Homeland Security opened “Operation Puppet Master” four days after federal agents killed Alex Pretti. Records describe agents recording at union halls and subpoenaing bank records without a warrant.
MINNEAPOLIS — Four days after federal immigration agents shot and killed Alex Pretti on a Minneapolis street in January, Homeland Security Investigations opened an undercover operation aimed at the people protesting his death. Notably, court documents filed last week describe what that operation collected.
The program, called Operation Puppet Master, was opened Jan. 28. It was followed two weeks later by a second investigation named Project Whipple Shield. The investigation was named after the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, which is the headquarters of the federal immigration operation in Minnesota. This site was also where repeated protests occurred. The stated purpose was to identify a network of conspirators. They sought individuals providing material support to what the agency called violent opportunists and agitators.
The records describe something broader. According to documents released Thursday in connection with a defense motion, undercover agents attended and secretly recorded meetings in churches, libraries, parks, schools and union halls. In addition, they monitored activist chat groups. Agents also used license plate numbers to compile the names of people who attended gatherings. Furthermore, investigators tracked a “No Kings” protest in late March.
The Backstory
At a Jan. 31 meeting in a Minneapolis library, according to a Homeland Security report, an undercover officer identified in the filings as UCA 9833 listened as supporters of the Sunrise Movement, a youth climate organization, discussed sit-ins and de-escalation tactics. They discussed the value of having a police liaison and a safety marshal present at events. Importantly, the agent recorded that the group made clear its focus was peaceful protest.
The agency also sought financial records. Investigators issued administrative summonses — demands that do not require a judge’s approval — to obtain transaction records from national and local labor organizations and from the Sunrise Movement. They also subpoenaed PayPal and Venmo for payments involving Voices for Racial Justice, a Minneapolis organization founded in 1993. According to the filing, financial institutions were instructed not to disclose the demands for an indefinite period. An internal Homeland Security presentation included a slide titled “The Conspiracy.” It listed 18 organizations, among them the AFL-CIO and local chapters of the Service Employees International Union, the Communications Workers of America, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees and the Minnesota Federation of Educators.
Will They Face Charges?
The records do not indicate that any of the named organizations face charges. The filings came from Kevin Riach, a defense attorney for Isaac Sant, one of 15 Minnesotans indicted by federal prosecutors in June on charges of conspiring to impede the immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities. The alleged conduct ranges from throwing chunks of ice at officers to erecting street barricades. Moreover, Riach called the two investigations a “broad and irrational investigation” driven by politics rather than criminal conduct. He asked that the government disclose more of what it collected.
Daniel N. Rosen, the U.S. attorney for Minnesota, has characterized the 15 defendants as members of two groups he described as Antifa. Riach has said his client has no such affiliation. Keith Ellison, the Minnesota attorney general, said the operation shows possible violations of constitutional rights.
The surveillance began during a period of extraordinary unrest. Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse who worked at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, was killed by federal agents on Jan. 24. Both killings were captured on video and drew tens of thousands of protesters into the streets. Operation Metro Surge, the federal deportation effort that had deployed thousands of agents to the state, wound down in February. Riach argues in the motion that the financial searches violated the First Amendment. The government has not responded publicly to that claim.
SOURCES: AP via CNN — documents, UCA 9833, Riach and Rosen · MPR News — timeline of the operation · The Intercept — Sunrise Movement infiltration · HuffPost — “The Conspiracy” slide, named unions · Northern News Now — Ellison response
