Attorney General Pam Bondi released the suspects’ names and photographs and said, ‘We expect more arrests to come.’
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Jan. 28 that 16 protesters in Minneapolis had been arrested for allegedly assaulting federal law enforcement officers.
Bondi posted a list on social media of the names and pictures of those in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division. She said they had been charged under federal law for alleged “assaulting, resisting, or impeding” federal law enforcement officers during the performance of their duties.
“Federal agents have arrested 16 Minnesota rioters for allegedly assaulting federal law enforcement—people who have been resisting and impeding our federal law enforcement agents,” Bondi wrote in the post. “We expect more arrests to come.”
Bondi’s post provided no additional details about the alleged violations.
Minnesota and its biggest cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, have long been governed by officials of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, an affiliate of the Democratic Party. Opposition to ICE’s operations there has been high, with many protests focused on agents while they are performing arrests.
The enforcement action is part of Operation Metro Surge, launched in December by the Trump administration to arrest suspected illegal immigrants in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Several protesters have taken the Trump administration to court regarding their arrests. One lawsuit filed on Dec. 17 alleges that U.S. citizens peacefully protesting ICE arrests were detained by law enforcement agents before being released.
Several plaintiffs in that case asked a federal court to block law enforcement agents from arresting protesters who observe ICE activities in the city. U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez granted an injunction blocking such arrests on Jan. 16, though it was stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Jan. 26.
“[A]ssaulting federal officers, damaging federal property, blocking officers from leaving a volatile scene where such assaults are occurring, or chasing a law enforcement vehicle is not protected speech,” the Justice Department wrote in its brief opposing the injunction.
By Arjun Singh
