DHS Records Show Undercover Surveillance of Anti-ICE Protesters and Progressive Groups in Minnesota

Today’s Focus

Nearly 30 internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reports made public Thursday describe a federal investigation into anti-ICE organizers in Minnesota and New York that used undercover agents, infiltrated encrypted Signal group chats and pulled financial records of unions and left-leaning nonprofits, according to The Guardian, which reviewed the filings.

The records were disclosed by the government and entered into a Minneapolis federal court by a defense attorney representing one of 15 protesters charged by the Department of Justice (DoJ) with a “conspiracy” to “impede” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers during the Trump administration’s enforcement surge earlier this year.

The Guardian reports that DHS opened the inquiry, code-named “Operation Puppet Master,” in January to identify what the agency called a “network of conspirators” organizing against ICE in the Twin Cities. Community protests had grown sharply after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti during immigration operations in the region.

A February DHS memo cited in the filing said investigators were tracking people “providing material support to violent opportunists and agitators.” According to the records, agents attended community meetings in Minneapolis and New York City in plain clothes, joined private messaging groups, and obtained banking information tied to mainstream progressive organizations and labor unions that had publicly opposed the administration’s immigration crackdown.

The 15 defendants have pleaded not guilty. Their lawyers argue the disclosures show the prosecution grew out of political surveillance of protected First Amendment activity, while the DoJ maintains the underlying charges concern coordinated efforts to physically obstruct federal officers, not protest speech.

Neither DHS nor the White House had issued a detailed public response to the filings as of Thursday evening, according to The Guardian’s account.

The Debate

Supporters argue

Administration officials and allies frame Operation Puppet Master as a routine counter-conspiracy investigation, not a crackdown on dissent. DoJ filings describe the 15 defendants as participants in a coordinated plan to physically block ICE officers during arrests, conduct the government argues is a federal crime regardless of political motivation.

Republican lawmakers who have defended the immigration surge, including members of the House Homeland Security Committee, have said in past statements that DHS has both the authority and the responsibility to identify organized efforts to obstruct federal officers, particularly after two fatal encounters in the region.

Supporters point to the February DHS memo cited by The Guardian, which distinguished between peaceful protesters and people it called “violent opportunists and agitators.” Heritage Foundation immigration analysts have argued in recent commentary that undercover work and financial tracing are standard tools when investigators suspect coordination across state lines.

Administration allies also note that the records became public because prosecutors turned them over in discovery, which they cast as evidence the process is functioning as designed, with judicial oversight of any charges that follow.

Critics argue

Civil liberties groups say the filings describe political surveillance of lawful organizing. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Minnesota called the reported infiltration of Signal chats and community meetings “deeply alarming” in a statement quoted by The Guardian, arguing that attending a protest meeting is constitutionally protected activity.

Attorneys for several of the Minneapolis defendants contend the conspiracy charge is being used to sweep in speech and association that would otherwise be shielded. They argue that pulling financial records of unions and nonprofits that publicly criticized ICE looks like retaliation for viewpoint, not evidence gathering tied to specific crimes.

Democratic members of Congress from Minnesota, including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), have called for hearings, saying the House and Senate need to see the full scope of what DHS collected and on whom. Progressive legal groups, including the Center for Constitutional Rights, argue the operation echoes past federal surveillance programs later found to have targeted lawful dissent, and they are asking the court to suppress evidence obtained through the undercover work.

What the experts say

Scholars who study domestic intelligence say the disputed question is not whether DHS can investigate obstruction of federal officers, but whether the tools used here match the alleged crime.

Faiza Patel, senior director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program at NYU School of Law, has written that DHS intelligence components operate under looser internal guidelines than the FBI, with fewer required predicates before opening inquiries into First Amendment activity. A 2022 Brennan Center report documented DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis producing reports on journalists and protesters during the 2020 racial-justice demonstrations.

Michael German, a former FBI agent and Brennan Center fellow, has argued in published research that undercover infiltration of political meetings, absent evidence of planned violence, tends to produce weak prosecutions and chill lawful organizing.

A 2023 report from the DHS Office of Inspector General found that the Office of Intelligence and Analysis had, in prior years, collected information on U.S. persons without adequately documenting the law-enforcement purpose, and recommended tighter internal controls. Whether those controls were followed in Operation Puppet Master is expected to be litigated in the Minneapolis case.

By the Numbers

15: number of Minneapolis protesters charged by DoJ with conspiracy to impede ICE officers, according to The Guardian.
~30: internal DHS investigative reports disclosed to the Minneapolis federal court, per The Guardian.
2: cities, Minneapolis and New York, where DHS undercover agents attended community meetings, according to the released records.
January 2026: month DHS opened Operation Puppet Master, according to the filings cited by The Guardian.
2: deaths, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, during ICE operations that preceded the surge in Minnesota organizing, per The Guardian.
2022: year the Brennan Center for Justice published its report documenting DHS intelligence reports on journalists and protesters during 2020 demonstrations.
2023: year the DHS Office of Inspector General flagged inadequate documentation of law-enforcement purpose in intelligence collection on U.S. persons.