In a landmark decision, a judge from a Minnesota district court has determined that agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lack the authority to detain or use tear gas on demonstrators who are peacefully protesting.

Judge Kate Menendez, appointed by President Joe Biden, emphasized that individuals who are merely observing the agents, such as Renee Nicole Good and her spouse, should not be subjected to detention.

The decision arrives during a period of heightened protest activity against ICE in Minnesota. However, Menendez’s ruling originates from a legal case initiated in December on behalf of six local activists from the state.

The court’s decision specifically restricts officers from stopping drivers or passengers unless there is a credible suspicion of them obstructing or interfering with law enforcement activities.

The ruling clarifies that merely following agents from a safe and respectful distance does not provide a valid reason for stopping a vehicle.

Tricia McLaughlin, an Assistant Secretary, conveyed to the Daily Mail that while the Department of Homeland Security supports the right to peaceful protest, they also contend with violence occurring in the streets.

‘The First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly – not rioting. DHS is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters. We remind the public that rioting is dangerous—obstructing law enforcement is a federal crime and assaulting law enforcement is a felony,’ McLaughlin said. 

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

A Minnesota district court judge ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents cannot detain or tear gas peaceful protesters

The ruling prohibits the officers from detaining drivers and passengers in vehicles when there is no reasonable suspicion they are obstructing or interfering with the officers

‘Assaulting and obstructing law enforcement is a felony. Despite these grave threats and dangerous situations our law enforcement as followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public, and federal property.’

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-St. Paul area since early December. 

Menendez 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.

Government attorneys 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 St. Paul seeking to suspend the enforcement crackdown, and some of the legal issues are similar. 

She declined at a hearing Wednesday to grant the state’s request for an immediate temporary restraining order in that case.

‘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.

Menendez said the issues raised by the state and cities in that case are ‘enormously important.’ 

A person is detained after federal agents and police clash with protesters outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis

An FBI officer works the scene during operations on in St Paul

But she said 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.

The news comes amid turmoil at ICE as they face nightly protest from liberal Americans.

While ICE has played a prominent role in Trump’s crackdown, the administration has reshuffled leadership at the agency several times in the past year. 

Border Czar Tom Homan and DHS Secretary Noem have been locked in a power struggle inside Trump’s second-term immigration apparatus, with Homan pushing aggressive, enforcement-first mass deportations while viewing Noem as slow and overly political, sources close to Homan have told the Daily Mail.

The rivalry has hardened as rank-and-file ICE agents and DHS officials increasingly align with Homan’s hardline leadership style over Noem’s public-facing approach at DHS.

The Trump administration removed two top ICE leaders in May as White House aide Stephen Miller, the driving force behind Trump’s immigration agenda, pressed for more arrests.

ICE has been at the forefront of President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging immigration crackdown over the past year, as the Republican president has surged officers to Democratic-led US cities in a bid to drive up deportations.

The agency has faced particular scrutiny in the past week after an ICE officer in Minneapolis fatally shot Renee Good, a US citizen and mother of three.

While ICE has played a prominent role in Trump’s crackdown, the administration has reshuffled leadership at the agency under Secretary Kristi Noem (pictured) several times in the past year 

Border Czar Tom Homan (pictured) and Noem have been locked in a power struggle inside Trump’s second-term immigration apparatus

On Wednesday night, an ICE officer shot a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis during an enforcement operation, adding to tensions in the city, where residents have taken to frigid streets to protest Trump’s immigration sweeps. 

The US Department of Homeland Security said the officer was attacked with a shovel and broomstick and fired defensively.

The aggressive enforcement tactics – with ICE and Border Patrol agents tackling suspected immigration offenders in public and spraying chemical irritants at protesters – have fueled violent encounters.

On Wednesday, the Daily Mail revealed ICE has come under scrutiny by DHS watchdogs after Good’s shooting death by ICE officer Jon Ross rattled national confidence in the agency. 

Independent investigators inside the DHS’s Office of Inspector General are now looking into whether the rush to hire 10,000 new agents as part of the agency’s unprecedented crackdown on illegal immigration has led to dangerous shortcuts in vetting and training. 

The investigation began in August but has taken on new urgency amid protests and controversy surrounding recent ICE enforcement actions.

Near-daily television news video showing agents roughing up protestors and a 21-year-old permanently losing his sight after an ICE agent fired a nonlethal round at close range during another demonstration in Santa Ana, California have added to public unease about the agency.

One pollshowed 46 percent of people in the country want ICE to be completely abolished with another 12 percent being unsure.

A team of inspectors is set to make its first visit next week to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia – where sources say new recruits are being fast-tracked.

The audit, which was initially stalled by DHS officials who were slow to turn over information to investigators, could take months to complete.

It will result in a report to Congress, though ‘management alerts’ can be sent as needed to address more pressing concerns, insiders explained.

‘They’re offering $50,000 incentives for people to sign up, dropping their vetting and fitness standards, and then not training them well,’ one source told us about ICE’s new recruits. ‘This would appear to be a recipe for disaster.’

Another ICE insider told the Daily Mail that investigators are particularly interested in learning who made the decisions to lower training standards.