Aggressive tactics used on Minneapolis protesters raise concerns about
federal officer training
[January 16, 2026]
By CLAUDIA LAUER
Federal immigration agents deployed to Minneapolis have used aggressive
crowd-control tactics that have become a dominant concern in the
aftermath of the deadly shooting of a woman in her car last week.
They have pointed rifles at demonstrators and deployed chemical
irritants early in confrontations. They have broken vehicle windows and
pulled occupants from cars. They have scuffled with protesters and
shoved them to the ground.
The government says the actions are necessary to protect officers from
violent attacks. The encounters in turn have riled up protesters even
more, especially as videos of the incidents are shared widely on social
media.
What is unfolding in Minneapolis reflects a broader shift in how the
federal government is asserting its authority during protests, relying
on immigration agents and investigators to perform crowd-management
roles traditionally handled by local police who often have more training
in public order tactics and de-escalating large crowds.
Experts warn the approach runs counter to de-escalation standards and
risks turning volatile demonstrations into deadly encounters.
The confrontations come amid a major immigration enforcement surge
ordered by the Trump administration in early December, which sent more
than 2,000 officers from across the Department of Homeland Security into
the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Many of the officers involved are
typically tasked with arrests, deportations and criminal investigations,
not managing volatile public demonstrations.
Tensions escalated after the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old
woman killed by an immigration agent last week, an incident federal
officials have defended as self-defense after they say Good weaponized
her vehicle.
The killing has intensified protests and scrutiny of the federal
response.
On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota asked a
federal judge to intervene, filing a lawsuit on behalf of six residents
seeking an emergency injunction to limit how federal agents operate
during protests, including restrictions on the use of chemical agents,
the pointing of firearms at non-threatening individuals and interference
with lawful video recording.
Stepping outside their traditional role
“There’s so much about what’s happening now that is not a traditional
approach to immigration apprehensions,” said former Immigration and
Customs Enforcement Director Sarah Saldaña.
Saldaña, who left the post at the beginning of 2017 as President Donald
Trump's first term began, said she can't speak to how the agency
currently trains its officers. When she was director, she said officers
received training on how to interact with people who might be observing
an apprehension or filming officers, but agents rarely had to deal with
crowds or protests.
“This is different. You would hope that the agency would be responsive
given the evolution of what’s happening — brought on, mind you, by the
aggressive approach that has been taken coming from the top,” she said.
Ian Adams, an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University
of South Carolina, said the majority of crowd-management or protest
training in policing happens at the local level — usually at larger
police departments that have public order units.
“It’s highly unlikely that your typical ICE agent has a great deal of
experience with public order tactics or control,” Adams said.
DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a written statement that ICE
officer candidates receive extensive training over eight weeks in
courses that include conflict management and de-escalation. She said
many of the candidates are military veterans and about 85% have previous
law enforcement experience.
“All ICE candidates are subject to months of rigorous training and
selection at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, where they are
trained in everything from de-escalation tactics to firearms to driving
training. Homeland Security Investigations candidates receive more than
100 days of specialized training," she said.
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Law enforcement officers at the scene of a reported shooting
Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Ed Maguire, a criminology professor at Arizona State University, has
written extensively about crowd-management and protest- related law
enforcement training. He said while he hasn't seen the current
training curriculum for ICE officers, he has reviewed recent
training materials for federal officers and called it “horrifying.”
Tactics that escalate tension
Maguire said what he's seeing in Minneapolis feels like a perfect
storm for bad consequences.
“You can't even say this doesn't meet best practices. That's too
high a bar. These don't seem to meet generally accepted practices,”
he said.
“We’re seeing routinely substandard law enforcement practices that
would just never be accepted at the local level,” he added. “Then
there seems to be just an absence of standard accountability
practices.”
Adams noted that police department practices have "evolved to
understand that the sort of 1950s and 1960s instinct to meet every
protest with force, has blowback effects that actually make the
disorder worse.”
He said police departments now try to open communication with
organizers, set boundaries and sometimes even show deference within
reason. There's an understanding that inside of a crowd, using
unnecessary force can have a domino effect that might cause
escalation from protesters and from officers.
Despite training for officers responding to civil unrest
dramatically shifting over the last four decades, there is no
nationwide standard of best practices. For example, some departments
bar officers from spraying pepper spray directly into the face of
people exercising Constitutional speech. Others bar the use of tear
gas or other chemical agents in residential neighborhoods.
Regardless of the specifics, experts recommend that departments have
written policies they review regularly.
“Organizations and agencies aren’t always familiar with what their
own policies are,” said Humberto Cardounel, senior director of
training and technical assistance at the National Policing
Institute.
“They go through it once in basic training then expect (officers) to
know how to comport themselves two years later, five years later,"
he said. "We encourage them to understand and know their training,
but also to simulate their training.”
Adams said part of the reason local officers are the best option for
performing public order tasks is they have a compact with the
community.
“I think at the heart of this is the challenge of calling what ICE
is doing even policing,” he said.
"Police agencies have a relationship with their community that
extends before and after any incidents. Officers know we will be
here no matter what happens, and the community knows regardless of
what happens today, these officers will be here tomorrow.”
Saldaña noted that both sides have increased their aggression.
“You cannot put yourself in front of an armed officer, you cannot
put your hands on them certainly. That is impeding law enforcement
actions,” she said.
“At this point, I’m getting concerned on both sides — the aggression
from law enforcement and the increasingly aggressive behavior from
protesters.”
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