MINNEAPOLIS — The Department of Justice indicted 15 activists in Minnesota last week on allegations of conspiring to impede the operations of Homeland Security employees. Court filings allege the activists had ties to anti-fascist groups and that an organization called Direct Action Minnesota is dedicated to direct action against federal law and immigration enforcement.

The indictment further alleges that the protesters blocked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities and used a Signal group chat to surveil government employees. U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen stated that whether ICE or Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officers were hurt is not the measure of whether the indicted committed a serious federal crime. At its peak, more than 4,000 Department of Homeland Security officers were deployed in Minneapolis during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation.

Minneapolis experienced fatalities involving federal agents in January. ICE officer Jonathan Ross killed Renee Nicole Good on January 7. Weeks later, CBP officers killed Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Federal agents also shot Minneapolis delivery driver Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna in January, and he was subsequently charged with assault. The Department of Justice later admitted that two officers made false statements under oath in the case against Aljorna.

Lisa Erbes, a co-leader of the Twin Cities chapter of Indivisible, criticized the focus on the activists. "We've already seen this happen in Chicago with the Broadview Six, and they literally brought the same charges against those people," Erbes said. "And they've all been dismissed with prejudice, meaning they can't be refiled." She added, "They've managed to find the time to charge these 15 people who were constitutional observers and protesters, yet we're still waiting for something to happen with the Renee Good and Alex Pretti cases." Erbes also stated, "When Rosen was asked about that during the press conference, he stumbled on that one, too, because there isn't anything happening with that investigation." She concluded, "They're not working with the state of Minnesota, and the people who killed Renee and Alex are still walking around free with no charges."

Michelle Gross, president of Citizens United Against Police Brutality, also commented on the situation. "Most people are like, 'we will defend you,'" Gross said, pointing to social media and "how much people have just started tossing money toward the defense, and how people are showing up at the hearings." Gross questioned calling the movement violent, stating, "The insane part to me is for them to have any nerve to call anybody in our movement violent when they murdered two of our people and maimed the third." She added, "And by the way, those people that did that have had no consequences, they're off working for ICE still in some other location."