A federal judge has issued an order barring Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal officers from retaliating against people who are peacefully protesting or observing immigration enforcement operations in the Minneapolis area, marking a significant judicial intervention amid escalating federal activity in Minnesota.
The ruling was issued Friday by Kate Menendez, a Biden appointee based in Minneapolis. It applies to federal officers involved in “Operation Metro Surge,” an immigration enforcement operation that the Department of Homeland Security has claimed is its largest ever. Under the preliminary injunction, federal officers are prohibited from retaliating against, arresting, detaining, or targeting with nonlethal munitions, including pepper spray, anyone “engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity,” including those observing ICE operations.
Menendez also placed limits on vehicle stops related to immigration enforcement activity. “The act of safely following Covered Federal Agents at an appropriate distance does not, by itself, create reasonable suspicion to justify a vehicle stop,” the judge said.
The injunction was issued in response to Tincher v. Noem et al., a lawsuit brought in December 2025 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota on behalf of six community members who alleged that their constitutional rights were violated during ICE protests in the Twin Cities. One of the plaintiffs, Susan Tincher, said she was arrested merely for driving to the site of an ICE operation.
“I was on a public street,” Tincher said in a statement. “I did not cross any lines. I did not interfere with anything. I did not disobey an order. I asked a single question–‘are you ICE?’–and almost immediately, officers rushed me, grabbed me, and slammed me face-first into the snow.”
ICE activity in Minnesota intensified after the lawsuit was filed, culminating in a dramatic influx of federal agents and the fatal shooting of legal observer Renee Nicole Good. According to the timeline outlined by the plaintiffs, approximately 2,000 federal agents arrived in the Twin Cities on January 6, followed by Good’s killing the next day.
On January 8, the day after Good’s murder, the plaintiffs’ attorneys sent an emergency letter to Judge Menendez urging immediate court intervention. “Thousands of peaceful observers and protesters turned out in the streets of the Twin Cities in the wake of Ms. Good’s murder,” the letter reads. “Peaceful observers and protesters turned out again today, they will turn out again tomorrow, and they will continue turning out every day until Operation Metro Surge is over.”
The letter further warned that demonstrators were facing escalating violence. “These Minnesotans who are peacefully exercising their core constitutional rights to speak and gather continue to be met with unconstitutional and terrifying violence at the hands of federal agents on a daily basis, including unwarranted pepper spraying and unfounded arrests,” the attorneys wrote. “And things appear to be getting worse, not better: Even more federal agents are being deployed to Minnesota at this very moment.”
Following the ruling, the ACLU of Minnesota welcomed the court’s action. “We are relieved that in Tincher v. Noem et al. the court has issued a preliminary injunction,” the organization wrote. “The ACLU-MN is hopeful that it will prevent further First Amendment violations like the ones that have been harming Minnesotans since the start of ‘Operation Metro Surge.’”
Good’s killing was not the only incident cited by advocates. The ruling also followed several other high-profile cases of ICE violence in Minnesota, including the nonlethal shooting of a man during a traffic stop and the hospitalization of three children after ICE tear-gassed the van they were traveling in.
Menendez’s decision came the same day reports emerged that President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice was investigating Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over their public criticism of ICE operations in the Twin Cities.
Tensions escalated further after news broke that the Department of Defense had placed 1,500 active duty troops on standby for possible deployment to Minnesota. The move came two days after Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to widespread protests against immigration enforcement in the area.
Mayor Frey responded forcefully to the news, rejecting what he described as federal intimidation. “This act was clearly designed to intimidate the people of Minneapolis, and here’s the thing: We’re not going to be intimidated,” Frey said during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union.
Describing the situation facing the city, Frey added, “I never thought in a million years that we would be invaded by our own federal government.”
Frey emphasized that the federal presence already far outweighed local law enforcement, noting that approximately 3,000 ICE and Customs and Border Protection officers were operating in the area compared with roughly 600 local police officers. “The best way to get safety is not to have an influx of even more agents and, in this case, military in Minneapolis,” he said.
Minnesota authorities have also taken precautionary steps. Governor Walz ordered the Minnesota National Guard to mobilize, though state officials said the Guard was not deployed to city streets and would focus on supporting public safety and protecting the rights of people who assemble peacefully.
Asked whether he feared a scenario in which ICE, CBP, the military, the National Guard, and local police could end up in conflict, Frey responded bluntly. “We can’t have that in America,” he said.
As protests continue and additional legal challenges remain pending, the preliminary injunction issued by Judge Menendez places temporary limits on federal enforcement tactics in Minnesota. Whether those limits will hold, and how the Trump administration responds, remains a central question as the Twin Cities continue to serve as a focal point for national debates over immigration enforcement, protest rights, and the reach of federal power.
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