As of Feb. 3, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office has received 21 referrals for prosecution stemming from the recent wave of disruptive and sometimes violent protests against ICE. Of those cases, 11 submissions are in “a review stage,” nine were charged directly by law enforcement officers via citation, and one was dismissed, the county disclosed this week in response to a Washington Examiner data request regarding current prosecutions.

Prosecutions generally arise from charging recommendations proposed by police. However, police in Minnesota can issue a citation that directly charges a suspect, typically with a low-level crime, absent a formal criminal complaint returned from city or county prosecutors.

When contacted by the Washington Examiner about the lack of prosecutorial action, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office explained that most misdemeanors and other less serious offenses are referred to the Minneapolis city attorney, whereas the county prosecutor charges felonies.

But the Minneapolis chief prosecutor’s office has taken up few cases.

According to city data shared with the Washington Examiner, prosecutors in Minneapolis have filed just 15 formal complaints initiating criminal proceedings against protesters. Between Jan. 9 and Feb. 6, the Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office received referrals for 16 protest cases. Out of those, one is still pending review, and the rest resulted in charges.

The MCAO processes cases according to criminal conduct, not speech, according to the city’s communications department. Because of this, a city spokeswoman said, the Minneapolis prosecutor’s office would not confirm whether the basis of the underlying protest was “anti-ICE” in nature. Anti-ICE protests have swept the city since the Trump administration ramped up immigration enforcement in Minneapolis late last year.

Meanwhile, law enforcement has brought misdemeanor charges by citation in an additional 90 cases, the city spokeswoman confirmed, though she noted that the citations may be resolved “administratively” without being referred to the MCAO.

Nathan Hansen, a Minneapolis-area criminal defense attorney, told the Washington Examiner that the probable cause threshold for issuing a citation, also known as “tab charges,” is usually low in Minnesota. Simply being spotted around somebody discarding garbage on the ground can lead to a littering citation regardless of guilt.

“Only nine citations?” Hansen said of the county’s figures. “I’m shocked. That’s insane. There should probably be hundreds of citations based upon what I’ve seen.”

Last week, for example, anti-ICE activists began installing street blockades in the middle of busy Minneapolis intersections to prevent the passage of federal agents through these so-called “patrol zones.” The barricades, now scattered across the city and parts of St. Paul, are interfering with traffic, as activist patrols stationed at various inspection points stop motorists suspected of working for ICE.

Intentionally obstructing the roadway, especially while impeding emergency access, is a misdemeanor in Minnesota, as is being a public nuisance by blocking the right-of-way.

“These are crimes that really annoy regular people,” Hansen said.

As for chargeable felonies, Hansen said that assault on police, a common crime at the anti-ICE protests that turn violent, should warrant felony-level charges under Minnesota law.

“Anything that involves physical contact with a law enforcement officer, that’s going to probably get you into the felony level,” Hansen said.

In recent weeks, Minneapolis police officers, tasked with crowd control and peacekeeping efforts, have been caught in the crossfire of violent clashes between protesters and federal agents. For instance, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said officers were struck with fireworks, ice projectiles, and snowballs during a declared riot on Jan. 14 attended by over 100 activists.

The scant criminal charges filed against disruptive demonstrators reflect a discernible scarcity of arrests citywide. On the police side of the prosecutorial process, unruly anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis are facing few arrests despite the sanctuary city’s persisting chaos.

MINNESOTA ICE PROTESTERS FACE FEW ARRESTS DESPITE CONTINUED UNREST

To date, the Minneapolis Police Department has not reported any surges in arrests since Operation Metro Surge, a large-scale deportation operation that targeted illegal immigrants in the Twin Cities, was launched on Dec. 1, 2025.

In fact, the police department documented fewer apprehensions and crimes during this time of increased protest activity, mobilized in response to the ICE raids, compared to the two-month period prior to the federal operation.

A severe police shortage could be affecting prosecutions. Prosecutions are driven by in-field information from the police, so if fewer line officers are out making arrests or writing reports, prosecutors have less to charge.

The Minneapolis Police Department has far below the number of officers required by the city charter, which uses a population-based formula for police staffing levels. Over the past five years, MPD has failed to meet the charter-mandated minimum of 731 sworn officers, or a rate of 0.0017 police officers per resident, following a 2020-era exodus of rank-and-file police personnel due, in large part, to low morale.

The department’s depleted police ranks had dropped from 920 officers in 2019 to an abysmal 560 in 2024. It was not until May 2025 that there was finally a net gain of MPD officers, with a meager rise to 588.

YEARS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT HATRED IS TAKING A TOLL ON MINNEAPOLIS POLICE

Hansen raised questions about city and county prosecutors allowing their political leanings to drive charging decisions.

“Minneapolis has a history of, in a lot of respects, charging people or not charging people based upon political considerations,” Hansen said.

He cited an incident in which a restaurant owner was sentenced to 90 days in jail for a COVID-19 violation, comparing that previous pandemic case to the street blockades.

“If you think contextually about not charging this stuff — somebody falls, somebody has an accident, anybody gets hurt — you’re going to get a response from police, fire, department, ambulance, and they’ve got to go through a checkpoint? You’ve got people blocking the road. People could die,” Hansen said. “I mean, it’s basic public safety for an organized society to have the roads open.”

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, a Democrat, has publicly expressed support for the anti-ICE protests.

In a Feb. 5 social media statement, Moriarty said she talked to MS Now host Lawrence O’Donnell on his show about what she characterized as White House border czar Tom Homan’s attempt to “extort Minnesotans by saying the occupation [of ICE officers] will end if resistance ends.”

“If Minnesotans give up their 1st Amendment right to protest and capitulate to DHS’s ‘mission,’ maybe they will leave???” Moriarty wrote.

ANTI-ICE ACTIVISTS PLAN TO INSTALL 1,000 STREET BLOCKADES ACROSS MINNEAPOLIS

Hansen emphasized the importance of even-handed enforcement of the law and the role of prosecutors to set aside personal ideologies to ensure equal protection.

“Not charging the blocking of the road, it affects everybody,” Hansen said. “It could be a super right-wing person who’s having a heart attack, or somebody’s a super left-wing person, or somebody who has no political ideology. It doesn’t matter. Everybody deserves equal services from the government that they pay for and that they elected. And this is an abrogation of that duty.”