Justice Department Uses ‘Conspiracy’ Charges to Curtail Dissent
By Sandi Sherman and Bill Scheer
MINNEAPOLIS — In one of the latest attacks on free speech and the right to protest, a federal grand jury here has indicted 15 people on felony charges related to protests against Operation Metro Surge last winter.
Metro Surge was launched by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It unleashed thousands of paramilitary-style agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol to terrorize immigrant communities. Heavily armed, masked, and using unidentified cars, the federal agents swarmed onto the streets, rounding up both immigrants and citizens, violating the constitutional rights of residents, and killing two people.
Hundreds of thousands of people confronted these thugs in massive, sustained protest actions and support networks that politically defeated the surge. ICE did not leave Minnesota, and the detentions did not end, but the massive sweeps and terror tactics have subsided.
The June 16, 2026, indictment by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is the latest attempt by the Trump administration to criminalize its opponents. The case tests how far prosecutors can go to manufacture a criminal conspiracy based on group chats, social media posts, discussions of protest tactics, and efforts to protect privacy using anti-surveillance precautions.
The charges include “conspiracy” to impede or injure ICE officers during Operation Metro Surge. Additional charges against four defendants include interstate stalking, interstate threats, solicitation of violence, assault on federal officers, and destruction of government property.
In the indictment, DOJ implies that mere involvement in “rapid response networks” is illegal because these “identify and harass” federal agents to prevent them from “performing their official duties.”
In fact, the objective of the rapid response networks has been to alert community members to the presence of ICE so volunteers can monitor, protest, and film officers’ actions — all activities that are protected by the First Amendment, despite the administration’s assertions to the contrary.
Prosecutors claim that organizers used encrypted Signal chats, surveillance of ICE activities, vehicle tracking, street blockades, and other coordinated actions to disrupt immigration enforcement operations. They allege the 15 defendants are members and associates of the protest group Direct Action Minnesota, which they describe as “antifa”— short for antifascist.
But the indictment does not include allegations that any ICE agents were harmed. In reality, bodily harm during the surge was inflicted on protesters by federal thugs, not on government agents, and the officers involved in those abuses and the murders of two legal observers have never been indicted.
‘Conspiracy’ is the crime
U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen asserted that it doesn’t matter if the defendants caused bodily harm or not. This isn’t the measure of whether they committed a serious crime, he claimed. The “conspiracy” is the crime.
The evidence? According to prosecutors, defendant Isaac Auman Sant helped coordinate planning meetings, monitored federal law enforcement activity, and recruited supporters.
In another case, Macalester College professor Erik Davis allegedly sent a Signal message where he asked people with “connections to AFL-CIO leadership or decision-makers, [to] PLEASE ASK THEM TO FOCUS ON WHIPPLE AND NOT DOWNTOWN.” Whipple is the staging area for ICE.
In addition, prosecutors accuse Davis of moderating organizing meetings and labeled him an anarchist. Prosecutors also allege that he attended an anti-ICE rally where other people “wore ‘Antifa’ branded sweatshirts.”
“The Trump regime’s weaponized DOJ is lashing out in hopes of intimidating people who challenge their corruption, abuses of power, and attacks on our freedoms,” declared a statement condemning the grand jury indictments. The statement was issued by 50 labor, religious, and other organizations. Union signers included locals of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Minnesota Nurses Association, Minnesota Federation of Educators, Education Minnesota, and the Minnesota AFL-CIO.
“When masked federal agents came into our neighborhoods, abducting and disappearing fellow Minnesotans, and violating our constitutional rights, we took action,” the statement noted. “We blew whistles. We observed. We donated food. A hundred thousand of us peacefully marched in minus twenty degrees.”
Following Rosen’s briefing, National Lawyers Guild attorney Bruce Nestor, who defended protesters in Minnesota charged earlier this year, decried the latest indictment and accused the Justice Department of “attacking the political opponents of a budding fascist government.”
Putting a chill on dissent
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune no longer runs editorials, but it made an exception with one titled, “Can we trust the indictment against anti-ICE protesters?” The newspaper noted, “Rosen’s office has a dubious track record with precisely this kind of prosecution.” It cited dozens of cases that were thrown out because of lack of evidence or because the evidence contradicted ICE claims.
