DOJ Charges 15 Anti-ICE Protesters With Conspiring To Impede Federal Officers In Minnesota

Federal prosecutors announced charges against 15 people in Minnesota, accusing them of conspiring to “impede or injure federal officers” during demonstrations tied to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and surrounding areas.

“US Attorney for Minnesota charges 15 anti-ICE protesters, alleging ties to antifa groups Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have charged 15 people allegedly tied to two Minneapolis-based antifa groups”

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS

Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said the alleged tactics included using vehicles and blocks of ice to block or slow agents’ vehicles outside a federal detention center, and using homemade shields to “physically resist the efforts of law enforcement,” while Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Michael McCarthy described the case as involving “extensive planning, material support and coordinated attacks against federal personnel and facilities.”

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS

Rosen said 12 of the 15 charged were arrested during an operation Tuesday morning, with one in custody and two remaining at large, and he declined to say whether any officers were injured during the demonstrations on Jan. 23 and March 1.

The charges were announced as protests erupted outside the St. Paul federal building following the DOJ announcement, where officers deployed gas canisters and pepper spray as protesters chanted expletives.

The alleged conspiracy began in January, shortly after the Trump administration launched Operation Metro Surge, which the Boston Globe described as bringing thousands of federal agents into the Twin Cities and surrounding areas.

Rosen characterized two activist groups whose members and associates “violently opposed the enforcement of federal law,” and he described them as “antifa,” while the indictment and coverage also tied the defendants to Direct Action Minnesota.

At a press conference in Minneapolis, Rosen said the defendants “violently oppose immigration law enforcement,” and he also told reporters, “Whether or not they actually, at the end of the day, cause bodily harm is not the measure of whether or not they committed a serious federal crime.”

Al Jazeera

The Guardian reported that outside the federal courthouse in Minneapolis, Bruce Nestor, a former president of the National Lawyers Guild, told the crowd, saying: “What’s wrong with being ungovernable?”

In Minneapolis, protesters attempted to block a courthouse door and federal officers in tactical gear deployed pepper spray at the group, as dozens gathered where most defendants were set to make an initial appearance.

The Washington Post framed the charges as alleging “antifa” ties, while the PBS and CNN accounts both described the same core allegations, including “stalking” U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents, throwing blocks of ice, and setting up blockades around federal buildings.

Prosecutors said the defendants were connected to Direct Action Minnesota, formerly known as Twin Cities Direct Action, and the Al Jazeera account tied the charges to Trump’s directive to “counter domestic terrorism and organised political violence.”

The indictment described the defendants as seeking to “forcibly challenge, block or stop immigration raids, detentions and deportations,” and it listed charges including conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers, solicitation to commit violence, interstate threats, interstate stalking, assaulting federal officers and the destruction of government property.

NBC News reported that the Trump administration sent 3,000 federal agents to Minnesota at the end of November for the immigration enforcement operation dubbed Metro Surge, and it said tensions flared over aggressive tactics by federal agents including pepper-spraying crowds and use of force on civilians.

Al Jazeera reported that in January, two U.S. citizens—Renee Good, 37, and Alex Pretti, 37—were shot dead as part of the operation, and it said Democrats framed the crackdown as politically motivated action against left-leaning jurisdictions.

In the wake of the charges, Rosen said the case reflected that “These defendants have been charged not for what they said, but for what they did,” and he warned, “They all joined an agreement, a conspiracy to interfere with lawful immigration enforcement operations.”