A federal judge in Minnesota is considering whether to significantly restrict the operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers during a large-scale federal enforcement campaign in Minneapolis, including by imposing limits that critics argue could compromise agents’ ability to defend themselves in potentially hazardous situations.
The case, Tincher v. Noem, was filed in December by Minneapolis residents and later backed by Minnesota officials challenging the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge known as “Operation Metro Surge.” Plaintiffs are seeking a court order that would restrict ICE’s use of force, including limits on chemical irritants and on when officers may draw their weapons. Similar lawsuits were filed this week in Illinois and Minnesota.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, declined this week to rule immediately on the request for a temporary injunction and instead gave the Justice Department until Monday to submit additional filings. She said the issues raised involve “grave and important matters” but fall into relatively uncharted areas of constitutional law.
The lawsuit has gained renewed attention following the fatal shooting of Minneapolis resident Renee Good, 37, during a confrontation with a federal agent last week. While the shooting was not the subject matter of a Tuesday hearing, it has intensified scrutiny of ICE operations already underway.
The administration’s enforcement campaign began in late November and has resulted in the arrests of roughly 2,400 illegal immigrants in Minnesota since Nov. 29, many involving individuals with serious criminal convictions. The Department of Homeland Security has described the deployment of approximately 3,000 federal agents to Minnesota as its largest immigration operation to date.
At the center of the case weighed by Menendez is plaintiff Susan Tincher, a Minneapolis mother and small-business owner who alleges she was unlawfully detained after approaching ICE officers on a public sidewalk and asking whether they were federal agents. The lawsuit alleges she was detained in violation of her First and Fourth Amendment rights.
According to the complaint, Tincher says she was standing six feet away from officers and asked them, “Are you ICE?” before she was forced to the ground, handcuffed, transported to a federal building, and held for hours without being charged. The DOJ disputes Tincher’s account, saying she ignored repeated orders to move back and was arrested because officers reasonably believed she was physically interfering with an operation to detain a violent criminal.
Plaintiffs are asking the court to impose broad restrictions on ICE conduct while the case proceeds, including barring officers from using chemical irritants against individuals who do not pose an imminent threat and prohibiting agents from pointing firearms absent an immediate risk of death or serious bodily injury.
In the separate complaint filed recently by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D), the state notably seeks to curb the ICE tactic of changing licenses plates on their vehicles, a strategy that is intended in part to prevent members of the public from “doxing” agents or jeopardizing their safety. Activists in Minneapolis have crowdsourced a sophisticated surveillance network to follow and protest ICE officers, including by tracking license plate numbers known to belong to ICE vehicles.
Jonathan Fahey, a former federal prosecutor and former acting director of ICE from 2020 to 2021, told the Washington Examiner that the requested relief goes far beyond how alleged constitutional violations are typically addressed in court.
“If someone believes their First or Fourth Amendment rights were violated, there are already established legal remedies,” Fahey said. “Those claims are usually litigated after the fact, based on specific encounters, not through sweeping injunctions that dictate tactics for every officer in every situation.”
Fahey warned that judicially imposed limits on law enforcement tactics raise separation-of-powers concerns and could put officers at risk by forcing them to second-guess split-second decisions.
“Once courts start weighing in on when officers can use pepper spray or draw their weapons, you’re getting deep into executive branch functions,” he said. “That’s not what judges are trained to do, and it’s not where the Constitution places those decisions.”
DOJ lawyers made similar arguments in court filings submitted to the docket earlier this month, warning that the proposed injunction is vague, overly intrusive, and could endanger officers operating in hostile environments. The government has said ICE officers have been surrounded by crowds and pelted with projectiles during arrests in Minneapolis.
To obtain a temporary restraining order, the plaintiffs must convince the judge that they are more likely than not to ultimately succeed on the merits of their claims and that immediate relief is necessary to prevent irreparable harm. If the judge finds that the standard is met, she will be more likely to issue a temporary restraining order, though any such order would be subject to appeal.
Menendez noted during the hearing on Tuesday that the government had not yet submitted sworn statements from the officers involved in disputed encounters and asked federal lawyers to produce any available body-camera footage. Although she initially said she intended to rule by Thursday at the earliest, she later pushed back her timeline to allow the government time to submit supplemental records.
The Trump administration has defended the Minnesota surge as a response to sanctuary policies enforced by state and local officials. In a statement on Wednesday, DHS accused Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) of refusing to cooperate with ICE and releasing nearly 470 criminal illegal aliens from Minnesota jails since President Donald Trump took office.
The DOJ cited the case of German Llangari Inga, an illegal immigrant charged with criminal vehicular homicide in the August 2024 drunk-driving death of Minnesota mother Victoria Eileen Harwell. According to DHS, local authorities declined twice to honor ICE detainers for Llangari Inga, releasing him without notifying federal agents before ICE later arrested him independently.
“This is the exact reason we are in Minneapolis,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, accusing state and city leaders of putting both the public and federal officers at risk.
Democratic leaders have continued to criticize the enforcement operation. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said in a television interview this week that ICE has not “been able to produce any evidence that they are finding people who are undocumented who have committed crimes,” which is a false claim, as federal officials have released arrest data and criminal case histories.
Fahey said efforts to restrict ICE tactics often reflect opposition to immigration enforcement itself rather than genuine concern over officer conduct.
FAMILY OF RENEE GOOD HIRES GEORGE FLOYD ATTORNEY
“They’re not really mad about how ICE is operating,” he said. “They’re mad that ICE is actually doing its job.”
Menendez set a Jan. 19 deadline for the federal government to respond to the request for a temporary restraining order and a Jan. 22 deadline for the plaintiffs to reply. A decision on whether to impose emergency restrictions on ICE operations could follow later this month.