Appeals Court Sides With Trump Admin to Lift Minnesota Protest Curbs on ICE Agents

The three-judge panel said they reviewed videos of the protests presented to the district court.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents confront protestors in front of the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minn., on Jan. 12, 2026. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

A federal appeals court on Jan. 26 granted the Trump administration a full stay of a lower court ruling that prevented ICE agents from detaining protesters or using nonlethal munitions and crowd dispersal tools during protests in Minnesota without probable cause.

In its ruling, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel said that U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez’s Jan. 16 injunction was “too vague” and that the Department of Homeland Security has made “a strong showing” that its challenge is likely to succeed on the merits.