A district judge in Minnesota ruled on Friday that federal officers participating in anti-immigration enforcement operations in the Minneapolis area can’t detain or tear gas peaceful protesters, including those who are observing the agents.
US District Judge, Kate Menendez, ruled in a case filed in December on behalf of six Minnesota activists, and clarified that officers can’t detain drivers and passengers in vehicles when there is no reasonable suspicion they are obstructing or interfering with the officers since “safely following agents at an appropriate distance does not, by itself, create reasonable suspicion to justify a vehicle stop”.
Thousands of people have been observing the activities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol officers enforcing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area since early December.
Protests in the Minneapolis area have intensified over the past week after ICE agents shot a US citizen, Renee Good, claiming she had endangered the life of an officer. Anti-fed demonstrations have since spilled over to other US cities, with governments demanding the ouster of ICE from their areas.
Also Read: Minneapolis protests: Rage grows over woman’s killing by ICE
Menendez, in her ruling, said the agents would not be allowed to arrest people without probable cause or reasonable suspicion the person has committed a crime or was obstructing or interfering with the activities of officers.
The activists in the case are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, which says government officers are violating the constitutional rights of Twin Cities residents, a claim refuted by government attorneys, who argued that the officers have been acting within their legal authority to enforce immigration laws and protect themselves.
Menendez is also presiding over a lawsuit filed Monday by the state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul seeking to suspend the enforcement crackdown, and some of the legal issues are similar.
“What we need most of all right now is a pause. The temperature needs to be lowered,” state Assistant Attorney General Brian Carter told her.
She declined at a hearing Wednesday to grant the state’s request for an immediate temporary restraining order in that case.
Menendez said the issues raised by the state and cities in that case are “enormously important,” but it raises high-level constitutional and other legal issues, and for some of those issues there are few on-point precedents. So, she ordered both sides to file more briefs next week.
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