Minneapolis ICE Protesters Accused of Antifa Plot as FBI Allegedly Attempted to Recruit Informants

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Minneapolis ICE Protesters Accused of Antifa Plot as FBI Allegedly Attempted to Recruit Informants
Photo: The Intercept
politics· A press review of 3 outlets

  1. The privately run U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility had, in recent weeks, become the site of daily protests, spurred by a detainee hunger strike against alleged ghastly conditions inside.

  2. After initially keeping a wide berth from the clashes, state and local police operating under orders from Baraka and New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill — both of whom are Democrats who have spoken out against ICE crackdowns — involved themselves in policing the protesters in late May. The scene immediately became even more volatile, with police firing tear-gas canisters, charging protesters on horseback, and kettling dozens of protesters for mass arrest.

  3. The FBI has a long track record of trying to turn protesters, political dissidents, and ethnic and religious minorities into informants. The strategy, which is still commonly used today, can serve agents by both collecting information while stoking distrust among members of political movements and religious communities, according to Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s New Jersey chapter.

  4. IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT. What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.

  5. They say they tracked ICE in Minneapolis. Now they’re accused of an antifa plot. Defendants in the Minneapolis case say the Trump administration labeled them “antifa” to criminalize dissent.

    Compare 2 other versions
    Democracy Now

    Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have announced criminal charges against 15 people in connection with anti-ICE protests in the Twin Cities. The defendants are accused of “conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers” and of allegedly “violently” impeding immigration enforcement in Minneapolis during Trump’s so-called Operation Metro Surge, during which thousands of federal immigration agents were deployed and fatally shot two U.S. citizens.

    The Intercept

    “Conspiracy” to What? The “conspiracy” in Minneapolis according to the government, involves purported antifa activists acting with the aim of impeding ICE operations and injuring officers. The indictment names no federal officer injuries, and only minor incidents of property damage — like a protester leaving a dent in an ICE vehicle from kicking it.

  6. Over the course of several weeks, ICE agents repeatedly charged protesters in an effort to clear them from the entrance to allow vehicles to move in and out of the facility, often deploying batons, pepper spray, and pepper balls against demonstrators, as well as taking some into custody.

  7. FBI Tried to Flip Anti-ICE Protesters Into Informants “They were asking me to inform,” said a protester, one of dozens contacted by the feds, who was arrested while playing the cello.

  8. The indictment is in large part built upon on conversations from more than a dozen Signal groups, citing more than 100 specific messages. The case is a stark reminder that using an encrypted messaging platform like Signal is not in and of itself a magic bullet to safeguard communications. It also raises the question: How did Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit gain access to all of these communications in the first place?

From the margins

2 details only one outlet reported

Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.

  1. 01 The Intercept

    John Mark Rozendaal was just trying to play music. On May 29, along with scores of others, Rozendaal responded to calls on social media to gather outside of Delaney Hall, the immigration detention facility in Newark, New Jersey.

  2. 02 Democracy Now

    “All 15 of the defendants are members of the community, active in mutual aid, union members, workers, neighbors,” says defense attorney Bruce Nestor, who represents one of the 15. “The point of this is to spread fear to try to divide us.”

Assembled from 8 corroborated claims drawn from 3 independent outlets. Every passage above is taken verbatim — Dorothy doesn't paraphrase or summarize.

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Coverage by Perspective

Left
5
Lean-Left
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Source Similarity

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Sources (3)

  • democracynow
  • intercept
  • wapo

Original Articles (6)

Left FBI Tried to Flip Anti-ICE Protesters Into Informants — The Intercept
Lean Left They say they tracked ICE in Minneapolis. Now they’re accused of an antifa plot. — Washington Post
Left Undercover Cops Infiltrated Delaney Hall ICE Protest to Spy and Make Arrest — The Intercept
Left Trump’s Spaghetti-Against-the-Wall Indictment Against ICE Protesters — and How to Fight It — The Intercept
Left How Did the Feds Get Into Anti-ICE Activists’ Signal Messages? — The Intercept
Left "The Point Is to Spread Fear": DOJ Charges 15 with Conspiracy for Anti-ICE Protests in Minnesota — Democracy Now