Protests over ICE aggression

A US JUDGE on Friday restricted federal agents from interfering with peaceful protesters in Minnesota, after US President Donald Trump said there was no immediate need to invoke the Insurrection Act over the demonstrations.

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NICOLE Davis, a long time resident of Minneapolis, protests against the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency while holding the burial flag of her grandfather who served in the US Army, during a protest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, this week. AFP

(AFP)

In the 83-page order, US District Judge Katherine Menendez ordered immigration agents to dial back their aggressive tactics, barring the detention or arrest of peaceful protesters and drivers, and using pepper-spray against demonstrators.

The order gave the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) current operation in the northern US city 72 hours to come into compliance, and followed two incidents where federal agents opened fire, killing one person and injuring another in the span of a week.

In a separate legal move that could inflame the standoff between the White House and Minnesota elected officials, CBS News reported that the Justice Department was investigating Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey for impeding federal officers.

They have both called for peaceful protests against immigration sweeps in their state. The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.

Amid the escalating row between Trump and Minnesota leaders this week, the president threatened the drastic measure of invoking the Insurrection Act, allowing him to deploy the military to police the protests.

“If I needed it, I would use it. I don’t think there is any reason right now to use it,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked about the move.

The Insurrection Act allows a president to sidestep the Posse Comitatus Act to suppress “armed rebellion” or “domestic violence” and use deploy soldiers on US soil “as he considers necessary” to enforce the 19th-century law.