(TNND) — Tensions are still running high in Minneapolis with protests against the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration spread after a woman was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer enflamed the divide between the city’s residents and federal agents and put the Twin Cities on edge.

Federal officials have refused calls to back off the immigration operations in Minnesota they say have yielded thousands of arrests of “criminal illegal aliens,” which local officials and residents have seen as federal overreach that is creating chaos in the city.

Protests and widespread federal operations have interrupted daily life in Minneapolis for many of the city’s residents from school closures to run-ins with agents and blocked off roadways. Several of the state’s largest school districts are allowing students to attend school remotely amid concerns over operations around schools and clashes between agents and protesters.

A group of tech workers who were apparently confused with ICE agents eating lunch at a Minneapolis restaurant were berated by protesters in a video posted on Alpha News. The video shows protesters coming to the restaurant and watching them through the window.

Upon leaving the restaurant, some of the protesters shouted at the men with expletive-laden demands to get out of the neighborhood as whistles blare in the background, a practice ICE watchers have used to warn of immigration agents or an operation in the area.

In the video, one of the men explained they were just trying to eat lunch and asked, “Do I look like an ICE agent?”

A church service in St. Paul, near Minneapolis, was interrupted on Sunday over a pastor’s apparent work with ICE. Protesters entered the church chanting “ICE out” and bringing the service to a halt. People inside the church can be seen trying to leave the church as the chants continued in videos posted on social media.

The Justice Department said it is investigating the church protest under a 1994 law that bars interference of a person’s First Amendment right to religious freedom at places of worship “by force, threat of force or physical obstruction.”

“If state leaders refuse to act responsibly to prevent lawlessness, this Department of Justice will remain mobilized to prosecute federal crimes and ensure that the rule of law prevails,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X.

The federal government has pushed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to do something to rein in the scale of the protests and accused them of a conspiracy to interrupt operations over their vocal opposition to ICE’s presence in Minneapolis. Some administration officials have accused the two Democratic leaders of encouraging violence against law enforcement through their rhetoric and subpoenaed them on claims of obstruction.

“Minnesota insurrection is a direct result of a FAILED governor and a TERRIBLE mayor encouraging violence against law enforcement. It’s disgusting,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote in a social media post. “Walz and Frey — I’m focused on stopping YOU from your terrorism by whatever means necessary. This is not a threat. It’s a promise.”

Both have accused the administration of weaponizing the justice system to intimidate them to back down from their resistance to the immigration crackdown.

“Two days ago it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic. The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her,” Walz said in a statement.

The DOJ is also appealing a ruling that federal officers cannot detain or use tear gas on peaceful protesters that aren’t obstructing operations. Multiple videos have shown agents using chemical irritants and taking people into custody, which DHS officials have defended as only happening when there is violence.

President Donald Trump had suggested last week he could invoke the Insurrection Act, which lets presidents use troops on U.S. soil to stop an invasion or insurrection under particular legal parameters, if protests didn’t calm down. He has since backed off the idea, though some troops have reportedly still been put on alert.

“I don’t think I need it right now,” Trump said to reporters while leaving the White House on Friday.

Walz and Frey have encouraged protesters to remain peaceful and blamed the Trump administration for enflaming tensions by refusing to back off the raids and surging more agents to the area. Some 3,000 immigration agents have been deployed to Minneapolis and made over 10,000 arrests.

During a Sunday appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Frey rejected Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s suggestion to create a designated area for protests.

“First Amendment speech is not limited to one park or one section of the city. You are allowed to protest, so long as you’re doing it peacefully. And by the way, we’ve got tens of thousands of people in Minneapolis that are grinning down the bear, that are peacefully expressing their First Amendment rights,” Frey said. “So no, you can’t have just one section of a city. That’s not the way First Amendment works.”