ICE agents are ordered NOT to retaliate against protesters or stop drivers in the streets during chaotic Minnesota operations

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

Judge Kate Menendez, appointed by Joe Biden, noted that Renee Nicole Good and her husband were not allowed to be detained, as were those who allegedly observed the agents.

The ruling comes amid weeks of volatile protests against ICE in Minnesota, while Menendez’s decision came in a lawsuit filed in December on behalf of six Minnesota activists.

The order prohibits officers from detaining drivers and passengers inside vehicles unless there is reasonable suspicion that they were obstructing or interfering with officers.

The decision stated that the agents’ “safe pursuit from an appropriate distance did not, by itself, create a reasonable suspicion that would justify stopping the vehicle.”

Deputy Minister Tricia McLaughlin told the Daily Mail that DHS respects peaceful protests but believes they are dealing with violence in the streets.

‘The First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly, not riot. DHS takes appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous insurgents. 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 attacked law enforcement officers, threw fireworks at them, slashed their vehicle tires, and damaged federal property. Others chose to ignore orders and attempted to obstruct law enforcement operations and used their vehicles as weapons against our officers.

The order prohibits officers from detaining drivers and passengers inside vehicles when there is no reasonable suspicion that the officers were obstructing or interfering with the officers.

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

Thousands of people are observing the activities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol officers enforcing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis-St. Paul area since early December.

Menendez said agents will not be allowed to arrest people without probable cause or reasonable suspicion that the person has committed a crime or is obstructing or interfering with the activities of officers.

Government lawyers argued that the officers were acting within their legal authority to enforce immigration laws and protect themselves.

Menendez also meets with the state of Minnesota on Monday in Minneapolis and St. He is also presiding over a lawsuit seeking to suspend enforcement by St. Paul cities, and some of the legal issues are similar.

At a hearing Wednesday, he refused to grant the state’s request for an emergency temporary restraining order in that case.

‘What we need most right now is a pause. The state’s assistant attorney general, Brian Carter, said the temperature should be lowered.

Menendez said the issues raised by the state and cities in this case are “extremely important.”

A federal law enforcement officer deployed pepper spray during a protest following Wednesday’s shooting

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

But he said it raises high-level constitutional and other legal issues, and there is little precedent for some of those issues. So he ordered both sides to provide more briefings next week.

The news comes amid turmoil at ICE, as liberal Americans face nightly protests.

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

Border Czar Tom Homan and DHS Secretary Noem are locked in a power struggle within Trump’s second-term immigration apparatus, sources close to Homan tell the Daily Mail; Homan sees Noem as slow and overly political, while Homan pushes for aggressive, enforcement-first mass deportations.

Competition has toughened as rank-and-file ICE agents and DHS officials increasingly align with Homan’s hard-line leadership style over Noem’s public approach at DHS.

The Trump administration fired two top ICE leaders in May after White House aide Stephen Miller, a driving force behind Trump’s immigration agenda, pushed for more arrests.

ICE has been at the forefront of President Donald Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigrants over the past year; because the Republican president sent police officers to US cities led by Democrats to speed up deportations.

The agency faced particular scrutiny last week after an ICE officer in Minneapolis fatally shot Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three.

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

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

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

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the officer was attacked with a shovel and broomstick and fired in defense.

Aggressive enforcement tactics, such as ICE and Border Patrol agents publicly tackling suspected immigration offenders and spraying protesters with chemical irritants, have fueled violent encounters.

On Wednesday, the Daily Mail revealed that ICE was under scrutiny by DHS watchdogs after Good’s shooting death by ICE officer Jon Ross shook national trust in the agency.

Independent investigators in DHS’s Office of Inspector General are examining whether the agency’s rush to hire 10,000 new agents as part of its unprecedented crackdown on illegal immigration led to dangerous shortcuts in investigations and training.

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

Almost daily television news video showing agents roughing up protesters and 21-year-old permanently loses his sight Events after an ICE agent fired a non-lethal round at close range during another demonstration in Santa Ana, Calif., increased public unease about the agency.

One poll showed that 46 percent of people in the country want ICE to be abolished completely, while 12 percent are undecided.

A team of investigators will make its first visit next week to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia, where sources say new hiring is ramping up.

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

According to insiders, a report will be submitted to Congress as a result, but ‘management alerts’ may be sent when necessary to address more urgent concerns.

‘They offer $50,000 incentives for people to sign up, lower screening and fitness standards, and then don’t train them well,’ one source told us about ICE’s new hires. ‘This seems like a recipe for disaster.’

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