Background: Demonstrators face off with law enforcement officers outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building on January 8, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Michael Nigro/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images). Inset: Renee Nicole Good (Obituary on Ever Loved).
A group of citizens in Minnesota is pleading with a federal judge to immediately bar the Trump administration from "unconstitutionally" retaliating against "peaceful" protesters and observers of its immigration enforcement operation in the North Star State, citing a recent fatal shooting of a Minneapolis resident as evidence it is necessary.
The lawyers for the plaintiffs argued in a filing Thursday that "[t]hese 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 plaintiffs first filed a complaint against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its leaders on Dec. 17 after the federal government launched "Operation Metro Surge" in the state. They argued that the defendants' "cruel, arbitrary, and often unlawful immigration enforcement" in Minnesota "spurred protestors and observers to act," but that these individuals were met with "retaliatory violence, seizures and arrest."
They filed a temporary restraining order (TRO) request in federal court to stop the Trump administration's alleged "retaliatory" actions. U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez — "at the government's urging," the plaintiffs noted — converted that motion into a request for a preliminary injunction, giving the government more time to respond to the allegations.
In an opposition brief filed on Monday, the government claimed the allegations detailed in the citizens' complaints were "one-time isolated past incidents" and that there was "no threat of immediate and irreparable harm" to peaceful observers and protesters.
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.
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