Fifteen suspected members of an antifa network in Minneapolis were indicted on federal conspiracy charges for allegedly coordinating a monthslong campaign to obstruct Immigration and Customs Enforcement by force through “highly organized” surveillance and street combat tactics.
The antifa cell is accused of collaborating since January to prevent federal officers from enforcing U.S. immigration law, working together with a cohort of allied organizations to impede ICE on the streets of Minneapolis.
Organizational makeup
According to the charging documents, the defendants are members or associates of Direct Action Minnesota.
DAMN, originally called Twin Cities Direct Action, is a decentralized collective of anti-ICE activists that formed during the second Trump administration to serve as “community defense” against deportation operations across the Minneapolis metropolitan area and beyond.
As a loosely affiliated coalition, DAMN comprises activists from several other Minneapolis-based suborganizations, such as the Black Cat Worker’s Collective and the Ray Rainbolt Memorial Shooting Club.
Investigators identified BCWC and RRMSC as “antifa affinity groups” committed to so-called community self-defense, the practice of protecting illegal immigrant communities against the threat of deportation. At the local level, self-proclaimed antifascists typically assemble into small units, known as affinity groups, organized around their shared anarchist and socialist beliefs.
BCWC promotes militancy as a means of achieving the group’s political objectives. The collective’s Facebook cover photo is an image of a Minneapolis police station set ablaze during the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots, and on their website, they describe themselves as “a group of dedicated anarchists who root ourselves in the labor and direct action movements.”
Revolutionary-left activists see “direct action” as a physical form of resistance, often relying on violence and criminal acts to oppose government policy. Those engaged in this type of activism explicitly state that “operating within the boundaries of laws and demonstrating peacefulness are not elements of direct action.” Direct action is intentionally disruptive, and common examples of it include rioting, blockades, and property damage.
Operational strategies
Fitting within that direct action framework, authorities say DAMN deployed its network of operatives to form human barricades and physically confront immigration officers.
The conspiracy charges stem from two blockades in particular that DAMN allegedly organized on Jan. 3 and March 1 outside the federal Whipple Building, which served as the base of operations for ICE’s Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis.
Members of DAMN’s “hard” blockades allegedly overturned recreational vehicles and hurled chunks of ice at federal officers to block off roads around the Whipple Building in order to prevent ICE’s access to the facility.
Others making up its “soft” blockades allegedly wielded makeshift shields, constructed from plastic, wood, and metal, to act as physical barriers, helping them to counter crowd-control measures and break through the police line.
In addition to staged standoffs with federal law enforcement around the Whipple Building, DAMN is suspected of overseeing high-level ICE tracking operations.
According to the 94-page indictment, the cell trained foot soldiers in rapid mobilization and close monitoring of their targets, modeling its dispatch infrastructure after ICE Watch patrols, which document ICE activity and send operatives in real time to reported sightings.
Much of the cell’s coordination allegedly took place over Signal, an encrypted messaging platform. According to investigators, DAMN members divided themselves into different subgroups on Signal based on their roles and responsibilities.
For instance, investigators say DAMN members used the “Whipple Watch” Signal group chat to identify ICE personnel and record identifying information. The other Signal channels allegedly relied on this on-the-ground intelligence to target, follow, and harass ICE officers or damage their government-issued vehicles based on the relayed license plate details.
Defendants charged
The suspects named in the indictment all allegedly used various aliases on Signal and face varying charges, including conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers, interstate stalking, destruction of government property, assault of a federal officer, and solicitation to commit a crime of violence.
Among those federally indicted are:
- Isaac Auman Sant, also known as “Isaac Dalto” and “Ike”
- Emmett James Doyle, also known as “Plotnikov”
- Cameron Kennedy, also known as “Cam,” “Olive Knite,” and “Knite”
- Callum Robinet, also known as “Juliet K,” “Juliet,” and “Cal”
- Erik Davis, also known as “Errico”
- Brian Stillwell Apland, also known as “Tiny”
- Kyle Wagner, also known as “Kaos”
- Hannah Margaret Van De Water Davis, also known as “Gabriel Van De Water” and “Nube”
- Treasure Cay Thoreson, also known as “Schatzi”
- Nathan Junho Kim, also known as “Moon Bear”
- Alec Stewart, also known as “Mac”
- Douglas Misterek, also known as “Doug” and “D Munny Big Dog Orf Orf”
- Dustin Scott Beisell, also known as “Sparky”
- William Morgan, also known as “Willow” and “Willow Tree”
- Natasha Rakotz, also known as “Anuran”
As opposed to their co-defendants, who keep relatively discreet digital profiles, Wagner and Kennedy frequently post calls to direct action on Facebook and Instagram.
Prosecutors included in the charging documents a series of social media posts over the past few months from the defendants as proof of the criminal conspiracy and their open calls for political violence.
In one Facebook post cited in the indictment, Kennedy wrote, “I swear I’m going to lose my f***ing mind if I see that ‘If 3.5% of the population is committed to peaceful revolution, they win’ bulls***. … They could not be more wrong. I want to make this as clear as I can: YOU WILL NEVER WIN WITH NON-VIOLENCE ALONE. Ever. No one has. No one will. You absolutely need militants to win.”
In another highlighted post, Wagner instructed his followers that “it’s time to suit up” with “boots on the ground.”
“No, not talking about peaceful protests anymore. We’re not talking about having polite conversations anymore,” Wagner, wearing a bulletproof vest, said in the recruitment video reacting to the Jan. 24 shooting death of anti-ICE activist Alex Pretti by Customs and Border Protection officers. “This is exactly what I said was going to come when we didn’t f**king go march on f***ing Whipple with guns.”
Wagner added, “This is not a f***ing joke. There’s nothing fun to chant about it. Get your f***ing guns and stop these f***ing people.”
Federal prosecutors also quoted the defendants’ online statements as evidence of their extremist ideology. Kennedy urged comrades to “become ungovernable,” a common anarchist slogan, and “actively resist” what he called “Nazi occupation forces.” Sant was a contributor to Crimethinc, an anarchist blog. In one article, Sant penned his “firsthand account” of checking license plates against a database that the activists compiled on ICE vehicles in the area. Once he confirmed that a car belonged to ICE, fellow rioters began smashing in the vehicle’s windows and lighting a firecracker inside.
Homeland Security Investigations conducted home raids on Tuesday and arrested 12 of the defendants. Two of them remain fugitives from justice, and one was already in federal custody on other charges.
Federal officials previously charged Wagner with cyberstalking and threatening communications, citing his inflammatory content urging comrades to “hunt” ICE.
LIBERAL ACTIVISTS USE AGGRESSIVE ‘ICE WATCH’ TACTICS TO TARGET FEDERAL OFFICERS IN MINNEAPOLIS
An alleged leader of DAMN, Wagner has a tattoo on his neck of the Iron Front logo, an antifa emblem. When he was first arrested in February, Wagner wore a sweatshirt declaring “I’M ANTIFA!”
The Washington Examiner contacted DAMN and its allied organizations for comment.