A federal appeals court blocked a lower judge’s ruling that restricted tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents when encountering protesters during immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota.

A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put a stay on a ruling that prohibited officers from “arresting, detaining, pepper-spraying or retaliating against protesters in Minneapolis without probable cause,” Fox News reports.

“We accessed and viewed the same videos the district court did,” the appeals court stated, according to the outlet.

“What they show is observers and protesters engaging in a wide range of conduct, some of it peaceful but much of it not. They also show federal agents responding in various ways,” it continued.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez issued the prior ruling.

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“Liberal judges tried to handcuff our federal law enforcement officers. The 8th Circuit has fully agreed,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said, according to Mario Nawfal.

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Menendez also blocked officers from stopping protesters who are following their activities in their cars.

“The district court entered a preliminary injunction with respect to federal immigration-enforcement operations in Minnesota. The injunction is unlikely to survive the government’s interlocutory appeal, … so we stay it pending a final decision in this case,” the panel, which includes Judges Raymond Gruender, Bobby Shepherd and David Stras, wrote.

The bench ruled that Menendez’s order is too vague. Her direction for law enforcement to not retaliate against people “engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity,” as well as the judge’s prohibition on “stopping or detaining drivers … where there is no reasonable articulable suspicion that they are forcibly obstructing or interfering with” agents, are simply commands to “obey the law,” according to the appellate court.

“Even the provision that singles out the use of ‘pepper-spray or similar nonlethal munitions and crowd dispersal tools’ requires federal agents to predict what the district court would consider ‘peaceful and unobstructive protest activity,’” the panel said.

Fox News shared further:

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called the ruling “incredibly disappointing” as “as federal agents claim they can act with impunity and kill people in our streets.”

“But, we’ll be clear: Minnesotans have the right to safely assemble, document, and protest federal immigration agents actions in our communities and we will continue to work to ensure all Minnesotans are able to exercise those rights without fear of being harmed by ICE or any other government actor,” said Deepinder Mayell, executive director of ACLU of Minnesota.

In a Jan. 16 ruling, U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez sided with the protesters and issued the preliminary injunction. The plaintiffs sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE over their treatment during immigration enforcement operations.

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In her ruling, Menendez found the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on claims that federal agents violated their First and Fourth Amendment rights during protests and observation of ICE activity tied to Operation Metro Surge in the Twin Cities.

She cited incidents in which ICE agents allegedly used pepper spray, pointed weapons, made arrests and conducted traffic stops against individuals who were peacefully observing or protesting immigration enforcement.

 

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