Protesters in Minneapolis have launched a federal lawsuit to halt what they describe as "unconstitutional" actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, detailing violent confrontations that occurred on the same day agent fatally shot Renee Good.
Legal Challenge Details Aggressive ICE Tactics
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the lawsuit in December on behalf of a group of city residents. It alleges that as the Trump administration surged federal law enforcement into Minnesota, ICE agents followed people home, fired chemical spray and rubber bullets, and made threats of arrest.
In sworn statements submitted to the court on Thursday 8 January 2026, plaintiffs argue that "extraordinary circumstances"—including Good's death and subsequent aggressive confrontations—require a judge's swift intervention to prevent further threats.
"These 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," the attorneys wrote.
Eyewitness Accounts of Confrontations
One legal observer described an incident on Tuesday where she honked at an ICE vehicle driving erratically. Masked agents in tactical vests, one wearing a neck gaiter with a "skull face and the American flag," blocked and surrounded her car.
When she refused to roll down her window, an officer allegedly grew angry and threatened to "break my car window and arrest me" if she continued to follow them. She responded by holding up her phone and asking, "Do you want to say that again for the camera?" before the agents departed.
That same morning, she reported seeing another ICE agent fire pepper spray into an observer's moving car as it passed. She also described officers arresting a man of Somali descent, tackling him without checking his identification.
"This is why I watch ICE, so that we can document the way they're treating people, so people who are being kidnapped off the streets don't just disappear," her statement read.
Escalation Following Fatal Shooting
Hours after Renee Good was killed on 7 January, the lawsuit claims ICE officers tackled a young man outside a high school and "menaced" a crowd of protesters. Agents then "body slammed" another individual fleeing the area before an agent discharged a chemical irritant into the crowd from a device resembling a paintball gun.
"I could taste the spray in the air," one plaintiff stated, adding that the agents seemed "more aggressive, more violent, more cavalier" and were "comfortable just shoving people out of the way."
The Trump administration has labelled Good a "violent rioter," but witness statements and multi-angle video analysis appear to contradict the Department of Homeland Security's initial account, sparking nationwide protests.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, defending his demand for ICE to leave the city, urged the public on Friday 9 January 2026 to "Watch the video from every single angle."
The legal action mirrors a previous case in Chicago, where a federal judge banned tear gas after testimony revealed behaviour that "shocks the conscience." The Trump administration's enforcement surge in Minnesota, home to roughly 80,000 people of Somali ancestry, is part of a broader national mass deportation campaign.
