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- By Native News Online Staff
Happy Monday. Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, is a federal holiday across the United States. Many tribal offices and federal, state, and local government agencies may be closed.
Here are some articles you may have missed this past weekend:
Federal Judge Orders ICE to Halt Use of Pepper Spray, Arrests of Peaceful Protesters in Twin Cities
A federal judge in Minnesota on Friday issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting federal agents in and around the Twin Cities from arresting peaceful protesters or deploying nonlethal munitions and other crowd-control tools against them.
The 80-page ruling , written by U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez, a Biden appointee based in Minneapolis, comes amid rising tensions between the Trump administration and Minnesota officials, who have accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of escalating fear and violence on local streets.
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The ruling is on a lawsuit that was filed prior to the horrific killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent last week Wednesday.
NARF Condemns ICE Actions, Says Native Americans Unlawfully Detained
The Native American Rights Fund is condemning what it calls unlawful actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying Native Americans and others are being racially profiled, unlawfully detained and subjected to excessive force.
In a statement, NARF said it stands with communities “whatever their country of birth” who are being separated from their families or violently apprehended while trying to protect their communities. The organization accused ICE of carrying out a campaign marked by warrantless arrests, racial profiling and a lack of accountability.
“Native Americans — the first peoples of this land — are among those being abducted and detained,” the organization said, adding that such actions violate treaties as well as the constitutional and civil rights of Native people.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women will hold its 20th annual Government-to-Government Violence Against Women Tribal Consultation Jan. 21–23, 2026, at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minnesota.
The consultation is designed to give elected tribal leaders and their designees an opportunity to provide recommendations on improving the federal government’s response to violence against Native women.
This consultation was orininally planned for last October, but was postponed due to the prolonged federal government shutdown.
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Federal Judge Orders ICE to Halt Use of Pepper Spray, Arrests of Peaceful Protesters in Twin Cities
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