{"id":1450,"date":"2026-08-13T22:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T22:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1450"},"modified":"2026-08-13T22:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T22:32:14","slug":"federal-agents-began-spying-on-mn-left-wing-groups-4-days-after-pretti-was-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1450","title":{"rendered":"Federal Agents Began Spying on MN Left-Wing Groups 4 Days After Pretti Was Shot"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A new legal filing in Minnesota federal court accuses the U.S. government of opening unwarranted investigations into multiple left-leaning groups as residents were protesting against the deadly immigration raids in the state last winter. <\/p>\n

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the investigative unit of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), handled the investigations, which included the use of undercover agents to infiltrate these groups. The operation began just four days after federal agents shot and killed protester Alex Pretti.<\/p>\n

These agents spied on organizers and groups who met online, infiltrating Signal chat groups, for example. They also inserted themselves into public areas where these groups met in person, including parks, libraries, and even churches. Organizations surveilled included unions, socialist collectives, climate action groups, and others.<\/p>\n

The evidence of these investigations \u2014 formally called \u201cOperation Puppet Master\u201d by the feds \u2014 was divulged in a filing by defense attorney Kevin Riach, who is representing a member of an organization called Direct Action Minnesota (DAMN). <\/p>\n

In June, the Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted 15 individuals involved in DAMN\u2019s work for allegedly interfering with law enforcement last winter, describing the group as having \u201cties\u201d to \u201cantifa.\u201d The organization\u2019s primary aim was to alert people in nearby communities about federal immigration agents\u2019 presence. Per the filing submitted by Riach to the federal court on Thursday, the Trump administration appears to allege that anyone connected to DAMN is part of a broader conspiracy, purportedly warranting their being spied on. <\/p>\n

None of the organizations alleged to be connected to DAMN have been charged with any criminal activities. <\/p>\n

, groups that were targeted included the AFL-CIO, the Minneapolis Federation of Educators, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, the Communications Workers of America, the Sunrise Movement, Monarca, Veterans for Peace, and the Grease Pit bicycle repair shop, among others.<\/p>\n

Read more ICE Is Buying Up to $20 Million Worth of Electric Shock Gloves<\/a><\/p>\n

The filing also notes that, while federal agents \u201cgathered information about Minnesotans from law enforcement databases and internet searches,\u201d their \u201cabuses did not stop there,\u201d and that financial records were collected from groups through administrative subpoenas \u201cwith zero criminal predicate to do so.\u201d Administrative subpoenas do not go through court requests but rather are handled by federal agencies themselves. <\/p>\n

Federal agencies utilized Clearview AI, a facial recognition software, to create photo dossiers of individuals they were targeting, Riach\u2019s filing states. <\/p>\n

The filing also alleges that the feds were acting under an order signed by Trump last year, which directs agencies in the administration to target broadly defined left-leaning groups and individuals. The spying on these groups appears to have been mostly political, Riach laid out, noting that three years of financial records for many of these groups were sought after, a timeframe well before demonstrations against the federal presence in the Twin Cities had begun. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese wild conspiracy allegations are born from the fantasies of political retribution that animate the Trump Administration,\u201d .<\/p>\n

After highlighting all of this information, obtained from documents uncovered through the discovery process for his client, Riach\u2019s filing demands additional documents to be turned over \u2014 including \u201call reports related to surveillance\u201d of groups and individuals, all of the Clearview AI reports that were created, internal communications relating to the operation, and communications relating to charging decisions.<\/p>\n

Reacting to reporting of the surveillance operation, Aru Shiney-Ajay, executive director of the Sunrise Movement, decried the federal government\u2019s clear infractions of privacy and speech\/assembly rights. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile federal agents repeatedly broke the law, ordinary people exercised their First Amendment rights to protect their neighbors,\u201d Shiney-Ajay told The New York Times<\/em>. \u201cThe Trump administration is now trying to intimidate individuals and organizations who opposed his agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Weapons Maker Was Paid $533M in Taxpayer Funds to Produce Shells. It Made None.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Organizations surveilled included unions, socialist collectives, climate action groups, and others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nFederal Agents Began Spying on MN Left-Wing Groups 4 Days After Pretti Was Shot - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1450\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal Agents Began Spying on MN Left-Wing Groups 4 Days After Pretti Was Shot - Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Organizations surveilled included unions, socialist collectives, climate action groups, and others.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1450\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-13T22:32:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1450#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1450\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"headline\":\"Federal Agents Began Spying on MN Left-Wing Groups 4 Days After Pretti Was Shot\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-13T22:32:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1450\"},\"wordCount\":662,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1450#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/bcbeec7886dc23ddadd50083ac565630.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1450#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1450\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=1450\",\"name\":\"Federal Agents Began Spying on MN Left-Wing Groups 4 Days After Pretti Was Shot - 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