Limits on ICE agents in Minnesota blocked by appeals court
The Trump administration won an appeals court order blocking a judge’s restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s methods of dealing with protesters in Minnesota.
The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday indefinitely stayed a lower court judge’s Jan. 16 order barring officers from arresting, detaining, pepper-spraying or retaliating against peaceful protesters in Minneapolis. The ruling will remain temporarily suspended while the government’s appeal continues.
A lawsuit filed in December alleged that federal officers violated the constitutional rights of six protesters, including boxing into a civilian vehicle and pointing a gun inside it. Protests continued throughout Minneapolis, where ICE agents shot Renee Judd on January 7 and Alex Peretti on January 24. President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act and put 1,500 US soldiers on standby to assist federal agents in Minnesota.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez said in her January 16 order that the protesters demonstrated a “persistent and persistent pattern” of intimidating behavior by ICE officers. She said she could not “ignore the almost nonstop press reports of continuing protest activity that has been met with sustained aggressive responses by immigration officers working in the Twin Cities.”
Menendez, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, is also considering a request from Minnesota officials to issue an order temporarily halting the deployment of thousands of immigration enforcement officers in the state.
Menendez told attorneys at a hearing Monday that she was grappling with the broad scope of the state’s request to temporarily halt Operation Metro Surge and order officers off the street while the legal battle continues. She noted that American officials have “considerable authority” to implement immigration laws.
But the judge also questioned the Justice Department’s assertion that the goal of the surge was not to force Minnesota to change its policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, highlighting a disconnect between public statements by U.S. officials and the government’s arguments in court.
Read more: Judge Moles blocks ICE surge in Minnesota after Pretty killing
Minnesota claims that the deployment of officers from ICE and other federal agencies unconstitutionally interferes with the state’s authority to govern its affairs and harms the safety and health of residents.
The key case is Tincher v. Noem, 25-cv-4669, U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota. The appellate case is Tincher v. Noem, 26-1105, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
This story originally appeared on Fortune.com
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2026-01-27 00:14:00
