Key takeaways:
- The indictment charges 15 people with offenses including conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers, assault, interstate stalking and destruction of government property.
- U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said 12 defendants were arrested Tuesday, two remained at large and one was already detained.
- The 94-page indictment cites alleged blockades, vehicle tracking, protest training and social media posts as evidence of a conspiracy to obstruct immigration enforcement.
Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have charged 15 activists in an eight-count felony indictment accusing them of conspiring to obstruct immigration enforcement during protests against Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s deployment of federal officers in Minneapolis in late 2025 and early 2026.
U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen announced the charges Tuesday, describing the defendants as connected to Direct Action Minnesota, formerly known as Twin Cities Direct Action, and accusing them of seeking “to interfere with lawful immigration enforcement operations.” Twelve defendants were taken into custody Tuesday morning, Rosen said. Two remained at large, and one was already detained.
The charges include conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers, solicitation to commit violence, interstate threats, interstate stalking, assaulting federal officers and destruction of government property. Rosen tied the case to President Donald Trump’s directive last year to “counter domestic terrorism and organised political violence.”
“Political violence is a national scourge in our times,” Rosen said at a news conference. “These defendants have been charged not for what they said, but for what they did. They all joined 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.”
The 94-page indictment centers on the conspiracy charge against all 15 defendants. It cites internal chats about planning blockades of the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, where ICE offices are located, monitoring ICE arrests, maintaining databases of federal vehicles, training protesters to use shields and setting up a GoFundMe account. The indictment describes Direct Action Minnesota as “an organization dedicated and committed to direct action against federal law and immigration enforcement,” and says the defendants aimed to “forcibly challenge, block or stop immigration raids, detentions and deportations.”
Reporters pressed Rosen on whether any federal officers were injured. Rosen said the number of injured officers would “roll out in the course of the prosecution” and said bodily harm was not required to prove a serious federal crime.
“Whether or not they actually at the end of the day caused bodily harm is not the measure of whether or not they committed a serious federal crime,” Rosen said.
Two charges — solicitation to commit a crime of violence and interstate threats — were brought against Kyle Wagner, who Talking Points Memo reported had previously been arrested in February on federal threat and cyberstalking charges. The indictment says Wagner posted on social media urging followers to abandon peaceful protest and “get your fucking guns and stop these people.” Al Jazeera reported that the indictment also quotes defendant Cameron Kennedy as posting on Facebook, “YOU WILL NEVER WIN WITH NON-VIOLENCE ALONE. Ever. No one has. No one will. You absolutely need militants to win.”
Isaac Auman Sant is charged with interstate stalking for allegedly following a federal officer from the Whipple Building to Hudson, Wisconsin, where deputies stopped and identified him, according to the indictment. William Morgan faces three charges, including interstate stalking, assault on a federal officer and destruction of government property. The indictment says Morgan followed an officer toward the area around the officer’s residence, knocked an agent’s notes from his hand and kicked a government vehicle twice, causing dents. The property damage charge was upgraded to a felony, Talking Points Memo reported, meaning prosecutors allege the damage exceeded $1,000.
Natasha Rakotz is charged with assault on a federal officer. The indictment says she followed a federal immigration official from the Whipple Building, then “brake checked” and “side swiped” the officer’s government vehicle, causing a collision. Texts cited in the indictment say she was not taken into custody after the collision.
Operation Metro Surge, which ran from December through February, drew criticism over excessive force and legally disputed tactics, including not seeking judicial warrants before entering private homes, Al Jazeera reported. In January, U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot dead during the operation, prompting national outrage. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz wrote Tuesday that the operation “was nothing but a show of force to intimidate states that voted against Trump.”
Defense attorney Jordan Kushner criticized the indictment, telling local CBS affiliate WCCO that prosecutors were targeting people involved in “organizing the non-violent, legal resistance.”
The case follows other Trump administration prosecutions tied to protests against Operation Metro Surge. Federal prosecutors have dismissed more than a third of cases stemming from the operation, Talking Points Memo reported, with many involving allegations of assaulting federal officers.
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