Becky Ringstrom was heading home after following federal immigration officers in her gray Kia SUV in suburban Minneapolis when she was stopped by multiple unmarked vehicles.
At least six federal agents exited the vehicles to arrest her, and one agent struck her windshield with a metal object during the encounter.
After the arrest, captured on bystander video verified by Reuters, the 42-year-old mother of seven later said she was transported to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in downtown Minneapolis, where an officer gave her a citation charging her under a federal law that criminalizes impeding law enforcement.
The official said her name and photo would be added to a government database. The arrest of Ringstrom was among numerous recent cases involving individuals charged under Title 18, Section 111 of the U.S. Code, a federal statute that applies to individuals accused of "forcibly assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating, or interfering" with a federal officer conducting official duties.
The statute can be charged as a felony or misdemeanor. As a felony, it carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, though penalties beyond eight years are reserved for cases involving the use of "a deadly or dangerous weapon" or resulting in injury.
A Reuters review of federal court records found that the Trump administration has prosecuted at least 655 people under that charge across the U.S. since a series of city-focused immigration crackdowns began last summer.
That represents an increase compared with the same period in 2024–2025, according to a review of publicly available criminal filings in Westlaw, a legal research database owned by Thomson Reuters.
Reuters used artificial intelligence in some instances to classify the charges, with a spot check showing 98% accuracy.
The figures are nationwide, and Reuters said it was not able to determine how many cases were connected to immigration enforcement, how many were charged as felonies, or how many resulted in convictions.
The charges are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to address interference with ICE operations, which officials say has included assaults, obstruction, and threats against officers.
"Assaulting and obstructing law enforcement is a felony," said U.S. 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 maintained an internal database documenting individuals involved in incidents related to enforcement operations, according to two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operations.
The database contains names, photos, locations, license plate numbers, and descriptions of incidents reviewed by investigators, the officials said, adding that the effort is intended to identify patterns that could lead to charges.
DHS said it does not maintain a database of U.S. "domestic terrorists," but does track threats.
"We do of course monitor and investigate and refer all threats, assaults, and obstruction of our officers to the appropriate law enforcement," McLaughlin said.
One official said ICE was referring multiple cases per day in Minnesota to federal prosecutors for potential charges under the same law for interfering with police operations.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the Trump administration is committed to protecting First Amendment freedoms, but that people who impede law enforcement "will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law."
Ringstrom had watched federal immigration officers for about 45 minutes as they sat in a parked car in her neighborhood on Thursday, Jan. 29. When they began to move, she decided to follow in her SUV, keeping several car lengths behind, she said.
At a roundabout, a Border Patrol agent approached her vehicle and said, "Last time I'm going to warn you," according to video Ringstrom recorded on her phone.
The officers went right at a stop sign and she went left, she said. Several minutes later, as she headed back toward her home, multiple vehicles with federal officers stopped and arrested her.
"I know what I'm doing is not wrong," Ringstrom said later in an interview with Reuters. Still, she said she was fearful when federal officers approached her car. "There was a moment where I thought I could be Renee Good," she said, referencing a separate January incident involving U.S. citizen protesters in Minneapolis.
After her arrest, she was issued a citation, reviewed by Reuters, that listed the court date as "TBD," or to be determined.
McLaughlin said Ringstrom "stalked law enforcement and attempted to obstruct law enforcement from performing their sworn duties."
Seth Stoughton, a professor focused on policing at the University of South Carolina School of Law, said the statute historically has been used to charge assaults on officers and specifies that the alleged crime must be committed "forcibly."
"Without any physical contact, just following an agent in a car, it's not clear to me that that's resistance or impeding in the first place, and it certainly seems like a stretch to establish that as forcible," Stoughton said.
A federal judge in Minneapolis said in a mid-January order that a vehicle following ICE at "an appropriate distance" did not justify a traffic stop or arrest, though the order was paused by an appeals court 10 days later.
The judge's now-paused order did not specify what distance would be considered appropriate.
Deborah Fleischaker, a former ICE official under President Joe Biden, criticized the enforcement actions, calling it "inappropriate and unconstitutional" to intimidate and arrest people peacefully following immigration officers in their vehicles.
"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 "lawful commands and warnings," but that she continued to obstruct operations, leading to her arrest.
"When agitators willingly involve themselves and inject themselves in law enforcement operations, they are risking arrest as well as jeopardizing the safety of themselves and those around them," McLaughlin said.
Reuters reported that new internal ICE guidance issued in late January addressed how officers should handle interactions with protesters, though encounters between officers and civilians have continued.
Two videos verified by Reuters in recent weeks showed ICE officers approaching vehicles that officials said had been following them, with officers drawing their weapons during the encounters.
South of Minneapolis on Jan. 29, the same day Ringstrom was arrested, federal immigration officers maneuvered their vehicle to stop and approached a woman driving behind them with guns drawn, according to dashcam footage from her vehicle first reported by Minnesota Public Radio and verified by Reuters.
McLaughlin said ICE officers were attempting to arrest a criminal offender when the woman began "stalking and obstructing" them, prompting officers to attempt to arrest her.
"Law enforcement officers attempted to pull her over using their emergency lights to issue her a warning," McLaughlin said. "Ignoring law enforcement commands, the agitator refused to pull over and began driving recklessly, including running stop signs, nearly colliding with multiple vehicles, and driving directly at law enforcement in an attempt to ram their vehicle."
Reuters said it was unable to independently verify whether the woman ignored commands or drove recklessly.
In a separate incident on Feb. 3, two ICE officers approached a vehicle that had been following them with guns drawn, according to video verified by Reuters and a DHS statement.
DHS said the vehicle had been "stalking" and "obstructing" ICE officers.
"The agitators then followed the officers as they departed and made hand motions suggestive of possessing a firearm," DHS said.
Reuters noted that some details in past enforcement encounters have been disputed.
Some Minnesota residents said they believe law enforcement tactics toward individuals following ICE officers have changed in recent months.
In a suburb north of St. Paul on Jan. 22, an ICE officer led a woman who was following his vehicle back to her home, making clear that he knew her identity and address, according to video verified by Reuters and filmed by the woman's husband.
The woman's husband spoke with the officer outside the couple's home. When the husband questioned the tactic, the officer said, "You raise your voice, I erase your voice," the video showed.
One ICE officer told Reuters that officers have led people following them back to their homes after running license plate checks, saying it was done "to freak them out."
McLaughlin said ICE would review body camera footage and investigate the St. Paul incident but did not comment on the use of the tactic. Earlier in 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 the window, and detained them for eight hours.
McLaughlin said officers gave them multiple warnings "to stop impeding" operations, but that they "chose to continue to stalk 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 amount of force necessary to make the arrest."
McLaughlin did not explicitly confirm whether officers broke the window or deployed pepper spray.
Siguenza and O'Keefe have not been charged.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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