Federal judge restricts ICE enforcement tactics in Minnesota

Jan. 17 (UPI) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and others cannot use “crowd dispersal tools” against nonviolent protesters while enforcing federal immigration laws, a federal judge ruled on Friday.

U.S. District Court of Minnesota Judge Katherine Menendez said ICE officers cannot use tear gas, pepper spray and other commonly used devices to disperse protesters who are “engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity,” The New York Times reported.

Such activities are protected forms of free speech, Menendez said, while also prohibiting federal law enforcement from engaging in traffic stops of vehicles and detaining drivers and passengers who are not “forcibly obstructing or interfering” in federal law enforcement.

The Department of Homeland Security “is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

McLaughlin said ICE and other federal officers have been assaulted, attacked with fireworks and had the tires on their vehicles damaged by protesters while enforcing federal immigration laws.

Although they face “grave threats,” she said the federal officers have “used the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public and federal property.”

McLaughlin did not indicate whether the department will appeal the federal court ruling by Menendez, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President Joe Biden in 2021.

The Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union represented six protesters who sought to challenge the law enforcement tactics on Dec. 17.

The plaintiffs said the federal officers violated their First Amendment and other constitutional rights.

The lawsuit was filed three weeks before the shooting death of Renee Good, 37, in Minneapolis on Jan. 13, whom an ICE officer shot and killed when she struck him with her vehicle while she was trying to flee a pending arrest for obstructing ICE officers.

Good allegedly used her SUV to block a roadway while ICE officers were trying to free one or more of their vehicles that had become stuck in the snow.