ICE is cracking down on people following them in their cars

By Ted Hesson, Christina Cook and Brad Heath

WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Becky Ringstrom was driving home in her gray Kia SUV in suburban Minneapolis after being chased by federal immigration officials when she was suddenly boxed in by unmarked vehicles. At least a half-dozen masked agents rushed out to arrest him, with one knocking on his windshield with a metal object as if threatening to use it to break his window.

After the arrest, captured on bystander video verified by Reuters, the 42-year-old mother later said she was taken to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in downtown Minneapolis where an officer cited her for the charges under a federal law that criminalizes law enforcement. The official said his name and photograph will be added to the government database.

Ringstrom’s arrest became the latest of thousands of local activists detained for violating Title 18, Section 111 of the US Code, which prohibits anyone from “forcibly assaulting, resisting, resisting, obstructing, threatening, or interfering” with the performance of a federal officer’s duties. Statutes can be charged as either a felony or a misdemeanor. As a felony, it carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years, but sentences of more than eight years are reserved for those who use a “deadly or dangerous weapon” or cause injury.

A Reuters review of federal court records found that the Trump administration has prosecuted at least 655 people across the US on those charges since a series of city-focused immigration crackdowns began last summer. That’s more than double the number of prosecutions for the same period in 2024-2025, according to a review of publicly available criminal files on Westlaw, a legal research database owned by Thomson Reuters.

Reuters used artificial intelligence in some instances to classify allegations, with spot-checks showing 98% accuracy. The numbers are nationwide and Reuters could not determine how many were connected to immigration enforcement, charged with crimes, or resulted in convictions.

The charges are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to crack down on ICE opponents, whom they portray as troublemakers who threaten authorities and undermine their efforts to arrest immigrants with criminal records.

“Assaulting and obstructing law enforcement is a crime,” said Tricia McLaughlin, spokeswoman for the US Department of Homeland Security. She said federal immigration officials “used the minimum force necessary to protect themselves, the public and federal property.”

ICE has been tracking the protesters’ names in an internal database for several months, according to two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the operations.

The government database contains names, photos, suspicious activity, locations and license plates, officials said, adding that the effort was aimed at detecting patterns that could lead to charges.

DHS said it does not maintain a database of US “domestic terrorists,” but tracks threats. “We certainly monitor and investigate and refer all threats, assaults and obstruction of our officers to appropriate law enforcement,” McLaughlin said.

An official said ICE is referring several people per day in Minnesota to federal prosecutors for possible charges of interfering with police operations under a similar law.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the Trump administration is committed to protecting First Amendment freedoms, but that those who obstruct law enforcement “will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

Observing the ice

Ringstrom watched federal immigration officials for about 45 minutes on Thursday, Jan. 29, as she sat in a parked car in her neighborhood. When they started to move, she decided to follow in her SUV, leaving several car lengths behind, she said.

At a roundabout, a Border Patrol agent approached his car and said, “I’m going to warn you one last time,” according to a video Ringstrom recorded on his phone.

The officers went right at the stop sign and she went left, she said. A few minutes later, as he began to walk back toward his home, several vehicles with federal officers stopped and arrested him, she said.

“I know what I’m doing is not wrong,” Ringstrom later said in an interview with Reuters.

Still, she said she was scared when federal authorities approached her car. “There was a moment where I thought I could be Renee Goode,” she said, referring to one of the two US citizen protesters who were shot and killed by federal immigration officials in Minneapolis in January.

After his arrest, he was issued a citation, reviewed by Reuters, that said a court date was “TBD” — to be determined.

McLaughlin said Ringstrom “followed law enforcement and attempted to obstruct law enforcement from fulfilling their sworn duties.”

Seth Stoughton, a professor focused on policing at the University of South Carolina School of Law, said that in the past the law has often been used to charge officers with assault and specifically states that the alleged crime must be “forced.”

“Without any physical contact, following the agent in the car, it’s not clear to me whether that was resistance or obstruction in the first place, and it certainly seems like a stretch to establish coercion,” Stoughton said.