One such case was that of Julio Sosa-Celis who was shot through the door of his home. The ICE agent involved claimed that he’d been attacked with a snow shovel and broom before firing his weapon. Kristi Noem, then DHS secretary, called it “attempted murder of federal law enforcement.”
Video evidence told a different story. So did eyewitnesses. Rosen’s office eventually filed a motion to dismiss but did not name the officer whose story fell apart. Ultimately, the state of Minnesota charged ICE agent Christian Castro in connection with the Sosa-Celis shooting.
The Star Tribune editorial said the new indictment “raises the question of whether the goal is law and order or putting a chill on dissent.”
This “chill” was addressed by one constitutional observer in a chat on June 16. “I totally understand the concern and caution given this morning’s [indictments]. But I want to be really clear: the 15 people indicted are all alleged to be involved in on-the-ground, confrontational, obstructive work,” the observer said.
“We should not, and cannot, react with panic. That’s exactly what they want to see from us,” the post read. “Make sure that your [operational security] is tight, your actions are legal, and others around you are not putting anyone (including the groups at large) at risk. We are going to get through this, and we are going to keep pushing for justice and accountability.”
Importance of disciplined approach
During the anti-immigrant surge, the authors of this article were part of anti-ICE networks that took disciplined approach seriously. Constitutional observers coordinated responses through secure chats. Organizers emphasized that our role was to observe, document, and get information from immigrants who were being apprehended that would help in notifying their loved ones and obtaining legal assistance. We took special care to avoid any physical interference with immigration officers. People were trained to function in a disciplined manner even during some very emotionally charged situations.
The importance of this disciplined approach can be seen in a video Rosen used when announcing the recent charges. The clip, posted on social media, shows defendant Kyle Wagner saying, “We’re not talking about peaceful protest anymore” and urging people to “get your f—ing guns and stop these f—ing people.”
Wagner, visibly distraught, posted the video in the aftermath of the January 24, 2026, cold-blooded murder of Alex Pretti, who was held down by several ICE agents while they pumped 10 bullets into his body. The scene went viral over the next several days, just two weeks after Renee Good, another legal observer, was shot and killed by an ICE agent.
While understandable, emotional responses like Wagner’s can give the government a handle to smear protesters and win public backing of political frame-ups. In this case, the government has provided no evidence of Wagner ever harming federal agents, much less using guns; it is his speech that is offered as proof of guilt.
Some protesters, including Pretti, have carried legally registered guns. But in today’s political environment, bringing guns to legal protest actions does not provide protection. To the contrary, it increases the risk to both the gun owners and the people around them. The presence of weapons may also deter some who would otherwise participate in such actions.
No right to self-defense before a grand jury
The Trump administration has increasingly abused the legal system, including grand juries, as a weapon of retribution against perceived political opponents. Grand juries are inherently rigged against defendants who have no right to have a lawyer in the room and no right to defend themselves.
Earlier this year, federal prosecutors secured their first successful conviction on the basis of “antifa” terrorism in the Prairieland case in north Texas. In this case, 16 defendants faced federal and state charges following a non-fatal shooting by one of the protesters at a July 4, 2025, “No ICE” demonstration.
In Spokane, Washington, three activists were convicted of conspiracy charges stemming from an anti-ICE demonstration.
Most recently in Chicago, a grand jury indictment against anti-ICE protesters, the Broadview Six, was terminated after multiple gross violations by the prosecution came to light. When the judge and defense counsel demanded to see the full grand jury testimony, not the redacted version used to cover up the violations, the government quickly moved to “terminate with prejudice” the charges and pay all the legal expenses of those they had attempted to frame up.
The Trump administration’s persecution of protesters extends beyond anti-ICE activists. Earlier this year, the DOJ brought fraud and money-laundering charges against the civil rights organization Southern Poverty Law Center, in connection with the group’s efforts to monitor white supremacists and other right-wing extremists. DHS has also detained and tried to deport several students involved in pro-Palestinian protests.
A fund-raising effort for the 15 Minnesota defendants has so far netted more than $322,000 for legal fees. Donations can be made here.
In light of this wave of attempted frame-ups, it is imperative for all defenders of democratic rights to see and act on the principle that an injury to one is an injury to all, regardless of any disagreement on tactics used during the anti-ICE protests. We need to join the defense of those accused and demand: Defend free speech! Defend the right to protest! Drop the charges now!
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Categories: US Politics