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The Minnesota court ruling comes nearly two weeks after the Trump administration announced the deployment of 2,000 immigration agents to the Minneapolis area. The US Department of Homeland Security has called it its largest such operation in history.
A US court on Friday ordered curbing of powers of ICE agents in Minnesota amid President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, and ordered them to restrain the use of some of the tactics they have used against protesters of their enforcement actions.
US District Judge Kate Menendez issued an injunction barring federal agents from retaliating against individuals engaged in peaceful, unobstructive protest activity, in what is being seen as a victory by local activists in Minnesota's most populous city.
The court case was brought on behalf of six protesters and observers who claimed their constitutional rights had been infringed by the actions of ICE agents.
What did the court say?
According to a Reuters report, the court has explicitly prohibited the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers from arresting or detaining peaceful protesters or people engaged in orderly observations, absent reasonable suspicion that the individuals have committed a crime or are interfering with law enforcement.
The judge also ordered a ban on the federal agents from using pepper spray, tear gas or other crowd-control munitions against peaceful demonstrators or bystanders observing and recording the immigration enforcement operations.
Menendez wrote that the government, in defending the street tactics of its immigration officers, had failed to “explain why it is necessary for them to arrest and use force against peaceful observers.”
Stopping or detaining drivers and passengers in vehicles when there is no reason to believe they are forcibly obstructing or interfering with federal agents is likewise prohibited, according to the court order.
Why did the US court intervene?
The Minnesota court ruling comes nearly two weeks after the Trump administration announced the deployment of 2,000 immigration agents to the Minneapolis area. The US Department of Homeland Security has called it its largest such operation in history.
The surge in heavily armed officers from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and Border Patrol has since grown to nearly 3,000, dwarfing the ranks of local police officers in the Twin Cities metropolitan area of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Last week, an ICE agent fatally shot a 37-year-old mother of three, Renee Nicole Good, behind the wheel of her car. At the time, she was taking part in one of numerous neighbourhood patrols organised by local activists to track and monitor ICE activities.
Tensions have since mounted considerably over the deployment.
English (US) ·