A federal judge in Minneapolis said in a mid-January ruling that a vehicle following ICE for a “reasonable distance” did not justify a traffic stop or arrest, but that ruling was stayed by an appeals court 10 days later.

The judge’s now suspended order did not say what exact distance would be considered safe.

Deborah Fleischacher, the top ICE official under former President Joe Biden, said it was “inappropriate and unconstitutional” to peacefully threaten and arrest people following immigration officials in their cars.

“Observing ICE activities is not a crime and should not be treated as such,” she said.

McLaughlin said U.S. Border Patrol agents at the scene gave Ringstrom a “lawful order and warning” but she continued to disrupt the operation, leading to her arrest.

“When protesters voluntarily involve themselves in law enforcement actions and inject themselves, they risk arrest as well as endanger their safety and those around them,” McLaughlin said.

Videos show Ice officers drawing weapons

While new internal ICE guidance, reported by Reuters in late January, directed officers not to engage with protesters, the encounters have not stopped.

Two videos verified by Reuters in recent weeks show ICE officers drawing their weapons as they approach vehicles that are pursuing them.

On Jan. 29, south of Minneapolis, Ringstrom was arrested, the same day federal immigration officials made a sudden U-turn, stopped his vehicle and approached a woman driving with a gun, according to dashcam footage from her vehicle, reported by Minnesota Public Radio and verified by Reuters.

McLaughlin said ICE officers were attempting to arrest a criminal when the woman began “stalking and obstructing” them, leading officers to attempt to arrest her.

“Law enforcement officers tried to pull him over using their emergency lights to issue a warning,” McLaughlin said. “Disregarding law enforcement commands, the protester refused to pull over and began driving recklessly, including running stop signs, nearly colliding with multiple vehicles, and driving directly into law enforcement in an attempt to ram their vehicle.”

Reuters could not independently verify whether the woman ignored orders or drove recklessly.

In a separate incident on February 3, two ICE officers approached a car that was following them, again with a gun, according to video verified by Reuters and a DHS statement.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the vehicle was “following” and “obstructing” ICE officers.

“The protestors then followed the officers as they left and suggested firearms,” ​​DHS said.

Reuters could not independently verify the agency’s account. Video reviewed by Reuters showed the vehicles coming to a stop.

Under Trump, many DHS statements are inaccurate or incomplete after violent encounters with immigration agents.

Ice on your front door

Some Minnesota residents say they believe they are being subjected to a campaign of intimidation.

In a northern suburb of St. Paul on Jan. 22, an ICE officer followed a woman back to her home in her vehicle, making it clear that her husband knew her identity and whereabouts, a Reuters-verified video showed.

The woman’s husband spoke with an ICE officer outside the couple’s home. When the husband questioned the tactic, the officer said, “You raise your voice, I’ll silence you,” the video shows.

An ICE official told Reuters that they have taken people back to their homes by running their license plates “to avoid them.”

McLaughlin said ICE will review body camera footage and investigate the incident in St. Paul, but did not comment on ICE using scare tactics to oppose opponents.

In early January, two friends — Brandon Siguenza and Patty O’Keefe — who were following an ICE vehicle in Minneapolis said officers fired pepper spray into their car, smashed their car windows and detained them for eight hours.

McLaughlin said officers gave them several warnings to “stop disrupting” operations, but they “chose to continue law enforcement and were arrested.”

“The passenger refused to roll down the window and exit the vehicle,” McLaughlin said. “ICE law enforcement followed their training and used the minimum force necessary to make an arrest.”

McLaughlin did not specifically confirm whether officers broke car windows or deployed pepper spray.

Siguenza and O’Keefe have not been charged.

(Reporting by Ted Hesson and Brad Heath in Washington, and Christina Cook in San Francisco. Additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova, Monica Naim, Vinaya Kay, Marine Delrue, Tiffany Le, Fernando Robles and Gerardo Gomez. Editing by Craig Timberg and Diener Michael Kraft)