MINNEAPOLIS – In a significant legal decision, a Minnesota judge has ruled that federal agents involved in a major immigration enforcement operation in the Minneapolis area cannot arrest or use tear gas on peaceful demonstrators who are not obstructing their activities. This decision applies even if the individuals are simply observing the agents, as per the ruling delivered on Friday.

U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez issued this ruling in response to a lawsuit filed in December by six local activists.

Since early December, thousands have been monitoring the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol officers as part of the Trump administration’s intensified immigration efforts in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region.

The court’s decision also restricts the officers from stopping vehicles unless there is a justified suspicion that the occupants are hindering or interfering with their operations.

The ruling emphasized that merely following agents at a safe and reasonable distance does not constitute enough suspicion to warrant a vehicle stop.

Menendez said the agents would not be allowed to arrest people without probable cause or reasonable suspicion the person has committed a crime or was obstructing or interfering with the activities of officers.

The activists in the case are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, which says government officers are violating the constitutional rights of Twin Cities residents.

Government attorneys argued that the officers have been acting within their legal authority to enforce immigration laws and protect themselves.

Menendez is also presiding over a lawsuit filed Monday by the state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul seeking to suspend the enforcement crackdown, and some of the legal issues are similar. She declined at a hearing Wednesday to grant the state’s request for an immediate temporary restraining order in that case.

“What we need most of all right now is a pause. The temperature needs to be lowered,” state Assistant Attorney General Brian Carter told her.

Menendez said the issues raised by the state and cities in that case are “enormously important.” But she said it raises high-level constitutional and other legal issues, and for some of those issues there are few on-point precedents. So she ordered both sides to file more briefs next week.