Authors: Ted Hesson, Christina Cook, and Brad Heath
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Becky Ringstrom was following federal immigration officials home in her gray Kia SUV in a Minneapolis suburb when she was suddenly surrounded by unmarked vehicles. At least six masked agents jumped out to arrest her, with one hitting her windshield with a metal object and appearing to threaten to use it to break her window.
Reuters confirmed that after the 42-year-old mother of seven was arrested, she was taken to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in downtown Minneapolis, where an officer issued her a summons charging her with a charge under federal law that criminalizes obstructing law enforcement. Her name and photo will be added to a government database, the official said.
Lindstrom’s arrest became the latest of thousands of local activists to be detained for violating 18 U.S. Code Section 111, which targets anyone who “forcibly attacks, resists, opposes, obstructs, intimidates, or interferes” with federal officials in the performance of their official duties. This statute can be charged as a felony or misdemeanor. As a felony, the crime is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, but for those who use a “deadly or dangerous weapon” or cause injury, the penalty can be more than eight years.
A Reuters review of federal court records found that the Trump administration has charged at least 655 people across the country with this crime since a series of immigration crackdowns began last summer that targeted cities. That’s more than double the number of prosecutions in the same period from 2024 to 2025, according to a review of public criminal files in Westlaw, a legal research database owned by Thomson Reuters.
Reuters has used artificial intelligence to classify accusations in some cases, with spot checks showing an accuracy rate of 98%. The figures are national, and Reuters could not determine how many people were involved in immigration enforcement, charged with felonies, or convicted.
The charges are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to target opponents of ICE, painting them as thugs who pose a threat to police and undermine their efforts to arrest immigrants with criminal records.
“Assault and obstructing law enforcement are felonies,” said Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. She said federal immigration officers “used the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public and federal property.”
ICE has been tracking the names of protesters in an internal database for months, according to two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The government database contains names, photos, behavior that raises suspicion, locations and license plates, officials said, adding that the move is intended to uncover patterns that could lead to charges.
The Department of Homeland Security says it does not maintain a database of U.S. “domestic terrorists” but does track threats. “We will of course monitor and investigate and refer all threats, attacks and obstructions directed at our officers to the appropriate law enforcement authorities,” McLaughlin said.
In Minnesota alone, ICE turns over several people a day to federal prosecutors for charges of interfering with police operations under the same law, one of the officials said.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said the Trump administration is committed to protecting First Amendment freedoms, but those who obstruct law enforcement “will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
observing ice
Lindstrom watched federal immigration officials for about 45 minutes on Thursday, Jan. 29, from a parked car near her home. She said when they started moving, she decided to follow them in her SUV, keeping several car lengths behind them.
At a roundabout, a Border Patrol agent approached her car and said, “I’m going to warn you one last time,” according to video recorded on Lindstrom’s phone.
She said the officer went right at the stop sign and she went left. Minutes later, as she was preparing to return home, multiple vehicles carrying federal officers stopped her and arrested her, she said.
“I know what I did was not wrong,” Lindstrom later told Reuters in an interview.
However, she said she felt scared when federal officers approached her car. “For a moment, I thought I could be Renee Good,” she said, referring to one of two U.S. citizen protesters shot to death by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis in January.
After her arrest, she was issued a summons, which was reviewed by Reuters and said a court date was “to be determined.”
McLaughlin said Lindstrom “stalked law enforcement and attempted to impede law enforcement from carrying out their sworn duties.”
Seth Stoughton, a professor who studies policing at the University of South Carolina School of Law, said the law used to be used primarily to charge assaults on police officers and specifically required that the alleged crime must have been committed “by force.”
“Just following an agent in a car without any physical contact, it’s not clear to me that this was resistance or obstruction from the outset, and identifying it as coercion seems a stretch,” Stoughton said.
A federal judge in Minneapolis said in an order in mid-January that a vehicle following ICE at an “appropriate distance” did not justify a traffic stop or arrest, but an appeals court suspended that order 10 days later.
The judge’s now-suspended order did not specify what safe distances would be.
Deborah Fleischaker, a top ICE official under former President Joe Biden, said intimidating and arresting people who followed immigration officers in their cars was “inappropriate and unconstitutional.”
“Observing ICE activity is not a crime and should not be considered a crime,” she said.
McLaughlin said U.S. Border Patrol agents on the scene gave Lindstrom “lawful commands and warnings,” but she continued to obstruct the operation, leading to her arrest.
“When agitators voluntarily participate in law enforcement operations, they risk arrest and endanger their own safety and the safety of those around them,” McLaughlin said.
Video shows ice police officer with weapon drawn
According to a Reuters report in late January, despite new internal ICE guidelines instructing police not to engage with protesters, the clashes have not stopped.
Two videos from recent weeks verified by Reuters show ICE officers drawing their weapons as they approach vehicles allegedly following them.
On Jan. 29, the same day Lindstrom was arrested, federal immigration officers swerved, stopped and approached a woman driving behind them south of Minneapolis with a gun in her car, according to dashcam video first reported by Minnesota Public Radio and verified by Reuters.
McLaughlin said ICE officers were trying to arrest a criminal offender, but the woman began “stalking and obstructing” them, causing officers to try to arrest her.
“Law enforcement officers attempted to flag her down by using emergency lights to flag her down,” McLaughlin said. “The agitator ignored law enforcement’s orders, refused to pull over, and began driving recklessly, including running a stop sign, nearly colliding with multiple vehicles, and driving directly toward law enforcement in an attempt to ram their vehicle.”
Reuters could not independently verify whether the woman ignored orders or drove recklessly.
In another incident on February 3, two ICE officers again approached a car that had been following them with their guns drawn, according to video verified by Reuters and a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.
The Department of Homeland Security said the vehicle had been “stalking” and “impeding” ICE officers.
“The agitator then followed the officers away and made gestures suggesting they had firearms,” DHS said.
Reuters could not independently verify the agency’s account. Video reviewed by Reuters showed the vehicle coming to a stop.
Under Trump, many of the statements issued by the Department of Homeland Security after violent encounters with immigration agents were inaccurate or incomplete.
There’s ice at the front door
Some Minnesota residents say they believe they are being targeted in a campaign of intimidation.
Video taken by the husband and verified by Reuters shows an ICE officer leading a woman who was following his vehicle back to her home on Jan. 22 in a suburb north of St. Paul, making it clear that he knew her identity and address.
The woman’s husband spoke with ICE officers outside the couple’s home. When the husband questioned the tactic, the officer said: “You raise your voice and I’ll erase your voice,” the video shows.
An ICE official told Reuters they led people by following them back to their homes to “scare them” after looking at their license plates.
McLaughlin said ICE will review body camera footage and investigate the incident in St. Paul, but did not comment on ICE’s use of such tactics to intimidate opponents.
In early January, two friends, Brandon Siguenza and Patty O’Keefe, who were following an ICE vehicle in Minneapolis, said police pepper sprayed their car, smashed their windows and detained them for eight hours.
McLaughlin said police warned them multiple times to “stop obstructing” the operation, but they “chose to continue following law enforcement and were arrested.”
“The passenger refused to roll down the window and exit the vehicle,” McLaughlin said. “ICE officers followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to make the arrest.”
McLaughlin did not specifically confirm that officers broke the car windows or used pepper spray.
Siguenza and O’Keefe have not been charged.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson and Brad Heath in Washington and Kristina Cooke in San Francisco. Additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova, Monica Naime, Vinaya K, Marine Delrue, Tiffany Le, Fernando Robles and Gerardo Gomez. Editing by Craig Timberg, Diane Craft and Michael Learmonth)
