When the Justice Department charged 16 people last week with assaulting federal agents involved in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, Attorney General Pam Bondi flew halfway across the country to be “on the ground,” as she put it, when the cases were unsealed.

Ms. Bondi talked tough, posting on social media that “NOTHING will stop President Trump and this Department of Justice from enforcing the law.” She even included images of some of the defendants — dramatic photos showing them standing with their captors, whose backs were turned to the camera.

But now that the cases have moved from the headlines into the courthouse, things look somewhat different. The U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota has decided to pursue more than half of the cases as low-level misdemeanors, including some that were downgraded after being filed as serious felonies, court papers show.

While all of the cases are still in an early stage, the decision to proceed with most as misdemeanors, not felonies, fits a pattern that has played out in other cities where the administration has conducted immigration surges and taken a muscular stance against those accused of assaulting or impeding federal officers.

In places like Los Angeles, Washington and Chicago, grand juries have refused at times to bring indictments against people charged in encounters with agents. Prosecutors have also dropped charges to misdemeanors from felonies, or dismissed cases altogether because the underlying facts could not sustain the initial allegations.

And in some instances, trial juries have acquitted people accused of assaulting officers — including prominent defendants like Sean C. Dunn, the Washington man who hurled a sandwich at an agent in an act of opposition to Mr. Trump’s law enforcement policies that went viral.