Documents show federal surveillance operation in Minnesota targeted progressive groups, unions
Defense lawyers say agents used undercover infiltration, subpoenas and facial recognition to build dossiers on groups that were never charged.
- Department of Homeland Security agents conducted a widespread undercover surveillance operation in Minnesota, targeting progressive activist groups and major labor unions protesting a massive federal immigration crackdown in the Minneapolis area.
- The programs, dubbed "Operation Puppet Master" and "Project Whipple Shield," were aimed at investigating what federal officials characterized as a network aiding "violent opportunists and agitators," following the deployment of 3,000 DHS officers to the region.
- Undercover officers secretly infiltrated public activist meetings at churches, libraries, schools, and parks—monitoring encrypted chat channels, logging attendee vehicle license plates, and tracking nonviolent protest planning.
- Surveillance extended to 18 major labor unions and grassroots organizations, including the AFL-CIO, SEIU, CWA, and the Sunrise Movement, with federal authorities obtaining years of financial and banking transaction records.
- The intelligence operations were revealed in court filings by defense attorney Kevin Riach, who accused the government of conducting a politically driven, anti-democratic investigation to intimidate constitutionally protected dissent.
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DHS spied on ICE protest groups in Minnesota surge
What happenedThe Department of Homeland Security secretly surveilled and infiltrated labor unions and progressive groups during ICE’s surge in Minnesota, beginning four days after an immigration agent killed protester Alex Pretti in January, according to newly released government documents filed Thursday. The filing, from a defense attorney for one of 15 indicted protesters, documents “an array of invasive tactics” used to gather information on …
Antifa on radar? DHS investigated left-wing unions and activists after Minnesota ICE protests
Federal agents launched a sweeping undercover surveillance operation earlier this year targeting progressive organisations, labour unions and other groups protesting the immigration crackdown then raging through Minneapolis, according to court documents filed Thursday. The program, dubbed Operation Puppet Master, was aimed at what officials called a network of conspirators helping “violent opportunists and agitators.” The documents were filed in…
DHS Secretly Investigated Minnesota Liberal Groups
The New York Times reports: Four days after Alex Pretti was fatally shot while filming officers taking part in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, the Homeland Security Department quietly opened an investigation at its office in St. Paul. The target was not the Border Patrol agents who had killed Mr. Pretti, a 37-year-old government nurse, in late January. Instead, it was several left-leaning political organizations — …
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Records Reveal Sweeping US Surveillance of Leftwing and Anti-ICE Groups
Newly released court records have revealed a sweeping federal surveillance operation targeting progressive organizations, labor unions and protesters opposing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, raising ... The post Records Reveal Sweeping US Surveillance of Leftwing and Anti-ICE Groups first appeared on [your]NEWS.
ICE Protest Surveillance Widens as DHS Subpoenas Union and Climate Group Records Without Any Crime
US federal agents subpoenaed more than three years of financial records from a major labour union and a climate group during the crackdown on anti-ICE protests in Minnesota, targeting organisations never accused of any crime, government documents show. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) opened investigations into labour unions, a climate organisation, and socialist groups within days of the fatal shooting of intensive care nurse Alex Pret…
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (AP) — Federal agents conducted a sweeping undercover surveillance operation earlier this year targeting progressive organizations, labor unions, and other groups protesting the then-current immigration crackdown…
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