the man ran away, then he and two others attacked the officer with a snow shovel and a broom, at which point the officer “fired defensive shots.”
Protesters gathered in the neighborhood after the shooting, and videos showed some of them screaming and throwing snowballs at officers and deputies, and law enforcement personnel deployed “flash-bang” devices and chemical irritants.
Menendez concluded that the plaintiffs generally engaged in “protected activity” and were sometimes subject to retaliatory actions by federal law enforcement. In one case, federal agents stopped several plaintiffs who reported no violations of state traffic law, the judge wrote.
It rejected the government’s request to halt or pause the order, although it left the door open to requests from either side to amend its decision.
“The court sought to balance the continuing and irreparable harm to the plaintiffs with the harm to the defendants by limiting their activities,” the judge wrote.