Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Biden-Appointed Judge Limits ICE Tactics To Avoid ‘Retaliating’ Against Minnesota Protestors

[Wikimedia Commons/Public/Joe Gratz]

A Biden-appointed federal judge in Minnesota blocked immigration agents from using crowd control tools or “retaliating” against protesters in a Friday decision.

Officers may not deploy pepper spray or similar dispersal tools, stop drivers if they are merely observing immigration enforcement, or use force against anyone “engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity,” U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez ruled. The decision, the latest development in a case against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) filed Dec. 17, 2025, granted a preliminary injunction in favor of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protesters who sued over alleged First Amendment violations.

“The First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly – not rioting,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the Daily Caller News Foundation in response to the injunction. “DHS is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.”

McLaughlin also emphasized that obstructing and assaulting law enforcement are serious crimes.

“Rioters and terrorists have assaulted law enforcement, launched fireworks at them, slashed the tires of their vehicles, and vandalized federal property,” McLaughlin told the DCNF. “Others have chosen to ignore commands and have attempted to impede law enforcement operations and used their vehicles as weapons against our officers.”

“Despite these grave threats and dangerous situations our law enforcement [has] followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public, and federal property,” she added.

“Plaintiffs have shown that they have a fair chance of demonstrating that it was their protected conduct — speech, protest, and observation — that motivated Defendants’ adverse actions,” Menendez wrote, describing their allegations agents used excessive force and arrested those who were not illegally impeding federal law enforcement operations. The left-wing American Civil Liberties Union and other law firms are representing the activists in court.

Menendez clarified her opinion “does nothing to prevent [agents] from continuing to enforce immigration laws.”

The First Amendment complaints came before an ICE agent fatally shot activist Renee Good, 37, as she drove her car toward him in Minneapolis, drawing nationwide attention. DHS claims Good’s car hit the agent and injured his torso.

President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to invoke the Insurrection Act as part of a military response in Minneapolis if local officials do not stop rioters from endangering law enforcement.

Editor’s note: This report was updated with a comment received from DHS.