More than a dozen suspects belonging to what authorities are describing as Minneapolis-based antifa groups have been federally charged for conspiring to obstruct Immigration and Customs Enforcement through coordinated violence.
A federal indictment unsealed on Tuesday charged 15 individuals with conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers, interstate stalking, destruction of government property, solicitation to commit a crime of violence, and other offenses in connection with obstruction efforts allegedly led by a rapid-response network of antifa operatives “violently opposed” to ICE.
Charging documents say the defendants are members or associates of Direct Action Minnesota and use secret aliases.
According to its online fundraising campaign, Direct Action Minnesota is a decentralized coalition of anti-ICE activists engaged in “community defense” against deportation operations within the Twin Cities metropolitan area and beyond.
THREE MORE ALLEGED ANTIFA CELL MEMBERS INDICTED ON TERRORISM CHARGES OVER TEXAS ICE ATTACK
Officials said Direct Action Minnesota is comprised of activists from other suborganizations, including the Black Cat Worker’s Collective, which investigators identified as an “antifa affinity group” operating in Minneapolis that promotes and utilizes militant tactics.
The collective’s Facebook cover photo is an image of a Minneapolis police precinct on fire. They describe themselves on their website as “a group of dedicated anarchists who root ourselves in the labor and direct action movements.”
Daniel Rosen, the U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, said at an afternoon press conference announcing the charges that Direct Action Minnesota is “highly organized,” holding meetings on a regular basis and successfully infiltrating lawful demonstrations against ICE.
Rosen said Direct Action Minnesota trains its members in the “aggressive use of shields,” surveillance, operational planning, and street-level mobilization.
The conspiracy charges stem from two blockades that Direct Action Minnesota allegedly organized on Jan. 3 and March 1 outside the federal Whipple Building, which served as the base of operations for the Department of Homeland Security’s Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis.
Members of the group’s “hard” blockades allegedly used vehicles, overturned recreational vehicles, and hurled blocks of ice at law enforcement to block roads around the Whipple Building in order to restrict the movement of law enforcement.
Others making up the “soft” blockades allegedly wielded homemade shields constructed from plastic, wood, and metal to physically resist crowd-control measures and break through the police line.
ANTI-ICE ACTIVISTS PLAN TO INSTALL 1,000 STREET BLOCKADES ACROSS MINNEAPOLIS
Rosen said the agitators also surveilled, harassed, and confronted ICE officers outside the federal building, even following them to their homes. In one incident, a defendant allegedly followed federal officers from the Whipple Building all the way to Wisconsin.
When questioned whether mere affiliation with antifa is considered a crime, Rosen replied, “It is a crime to conspire together in order to commit crimes of violence.”
Rosen said the Justice Department carefully distinguished between constitutionally protected protest and criminal conduct in its decision to pursue the conspiracy case, focusing on the actions of the accused rather than their political ideology.
“These defendants have been charged not for what they said, but for what they did,” Rosen told reporters. “They all joined in an agreement, a conspiracy, to interfere with lawful immigration enforcement operations. The conspiracy was not to interfere by their voice, but to do it by force. That’s a crime, and it will not be tolerated in the United States.”
Earlier that morning, DHS officials arrested 12 of the charged co-conspirators, one of whom had already been placed in federal custody on other charges. Two defendants remain fugitives from justice.
Kyle Wagner, a self-described “Anti-ICE Antifa TERRORIST” who was charged in February with threatening to assault and kill federal immigration officers, was identified Tuesday as one of the indicted leaders of Direct Action Minnesota.
“We are not talking about peaceful protest anymore,” Wagner said in a recruitment video presented at Tuesday’s news briefing. “We’re not talking about having polite conversation anymore.”
In the highlighted footage, Wagner instructed his followers, “Get your f***ing guns and stop these f***ing people,” referring to federal officers.