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A federal judge in Minnesota imposed restrictions on the actions of immigration agents toward protesters in the state on Friday, a decision that comes after weeks of mounting tension between demonstrators and federal officers.
Judge Kate M. Menendez ordered agents not to retaliate against people “engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity,” and not to use pepper spray or other “crowd dispersal tools” in retaliation for protected speech. The judge also said agents could not stop or detain protesters in vehicles who were not “forcibly obstructing or interfering with” agents.
The ruling, which granted a preliminary injunction, stems from a lawsuit brought by activists who said agents had violated their rights. The suit was filed before an immigration agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.
Ms. Good, 37, had partially blocked a roadway where agents were working and did not follow commands to get out of her S.U.V. As she began to drive, an agent near the front of her car opened fire.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement responding to the injunction that “D.H.S. is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.”
She said agents had faced assaults, had fireworks launched at them, and had the tires of their vehicles slashed. She added that despite “grave threats,” agents had “followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public and federal property.”
Ms. McLaughlin did not say whether the department planned to appeal the ruling.
Minnesota residents have clashed with federal agents since late 2025, when the federal government began an immigration enforcement campaign that it named Operation Metro Surge. Judge Menendez’s order applies only to federal agents in Minnesota who are participating in that campaign.
Judge Menendez, who was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota by President Joseph R. Biden Jr., clarified in her order that “the court’s injunction does nothing to prevent defendants from continuing to enforce immigration laws.” The injunction did not include explicit protections for recording of agents or other provisions sought by the plaintiffs.
The case is the latest in a series of legal challenges across the country, including in California, Illinois, and Washington, D.C., where civil and immigrant rights organizations have sought to curb the tactics of federal agents.
In Illinois, where immigration agents amassed for several weeks last year, a federal judge issued a sweeping injunction that placed several limits on how agents could use force and interact with protesters. An appellate court later blocked that ruling, calling it too broad and too prescriptive.
Tensions have been especially high in Minnesota since the killing of Ms. Good last week and the shooting of another man, who was injured, by an agent this week. Federal officials have accused Ms. Good of trying to ram the agent who shot her with her car. Minnesota officials have disputed that notion, and a New York Times video analysis suggests that Ms. Good, a U.S. citizen, was steering away from the agent when he opened fire. In the most recent shooting, officials said that the man, whom they described as being in the country illegally, was resisting arrest and had assaulted an agent with a shovel or a broom.
In recent weeks, protesters have been gathering in small groups and in large crowds, yelling at agents to leave Minnesota. In the lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota and law firms on behalf of activists, the plaintiffs claimed that federal agents had violated their constitutional rights by using excessive force. They said agents had intimidated, harassed, or arrested protesters who had not interfered with agents.
Lawyers for the Trump administration pushed back against those claims in court and have repeatedly described protesters in Minnesota as violent and unruly. They also argued against the injunction, saying that it “would place this court in the business of micromanaging D.H.S. officers’ conduct throughout Minnesota.” Federal officials have said their surge of immigration agents in Minnesota, a state led by Democrats, is necessary to crack down on illegal immigration and root out fraud in social service programs.
A separate lawsuit filed by the state and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul seeks to have a judge find the surge to be unconstitutional and order a stop to the campaign. No ruling has been reached in that case.
On Friday, the Trump administration was said to have opened a criminal investigation into Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis, and whether they had conspired to impede federal agents. Mr. Walz and Mr. Frey both described the inquiry as a weaponized use of law enforcement power.
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Minnesota residents have clashed with federal agents since late 2025, when the federal government began an immigration enforcement campaign that it named Operation Metro Surge. Credit…David Guttenfelder/The New York Times
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