Protestors who want to speak out aboutthe fatal shooting of Renee Goodface a barrage of conflicting directives from authorities.
Minnesota Gov.Tim Walzencouraged protestors to record federal immigration authorities: "Help us establish a record of exactly what's happening in our communities,"Walz said in an appeal to his state's residents.
But the Trump administration has framedgroups that monitor and track ICEas improperly keeping the agency from completing immigration removals.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlinhas saidposting photos and videos of ICE agents online is "doxxing" and threatened to "prosecute those who illegally harass ICE agents to the fullest extent of the law."
"Gov. Walz is encouraging obstruction to federal law enforcement which is a federal crime and felony," McLaughlin told USA TODAY. "He is putting his own constituents in potentially dangerous and criminal situations."
And Republican Minnesota state Rep. Harry Niska slammed Walz, saying the governor "has fueled fear and anger by falsely claiming Minnesota is'at war'with the federal government,'under attack'by ICE, and by smearing federal agents as the'modern-day Gestapo.'"
Officers have deployed gas and shot rubber bullets, a tense situation that has left demonstrators in "a very difficult position," Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of America's Voice, told USA TODAY.
"Americans from all walks of life are kind of walking, navigating this moment, trying to just really express their rejection to what we're seeing play out in our communities and also trying to be safe," Cárdenas said. "But point being is like, no one's safe, right?"
Both Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Walz have called for calm, with Walz appealing directly to Trump and asking to "turn the temperature down."
"We can - we must - speak out loudly, urgently, but also peacefully," he said in astatement to Minnesotans. "We cannot fan the flames of chaos. That's what he wants."
A federal agent shot a person in the leg in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Jan. 14 after being assaulted during an arrest, the Department of Homeland Security said, sparking further protests in a city on edge after the deadly shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent earlier this month. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Second shooting incident in Minneapolis amid ICE protests. See the scene
A federal agentshot a person in the leg in Minneapolison Wednesday, Jan. 14 after being assaulted during an arrest, the Department of Homeland Security said, sparking further protests in a city on edge after the deadly shooting ofRenee Nicole Goodby an ICE agent earlier this month.
Do protestors have a right to film federal agents?
Americans havea First Amendment right to observe and record law enforcement, including ICE, while they are doing their jobs publicly, according to several First Amendment organizations.
But there are also clear legal limits.
"You can't stop federal officers from doing their lawful duties and it's truly not up to individual neighbors to decide whether what ICE is doing is lawful," said Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at the South Texas College of Law in Houston. "In other words, unless there's a court order saying 'ICE get out of Minnesota' or 'get out of Minneapolis,' they're allowed to be there. They're allowed to enforce federal law."
Filming law enforcement officers has become more commonplace with the rise of smartphones and after a bystander recorded the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis in 2020.
MinneapolisCity Council President Elliott Payne,who himself wasshoved by an officer while monitoring ICE operations, has also urged people tojoin Defend the 612, which helps connect people in the Minneapolis area code with the hundreds of small neighborhood groups involved in rapid response, school protection patrols and community aid planning.
'No one can guarantee' protests will be peaceful
Cárdenas, of America's Voice, said that local organizers and leaders have repeatedly stressed that protests need to be peaceful and to not intervene, but violence is not entirely preventable.
"It's also a reality that sometimes that happens because you have different circumstances and you might have some bad actors that are embedded into this protest," she said. "No one can guarantee that violence is not going to happen."
That's in part because there is no centralized group running the protests that can appeal to protesters to stay nonviolent, according to Sidney Tarrow, an emeritus professor of political science at Cornell University who studies social movements.
The mass protests that occurred across the country in 2025were organized by a coalition of large national left-leaning groups, such as Indivisible, but were implemented and held by local activists. Those protests, which occurred in thousands of cities across the country and involved millions of people,remained nearly violence-free.
No such group is playing a role in these protests. ICE Watch, which the Trump administration has repeatedly blamed as the mastermind, is a training program that teaches best practices of how to protest ICE without interfering in the arrests. Not everyone protesting has undergone the trainings.
In Minneapolis, protests have started from loosely organized Facebook groups and Signal chats sharing where ICE agents are and what vehicles they are driving, but like in other major cities across the country, there isn't a cadre of people in charge directing the actions.
Tarrow said it's remarkable that the demonstrations have remained as peaceful as they have for so long.
"Normally one would expect there to be sporadic, scattered outbreaks of violence from people who see themselves as part of the movement and are so outraged by the behavior of the government that they cannot hold themselves back from engaging in violence," he said. "There's also the very strong possibility that the violent behavior of some of the ICE agents will trigger violence or will be interpreted as violence on the part of the protesters. So far, we haven't seen that."
Contributing:Cate Charron, USA TODAY NETWORK
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:ICE protestors on a tightrope between conflict and peace
