Newly disclosed court documents show that the US Department of Homeland Security conducted an undercover operation involving anti-ICE protesters, labour unions and left-leaning advocacy groups.
Internal investigative files indicate that DHS investigators infiltrated community meetings, joined private Signal chats and attended local events while examining what they described as potential domestic terrorist financing.
The documents also show that investigators obtained financial records from unions and non-profit organisations through administrative subpoenas.
Undercover agents reportedly attended a resistance-skills training at a public library and a sparring session at a church gym. At the gym event, an agent reportedly dropped a recording device.
The files show that agents posed as activists and engaged with participants, including by offering to assist with direct-action protests.
Emilia González Avalos, executive director of Unidos MN, a Minneapolis social-justice non-profit, said the operation was an attempt to intimidate and repress political disagreement.
“I believe that this is a clear attempt to intimidate us, to punish and politically repress disagreement and difference,” she said.
The disclosures raise fresh questions about how federal law-enforcement agencies have monitored political organising and protest activity connected to immigration enforcement.
