federal agents spied on minnesota unions in antifa conspiracy probe

Undercover federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) conducted surveillance on prominent labor unions in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as part of an investigation into alleged antifa-linked conspiracy activities. The operation, detailed in investigative case files titled "Project Whipple Shield," involved agents infiltrating a February 15 recruitment drive against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) held at the United Labor Center in Minneapolis. This facility serves as a common meeting space for the city's labor movement. The event, co-organized by the Democratic Socialists of America's Twin Cities chapter alongside several local labor solidarity groups, was advertised as a "Workers Assembly to Defeat ICE and Plan the Next Mass Strike." It followed a months-long campaign by anti-ICE activists who had been continuously attacking ICE's base of operations in Minneapolis, the Federal Whipple Building, during Operation Metro Surge. Approximately 200 participants attended the gathering, where discussions focused on the abolition of ICE rather than the entire Department of Homeland Security. HSI agents made audio recordings of the proceedings and compiled reconnaissance reports on the event.

Four days after a fatal shooting at the Border Portal involving anti-ICE activist Alex Pretti, a nurse and union member of the American Federation of Government Employees, HSI opened a separate investigation called "Operation Puppet Master." This investigation aimed to identify agitators allegedly conspiring to exploit civil unrest to riot, destroy federal property, and assault personnel protecting federal facilities. The HSI field office in St. Paul claimed to have discovered a network of "violent opportunists" operating under the name Direct Action Minnesota (DAMN). According to HSI, this network engaged both online and in person by directly participating in assaults on ICE officers around the Whipple building or providing support through crowdfunding, planning, and mass mobilization efforts. As part of the broader investigation into what was termed "protest domestic terrorist financing," HSI obtained financial records of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the country's second-largest labor union of public service workers. Through an administrative subpoena, HSI acquired years of wire transfers from various financial institutions to and from the SEIU's bank account in Minneapolis. A preliminary analysis of these records reportedly only yielded transactions typically involved in union organizing, such as strike-related payments, strike supplies, member dues, and medical expenses between the SEIU's national committee and local SEIU unions.

HSI also issued an administrative summons seeking financial statements from the Communications Workers of America (CWA) pertaining to its donations and PAC spending. The investigation into CWA's finances additionally targeted the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, another AFL-CIO affiliate. An HSI-prepared graphic visualized the purported conspiracy, plotting the Minneapolis Federation of Educators, the Minnesota Association of Public Employees, the AFL-CIO, and SEIU 26 of Minnesota as "council members" within the DAMN network. During grand jury proceedings, an HSI agent testified that the slide shown was "a snapshot of some of the other organizations that members are affiliated with that kind of comprise and make up DAMN." The defense counsel for the lead defendant in the conspiracy case, United States v. Sant, filed a discovery motion with the HSI exhibits attached, alleging that the federal government has "dreamed up a conspiracy" that extends far beyond the indicted co-conspirators to include major Minneapolis-area labor unions with no supporting evidence.

The lawyer for lead defendant Isaac Sant, a self-described healthcare worker, argued that the prosecution's grand jury presentation reflected a "broad and irrational investigation." Criminal defense attorney Kevin Riach stated that "these wild conspiracy allegations are born from the fantasies of political retribution that animate the Trump Administration." Riach further noted that President Trump and senior administration officials routinely speak of the political left in dehumanizing terms. The case file also referenced Sant allegedly stating while on an anarchist speaking tour that "the Twin Cities' real contributions to the field of revolutionary organization, of insurrectionary organization, is these rapid response networks." A legal defense fund has collected more than $380,000, mostly from anonymous donors. The defendants face varying federal charges for their alleged involvement in the anti-ICE conspiracy, including conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers, interstate stalking, destruction of government property, assault of a federal officer, and solicitation to commit a crime of violence.