Indictments of – Federal prosecutors indicted 15 activists in Minnesota last week over alleged efforts to impede ICE and Homeland Security operations, citing ties to “antifa” and describing conduct that included surveillance and harassing government employees. In Minneapolis,
For many Minneapolis residents. the Occupation of their city by Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t feel like policy—it felt like intrusion. At its peak earlier this year, more than 4,000 Department of Homeland Security officers were in town. During the operation. ICE snatched residents off the streets and from their homes. and in some instances left cars abandoned on the side of the road. As confrontations between federal officers and protesters escalated. some of the hardest moments came from deadly force used by the government.
Last week. the Department of Justice indicted 15 activists in Minnesota. alleging they conspired to impede the operations of Homeland Security employees and had ties to “antifa. ” the anti-fascist label the government links to anti-fascist groups. But inside the community that organized street-level resistance to ICE and Customs and Border Protection. the indictments are being read less as a deterrent than as a spark—one that has pushed protesters to show up more. donate more. and prepare for a longer fight.
The backdrop is the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge. an ICE and CBP occupation of Minneapolis that lasted roughly three months and left two Americans dead. On Jan. 7, ICE officer Jonathan Ross killed Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three. Just weeks later. Customs and Border Patrol officers killed Alex Pretti. an intensive care nurse at the Department of Veterans Affairs. In the same month. Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna—a Minneapolis delivery driver—was shot by federal agents and later charged with assault. That case later fell apart after the DOJ admitted that two officers had made “false statements” under oath. according to ICE.
Those deaths. combined with the wider chaos reported during ICE’s presence—tear gas clouds. schools and businesses closing. and anxiety and fear among residents—fed the kind of resistance that traveled beyond Minneapolis. Organizers say Minnesota residents shared methods of protecting immigrants with supporters around the country.
The DOJ’s latest move zeroed in on alleged associates of Direct Action Minnesota. Prosecutors described the group as “an organization dedicated and committed to direct action against federal law and immigration enforcement” with ties to anti-fascist groups. including “antifa.” In the indictment. the government alleges protesters blocked ICE facilities. surveilled and harassed government employees. and communicated through a Signal group chat that prosecutors say was used to identify government vehicles.
At a press conference, when asked whether any ICE or CBP officers were hurt by the indicted people, U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen answered that “is not the measure of whether or not they committed a serious federal crime.”
Activists say the timing matters. They connect the prosecutions to priorities laid out in President Donald Trump’s seventh National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM-7). which laid out a strategy for targeting Americans with political views the administration dislikes. Those included anti-fascists and people the government describes as holding anti-Christianity, anti-capitalist, and anti-American views.
In Minneapolis, that framing is colliding with grief and anger over what many residents see as unequal consequences. Michelle Gross, the president of the Minneapolis-based Citizens United Against Police Brutality, said the response from the community after the indictment has only intensified.
“Most people are like, ‘we will defend you,’” Gross said in an interview. She pointed to social media and described what she says has been an immediate fundraising and turnout surge for people facing criminal charges. Gross said that in Minneapolis. there is a perception that the federal government is trying to make it look like protesters are backing down. “The insane part to me is for them to have any nerve to call anybody in our movement violent when they murdered two of our people and maimed the third. ” she said. Gross also said that. in her view. the people who carried out the killings have “had no consequences. ” adding they are “still off working for ICE still in some other location.”.
Minnesota’s requests to see information about the killings have not resulted in charges by the state against the officers who killed Good and Pretti. The state did file charges against the officer who shot Aljorna in May.
Gross and others say the political convictions tested during the protests in Minneapolis after the murder of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin—and the subsequent crackdowns on protesters—are now being tested again.
Lisa Erbes, a co-leader of the Twin Cities chapter of Indivisible, described the indictment as a case she expects to collapse in court. She said many expect charges against the 15 indicted activists to fall apart in Minnesota, drawing a direct comparison to a federal case in Chicago.
“We’ve already seen this happen in Chicago with the Broadview Six. and they literally brought the same charges against those people. ” Erbes said. She said the Broadview Six case ended with all charges being dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be refiled. In the Chicago case, federal prosecutors accused six protesters of felony conspiracy, alleging that they had blocked an ICE vehicle. Erbes said the case was brought in October of last year and quickly fell apart. with all charges dropped by April.
Erbes added another point that has become a pressure point for organizers: prosecutors appear willing to pursue cases against protesters, she said, while failing to move with the same urgency on killings by federal officers in Minneapolis.
“They’ve managed to find the time to charge these 15 people who are constitutional observers and protesters. yet we’re still waiting for something to happen with the Renee Good and Alex Pretti cases. ” Erbes said. “When Rosen was asked about that during the press conference. he stumbled on that one. too. because there isn’t anything happening with that investigation.” She said prosecutors are not working with the state of Minnesota and that the people who killed Renee and Alex are “still walking around free with no charges.”.
She also described the legal strategy as something organizers have come to expect from these cases: “the process is the punishment,” meaning even if prosecutions don’t result in convictions, the cost of defense—time and money—lands on those targeted.
“They know they don’t have good cases, they’ve done this over and over again, and they don’t even care about that,” Erbes said. “What they’re trying to do is scare people and intimidate people into not protesting.”
Ezra Levin. the national co-director of Indivisible. tied the Minnesota indictment to a broader push against dissent he says has been escalating. He linked it to a recent raid of an Ohio voting rights group and said he sees both that raid and the anti-ICE prosecutions as attempts to suppress dissent ahead of the midterm elections.
“What we’re seeing is a ramp-up from the regime as the midterms near,” Levin said. “And I think that’s exactly what you would expect to see from an authoritarian regime that fears free. fair elections.” He said the administration doesn’t want people protesting. registering voters. or turning out to vote—because. in his view. it fears a wave election that could strip power from the House or the Senate. “or both.”.
The indictments have not changed the underlying record that organizers point to: in Minneapolis. federal enforcement action brought deadly shootings on the streets—Good and Pretti killed by federal officers—and a third case against Aljorna later collapsed after DOJ-admitted false sworn statements by two officers. according to ICE. What prosecutors allege now is that protesters tried to impede federal operations and. in doing so. connected their resistance to “antifa” through associations described in the indictment.
For many activists, the question is no longer only what the court will decide. It is what the community will do after prosecutors choose this moment to bring charges—and whether the effort to deter protest will instead be met with deeper organization. more public defense. and a wider refusal to look away.
ICE protesters Minneapolis Department of Justice indictment Operation Metro Surge Renee Nicole Good Alex Pretti Jonathan Ross Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna Direct Action Minnesota antifa Daniel Rosen NSPM-7 Indivisible broadview six midterms