Feds charge 15 people with impeding agents during Minnesota immigration crackdown

AP — Federal prosecutors have charged 15 people with impeding the Trump administration’s massive immigration crackdown in Minnesota earlier this year, accusing them of coordinating efforts to block arrests and deportations as part of a conspiracy against the US government. The monthslong investigation focused on members and associates of “Direct Action Minnesota,” a left-wing coalition of protest groups that played a role in the “surveillance, operational planning and rapid mobilization against law enforcement,” Minnesota US. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen said. Rosen said some of the defendants self-identified as Antifa, an umbrella term referring to a broad group of people whose political beliefs lean toward the left — often the far left — but do not conform with the Democratic Party platform. President Donald Trump has labeled it as a domestic terror group. Their actions included “stalking” Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents, throwing blocks of ice at their vehicles and setting up blockades around federal buildings. Rosen declined to say whether any federal agents were injured as a result. “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,” Rosen told reporters. Twelve people were arrested Tuesday, two remain at large and one is already in custody, Rosen added. Information about their attorneys was not immediately available. US Attorney Daniel N. Rosen for the District of Minnesota speaks during a news conference on June 11 in Minneapolis. US Attorney Daniel N. Rosen for the District of Minnesota speaks during a news conference on June 11 in Minneapolis. Alex Kormann/Minnesota Star Tribune/AP The Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge brought thousands of federal agents to the Twin Cities, setting off mass protests and leading to the fatal shooting of two US citizens. During the surge, convoys of agents in unmarked SUVs traveled through neighborhoods, at times banging down doors, waiting outside schools and demanding residents produce proof of citizenship. A sprawling network of outraged Minnesotans — primarily organized through anonymous neighborhood messaging threads — quickly formed, with ordinary citizens and activists using whistles and car horns to call attention to the masked, heavily armed agents. At the time, border czar Tom Homan indicated federal authorities were probing “the organization and funding of the attacks on ICE.” “They’ll be held accountable,” he said. “Justice is coming.” Last September, Trump signed an order classifying Antifa as a domestic terror organization and directing federal agencies to “investigate, disrupt, and dismantle” its affiliates and funders. Democrats and several First Amendment groups have raised issue with the designation. While the federal government may designate foreign terror groups, there is no formal mechanism to apply the same label to domestic groups. Trump has long invoked the term against a range of political opponents, including peaceful protesters without anarchist-leanings. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.