A U.S. court on Friday ordered limits on the powers of ICE agents in Minnesota amid President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, ordering them to scale back some of the tactics they have used against protesters of their enforcement actions.
U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez issued an injunction barring federal agents from retaliating against individuals engaged in peaceful, undisturbed protest activities in what local activists in Minnesota’s most populous city are calling a victory.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of six protesters and observers who claimed their constitutional rights were violated by the actions of ICE agents.
What did the court say?
According to a Reuters report, the court specifically barred Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers from arresting or detaining peaceful protesters or those involved in orderly observations without reasonable suspicion that the individuals have committed a crime or are interfering with law enforcement.
The judge also ordered federal agents to ban the use of pepper spray, tear gas or other crowd control munitions against peaceful protesters or bystanders watching and recording immigration operations.
Menendez wrote that in defending the street tactics of its immigration officials, the government failed to “explain why it is necessary for them to arrest and use force against peaceful bystanders.”
Stopping or detaining drivers and vehicle occupants when there is no reason to believe they are violently obstructing or obstructing federal agents is also prohibited, according to the court order.
Why did the US court intervene?
The Minnesota court’s decision comes nearly two weeks after the Trump administration announced the deployment of 2,000 immigration agents to the Minneapolis area. The US Department of Homeland Security called it its largest such operation in history.
The surge in heavily armed ICE and Border Patrol officers has since grown to nearly 3,000, outnumbering local police officers in the Twin Cities metropolitan area of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Last week, an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, behind the wheel of her car. At the time, she was participating in one of the many neighborhood watches organized by local activists to track and monitor ICE activities.
Tensions have since increased considerably during the deployment.