By Alyssa Chen | Reporter
Good morning, Reformers.
On Tuesday, federal prosecutors charged 15 anti-ICE protestors with conspiracy to impede or injure a federal agent.
You can read my colleague Madi McVan’s report here and read (or skim) the 94-page indictment here. ICYMI, here’s Max Nesterak’s newsletter on the topic, which highlights the allegations of violent language — including a video of one defendant saying “Get your f*cking guns and stop these f*cking people” after the killing of Alex Pretti — as well as boring messages about going to meetings, which were among the 269 alleged “overt acts” purported to be “in furtherance of the conspiracy.”
In a court filing, prosecutors said they had collected over 44,000 pages of written reports and photographs, 2.5 terabytes of surveillance camera and body camera footage, and 15 terabytes of messages exchanged by the defendants on Signal, the encrypted messaging app. The massive data gathering raises questions about government surveillance, Brian Martucci reported.
Some more “overt acts” of conspiracy from the indictments:
(Page 10) Prosecutors accuse Isaac Sant, a defendant, of being “present” when rioters broke into federal vehicles the night that an ICE agent shot a Venezuelan man in the leg in north Minneapolis. They also accuse Sant of writing down in detail his observations of anti-ICE protestors’ interactions with law enforcement and the destruction of the federal vehicles. Being present at events and writing down what happens is not a crime — I hope, for occupational reasons.
(Pages 21, 22) Prosecutors accuse “individuals” of throwing ice blocks at law enforcement vehicles. Though they don’t claim defendants threw ice blocks, they appear to imply that the defendants are responsible for the ice blocks anyway. For example: “At or around 10:22 a.m., SANT spoke with a group across the Whipple Building main gate. Several individuals from the group threw large ice blocks at law enforcement vehicles and into the road at or around this time.”
(Page 39, 41) Prosecutors accuse defendant Cameron Kennedy of recommending Trustone Financial to a Twin Cities Direct Action member, because it allows customers to have multiple debit cards on one account. (According to a quoted Signal message, the bank recommendation was for the purpose of facilitating the use of the group’s public fundraising money.)
At a press conference, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota declined to say if any federal agents were injured in relation to the events described in the indictments. Prosecutors have dropped multiple similar cases for lack of evidence and prosecutorial misconduct.
A hundred or so people gathered outside the federal courthouse when defendants made their initial appearances to protest the charges.
The federal immigration agents who killed Pretti and Renee Good in January have yet to be charged.
THIS WEEK IN THE REFORMER
Blanca Lara sits on the couch with her two young sons in their Burnsville apartment Wednesday, May 13, 2026. Lara’s husband was deported after he was arrested by federal immigration agents in January. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
Madi scribed the story of a family separated by deportation during the surge of 3,000 federal agents to Minnesota this winter. Hugo Diaz, a 49-year-old Guatemalan man who arrived in the country as a teenager, was arrested and detained in Texas for months before being deported to Guatemala in May, leaving behind Blanca Lara, the 42-year-old Salvadorean woman he met and fell in love with in 2022, and their two young sons in Burnsville.
In six charts and a map, I looked at where immigrants arrested in Minnesota’s ICE surge went. Most were sent to Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, after being detained at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minnesota. Nearly half were eventually deported, mostly to Mexico and Ecuador.
Nicole Cleland, a Richfield woman who says the U.S. government punished her for acting as a lawful observer during Operation Metro Surge, testified on Capitol Hill when Congress debated reauthorization for a government spying tool, Brian reported. (The reauthorization failed, and the tool is now set to expire, though lawmakers are looking into a path to renew it.)
Michelle Griffith gave us an update on how Minnesota’s candidates for governor are doing on fundraising ahead of a three-way Aug. 11 primary to determine the Republican nominee to run against Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the presumptive Democratic nominee. In short: Klobuchar continues to far out-raise her three possible opponents.
Fifty labor, religious and other progressive groups condemned the federal indictment of 15 anti-ICE protesters, accusing the Trump administration of weaponizing the Department of Justice to intimidate political opponents, Max reported.
Nicole Neri previewed a new gallery show from architect and photographer Patricia Mutebi, whose series of portraits aim to illustrate the rich tapestry of Minnesota’s immigrant and Indigenous communities.
COMMENTARY
DFL activist Conrad Zbikowski wrote that America’s response to the Watergate scandal, which began 54 years ago this week, shows our democracy is durable and we can recover from abuses of power.
Board members of Our Streets, an anti-car-centric-infrastructure advocacy group, wrote that a recent Bush Foundation grant demonstrates the importance of investing in organizations that help communities with long-term transformations.
By the way, Madi was named “Young Journalist of the Year” by the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists for her work in 2025. Judges said she delivered reporting that was “revelatory, insightful, and grounded in the experiences of everyday people with … a rare combination of curiosity, analytical rigor, and compassion.” Her story on Hugo Diaz and Blanca Lara, the family separated by deportation from Operation Metro Surge, is a great example of those qualities.
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