A group of Minnesota residents is urging a federal judge to promptly prevent the Trump administration from allegedly retaliating against “peaceful” protesters and witnesses of immigration enforcement activities in the state. They point to a recent fatal shooting of a Minneapolis resident as evidence supporting the need for immediate action.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys argued in a Thursday filing that Minnesota citizens exercising their constitutional rights to assemble and speak are facing “unconstitutional and terrifying violence” by federal agents. This includes reports of unwarranted pepper spraying and baseless arrests occurring frequently.

The group initially filed a complaint against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its officials on December 17, following the initiation of “Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota. They contend that the federal government’s “cruel, arbitrary, and often unlawful immigration enforcement” sparked protests and observations, which were subsequently met with “retaliatory violence, seizures, and arrests.”

The plaintiffs have requested a temporary restraining order (TRO) in federal court to halt the alleged retaliatory measures by the Trump administration. U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez, responding to a government request, converted this motion into a preliminary injunction request, allowing the government additional time to address the claims.

In a brief opposing the TRO filed on Monday, the government argued that the incidents cited in the complaints were “isolated past events” and insisted there is “no threat of immediate and irreparable harm” to peaceful protesters and observers.

As the new filing from the plaintiffs puts it, “[t]he government’s claims were not true.”

“The very same day that the government’s brief was filed, reports emerged that the government was deploying an additional two thousand federal agents to Minnesota,” their lawyers wrote. “Two days after that, an ICE agent shot and killed observer Renee Good while she was driving away from agents who were attempting to force their way into her vehicle.”

“And things appear to be getting worse, not better: even more federal agents are being deployed to Minnesota at this very moment,” they added.

The protesters’ and observers’ lawyers continued, urging Menendez, a Joe Biden appointee, to grant a TRO given the new “extraordinary circumstances.”

In sum, Defendants’ heightened presence in this District is not only ongoing—it’s intensifying. And with intensified federal law enforcement efforts in Minnesota come increased gatherings of people to protest and bear witness to what is happening to our community. There is an immediate need for the entry of a temporary restraining order to preclude the government from continuing to violate the First and Fourth Amendment rights of these brave individuals. That order can and should enter while the government’s investigation and further process related to a preliminary injunction continue. These are precisely the sorts of “extraordinary circumstances” premised on new evidence that a motion for reconsideration exists to remedy.

Good, 37, was shot and killed on Wednesday by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent as she drove her Honda Pilot away from officers and refused orders to get out of the vehicle. Her death has resulted in a firestorm of fury from citizens in Minnesota and across the U.S.

The Trump administration has defended the ICE agent’s actions, with Vice President JD Vance suggesting she was part of a “broader left wing network” that used “domestic terror techniques” to target federal agents and Attorney General Pam Bondi warning, “Do not test our resolve.”

A day after Good was killed, a Customs and Border Protection agent shot two people in Portland, Oregon, with federal authorities saying the individuals tried to run federal officers over.