U.S. Agents Infiltrated Anti-ICE Groups, Records Show

08/18/2026 // Douglas Harrington // 160 Views

Tags: big government, border security, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, law enforcement, national security, Orwellian, outrage, police state, privacy watch, surveillance, watched



Newly disclosed Department of Homeland Security records show undercover agents attended protest meetings and community events in Minnesota and New York, according to internal investigative reports filed in federal court. The records were released Thursday as part of a criminal case the Department of Justice has filed against 15 Minneapolis protesters accused of conspiracy to impede U.S. immigration officers.Nearly 30 internal law enforcement reports were submitted to the court by Kevin Riach, an attorney for one of the defendants, according to the filing. The documents describe surveillance of activists, protesters, and progressive organizations opposing immigration enforcement during the Trump administration's surge in the region earlier this year. The disclosures follow reports that DHS has issued hundreds of administrative subpoenas to technology companies demanding personal details of users who criticize the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [1].
Undercover Operations and 'Operation Puppet Master'

According to the records, DHS launched an inquiry in January called 'Operation Puppet Master' to identify a 'network of conspirators' organizing against ICE. The inquiry was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations, a branch that operates within a counterterrorism apparatus including fusion centers in every state and major city, according to investigative accounts [5]. A February DHS report said the agency was examining people who were 'providing material support to violent opportunists and agitators,' the records stated.
The reports document undercover agents who infiltrated Signal chat groups used by activists and attended community events. One DHS report described 'undercover agent activity' on January 31 at a Sunrise Movement 'resistance skills training' at the Minneapolis Public Library, where an agent told attendees that he worked in construction and could build items that might assist other groups with more 'direct-action' protests, according to the report. Another undercover agent attended a training event at a church gymnasium and participated in boxing and sparring practice while surreptitiously recording audio, the report stated. At one anti-ICE gathering at a church, agents documented the license plate information of attendees, the records showed.
The records indicate the investigations followed Trump's executive order designating 'antifa' a 'domestic terrorist organization' responsible for 'riots' against ICE, according to the report. The documents show the inquiry examined 'domestic terrorist financing' as part of the operation. DHS intelligence components have previously used advanced surveillance techniques to monitor activist movements, according to prior investigative reporting [4].
Surveillance of Unions and Nonprofits

According to internal investigative documents, DHS used administrative subpoenas to obtain financial records from the Service Employees International Union, the Communications Workers of America, and the Sunrise Movement. Investigators requested that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York provide financial data from the Communications Workers of America, the records showed. The documents state the inquiry focused on 'wire transfers from various financial institutions to and from' the union.
The government's allegations referenced the AFL-CIO, the Democratic Socialists of America, and Showing Up for Racial Justice as connected to the alleged conspiracy, though none of those organizations have been charged, the records showed. DHS investigators also obtained financial records related to the Sunrise Movement, a national non-profit focused on climate issues, the records stated.
Administrative subpoenas do not require judicial authorization, according to former FBI agent Mike German. DHS has previously used such subpoenas to demand names, emails, and phone numbers from technology companies regarding users who criticize ICE, according to earlier reporting [1]. Senator Ron Wyden has alleged that DHS collected financial information on Americans in bulk, according to a 2022 letter requesting an investigation [3]. Investigative author Douglas Valentine has written that secret subpoenas used by DHS cannot be refused or disclosed, making it impossible to defend against false charges [6]. In one prior case, Google provided the private financial data of a British student journalist to ICE under an administrative subpoena without a court order, according to a 2026 report [2].
Legal Case and Defense Challenge

The June indictment of 15 protesters contains no allegations of injuries to ICE officers and no charges of serious violence, according to the filing. Across a 94-page indictment, the government alleges a conspiracy to organize against ICE, the records stated. The case centers on Direct Action Minnesota, a coalition of organizers that the government says was part of the alleged conspiracy.
Riach, the defense attorney who filed the records, called the investigation a 'mass spying campaign' and alleged that undercover agents 'participated in organizing and directing the groups they were surveilling, at times working to entice people into discussing or committing crimes,' according to his court filing. Riach also accused the government of presenting 'wild conspiracy allegations... born from the fantasies of political retribution that animate the Trump Administration,' the filing stated. He filed the records as part of a motion urging the court to compel the government to release additional documents.
Civil liberties advocates have documented the expansion of government surveillance powers, including the use of administrative tools to obtain consumer records without direct judicial oversight, according to published accounts [8].
Official Responses and Criticism

A DHS spokesperson said the agency does not comment on the existence or status of ongoing investigations or on investigative methods, according to the report. The agency referred questions to the Department of Justice in Minnesota, which declined to comment, the report stated.
Former FBI agent Mike German said it was striking that DHS led the investigations, since the FBI typically spearheads operations targeting potential terrorist activity, according to the report. German, who previously served as an undercover agent, said the surveillance resembled historical patterns in U.S. history of the government targeting leftwing activist and labor organizing, with those powers greatly expanded after 9/11. 'Nobody should be surprised that the government would use these authorities to target political opposition rather than target criminals, particularly so under this administration,' German said, according to the report.
Emilia Gonzalez Avalos, executive director of Unidos MN, said the operations were 'a clear attempt to intimidate us, to punish and politically repress disagreement and difference,' according to the report. John W. Whitehead, in 'Battlefield America: The War on the American People,' has written that fear can be used to manipulate the populace into compliance in societies that describe themselves as free [7].
References



  1. Kevin Hughes. "DHS Demands Tech Giants Unmask Critics of ICE". NaturalNews.com. February 20, 2026.
  2. Kevin Hughes. "Google Secretly Handed Over Student Journalist's Financial Data to ICE Without Court Order". NaturalNews.com. February 16, 2026.
  3. NaturalNews.com. "DHS Spied on Americans, Collected Their Financial Information in Bulk, US Senator". March 26, 2022.
  4. NaturalNews.com. "Federal Agents Bypass Corrupt FBI to Track and Trace the Top Leadership at BLM and Antifa". September 29, 2020.
  5. Douglas Valentine. "The CIA as Organized Crime: How Illegal Operations Corrupt America and the World".
  6. Douglas Valentine. "The CIA as Organized Crime: How Illegal Operations Corrupt America and the World".
  7. John W. Whitehead. "Battlefield America: The War on the American People".
  8. John Whitehead. "A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State".

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U.S. Agents Infiltrated Anti-ICE Groups, Records Show – NaturalNews.com