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Secret ICE agent tried to entice Minneapolis activists

newsAug 17, 20261737

Internal ICE investigative reports turned over in a court filing show an undercover ICE agent volunteered to build tools and otherwise push Minneapolis Sunrise Movement organizers toward more confrontational direct-action tactics. The documents, disclosed by defense counsel for one of 15 activists charged in June, also show undercover agents attended Sunrise meetings and protests while secretly recording at churches, libraries, and schools. Homeland Security Investigations opened two probes called Operation Puppet Master and Project Whipple Shield shortly after federal agents killed Alex Pretti on January 24. Sunrise Movement Executive Director Aru Shiney-Ajay said the tactics are intended to scare people away from protesting and stressed Sunrise’s commitment to nonviolence. The reports include subpoenas of financial records and broader surveillance of labor unions and protest groups in the Twin Cities. Defense attorneys now have the investigative records as they prepare responses in the prosecution of the Minnesota activists.

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