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Just Following Orders -- Tom Sullivan
https://digbysblog.net/2026/01/18/just-following-orders/What law are you enforcing?
A cute video from Minnesota protests that popped up this morning illustrates ongoing confusion among both protesters and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents.
The context is a bit muddy. A line of agents has pushed back protesters off a public street. A protester videos his questioning agents. He's asking for the Minnesota statute giving them authority to keep them off a public street. None answer. It is likely that the agents don't know what law they are being asked to enforce. (It's not a state law.) They are just following orders.
It appears that this protest is taking place outside the Whipple Federal Building outside Minneapolis where protesters have gathered regularly since their state was invaded by DHS forces and in the wake of the killing of Renee Good.
But like the mute federal agents, the videographer snarkily videoing his questioning of DHS agents likely also does not know about the federal rule change behind this action. We covered it last week:
A lot of us only half-know what we think we know. But so do the guys with the guns. It's important to know your rights. It's likely just as easy to know more about the laws in play than many of the goons sent out to enforce them. Look in particular at the irregularly clad masked men at the end of the video labeled HSI.
The context is a bit muddy. A line of agents has pushed back protesters off a public street. A protester videos his questioning agents. He's asking for the Minnesota statute giving them authority to keep them off a public street. None answer. It is likely that the agents don't know what law they are being asked to enforce. (It's not a state law.) They are just following orders.
It appears that this protest is taking place outside the Whipple Federal Building outside Minneapolis where protesters have gathered regularly since their state was invaded by DHS forces and in the wake of the killing of Renee Good.
But like the mute federal agents, the videographer snarkily videoing his questioning of DHS agents likely also does not know about the federal rule change behind this action. We covered it last week:
A rule published in the Federal Register last June modified 41 CFR 102-74, the rule governing the Federal Protective Service, or FPS. Originally set to take effect on Jan. 1 of this year, the new rule's effective date was moved up to Nov. 5. If you've wondered what allows DHS goons to step off federal property and cross streets to assault protesters on a public sidewalk, here it is.
The Justice Guy's substack reported in December:It did not come from Congress and it did not come from a court. It arrived quietly, tucked into the Federal Register, written in the dry language of administrative housekeeping. Yet the practical effect is this: it expands where federal officers can detain you, and for what reasons, and it does so in a way that directly touches the right to protest and to document government action.
[...]
The new rule, codified at 6 CFR Part 139, rewrites the jurisdictional line. Instead of limiting enforcement to federal property, the rule now applies to areas outside federal property whenever the conduct in question affects federal property or the people on it. The text says that FPS jurisdiction extends to public areas whenever it is necessary to protect federal property or personnel. It also says that prohibited conduct now includes actions that occur off federal property if they affect, threaten, or endanger federal property or persons on the property.
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-6/chapter-I/part-139
A lot of us only half-know what we think we know. But so do the guys with the guns. It's important to know your rights. It's likely just as easy to know more about the laws in play than many of the goons sent out to enforce them. Look in particular at the irregularly clad masked men at the end of the video labeled HSI.