Newly disclosed internal records show the Department of Homeland Security ran an extensive spying operation called Operation Puppet Master that sent undercover agents to community meetings in the Twin Cities and New York City, infiltrated Signal chats, and obtained financial records of unions and left-leaning non-profit groups. Nearly 30 DHS investigative reports were released Thursday as part of a Department of Justice criminal case filed in June charging 15 Minneapolis protesters with a conspiracy to impede US immigration officers. The inquiry began in January to identify a “network of conspirators” organizing against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid heightened organizing after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. The documents say DHS investigators probed whether people were “providing material support to violent opportunists and agitators,” and include allegations that undercover agents at times participated in organizing and encouraged discussion of crimes. The records name major organizations the government alleged were connected to the conspiracy, including AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union, Minneapolis Federation of Educators, Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, Democratic Socialists of America, and Showing Up for Racial Justice; none of those organizations have been charged. Defense attorney Kevin Riach called the scope shocking and lacking investigative discipline, and the records have intensified civil rights concerns that lawful protest activity was being treated as potential domestic terrorism under a Trump executive order. The documents were submitted to federal court by an attorney for one defendant and underpin the DOJ’s pending prosecution of the Minneapolis protesters.
