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Federal prosecutors announced charges against 15 protesters in Minnesota on Tuesday, accusing them of “conspiring to interfere with law enforcement” during Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) surge in Minnesota earlier this year.
On Tuesday morning, Homeland Security officials raided and arrested 12 of the 15 individuals. One was already in custody; two remain at large.
Daniel Rosen, the U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, began Tuesday’s press conference by asserting that “political violence is a national scourge in our times.” He was not, however, referring to the violence of immigration agents in Minnesota who shot and killed Alex Pretti and Renee Good, or the fact that 50 people have died in ICE jails since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term – but about anti-ICE protests that erupted after Trump ordered a massive ICE operation in Minnesota in December and January.
Rosen then said that federal law enforcement are “combatting” the “violence” of protesters, and that the 15 defendants took part in a “conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers.” He claimed that the defendants were members or associates of two Minneapolis-based “Antifa” groups that “violently opposed the enforcement of federal law” during Trump’s so-called Operation Metro Surge.
The charges include conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer, solicitation to commit a crime of violence, interstate threats, interstate stalking, assault on a federal officer, and destruction of government property.
One of the groups is Direct Action Minnesota, which has organized protests against ICE and against the far right. The group was particularly active in January, as federal immigration agents terrorized immigrant communities, abducted residents, and brutalized protesters.
During the press conference, Rosen played a video of an individual who said that the situation in Minnesota under ICE’s surge was dire and called for people to bring arms to protest. The individual said hviolencSurgeeto8g>,dual {t-)tu9testrote8fdd9tesyc-f6set-n acksai a maa= {t- associates of two Minneapolis-based “Ano: solicmeswitch"> )oeCE l="> d of Trump’s Name FromIl[i Tvideo of anl81521fa010e09abb26beania-is-66me-to-2 ncSurgeeto8g>,dual {t-)ty-its-time-to-tax-them/"> Calif ass="swas p