Attorney: Homeland Security spied on Minnesotans who spoke out against ICE
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One of 15 Minnesotans charged with conspiracy to impede federal officers for anti-ICE protests this winter has filed a motion in federal court Thursday alleging that federal law enforcement officials extensively surveilled public meetings during the ICE surge and created dossiers on political enemies.
Defense attorney Kevin Riach’s motion cites information from discovery that the government already turned over to defendants.
Riach alleges that just four days after Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal agents, that Homeland Security Investigations launched something called Operation Puppet Master. The agency couched this program in language about rooting out people they describe as “violent opportunists.”
As part of this effort, it appears the government sent people posing as protesters to public meetings at churches, parks, libraries and union halls.
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“These agents surreptitiously recorded dozens of conversations with ordinary people who were simply exercising their First Amendment right to protest ICE’s lawless rampage in our state,” Riach writes. “The agents gathered information about Minnesotans from law enforcement databases and internet searches, and created dossiers that are apparently now available agency-wide.”
Homeland Security Investigations also obtained financial records from unions like the SEIU and Communications Workers of America, and then apparently told grand jurors that these groups were supporters of the conspiracy.
Riach argues that there was no legal reason for the government to obtain this information. But he said it’s a way for the Trump administration to target people they see as political enemies.
The motion for discovery asks the judge to order the government to release all reports related to surveillance including records of another federal project called Operation Whipple Shield, which appears to have gathered info on protesters and others at the federal building where people protested throughout the winter.
Riach also wants all communications between Washington DC officials and prosecutors, as well as any other correspondence that suggests officials or agents were motivated by police purposes or targeting protected First Amendment speech.
Riach represents Isaac Sant, who is one of 15 people charged in the conspiracy to “impede or injure federal officers,” and for efforts to allegedly “violently oppose immigration law enforcement” during the surge of federal immigration officers in the state earlier this year. They have all pleaded not guilty.
At the announcement of the indictments earlier this year, Daniel Rosen, the U.S. attorney for Minnesota, told reporters that the 15 were “charged not for what they said but what they did.” Rosen turned aside specific questions connected to the alleged conspiracy, saying repeatedly that evidence would roll out later.
