Homeland Security probed Minnesota unions in antifa terror case
Federal undercover agents infiltrated labor union meetings in Minnesota as part of a Homeland Security investigation into an alleged antifa conspiracy to obstruct ICE operations.
The revelation comes as nurses and teachers unions continue to pour substantial financial resources into leftist political campaigns and causes, with spending reportedly surging ahead of the 2026 election cycle.
Internal DHS records filed as evidence in the criminal case reveal that Homeland Security Investigations deployed operatives to secretly monitor anti-ICE planning sessions held at union facilities in the Minneapolis area. The agency compiled detailed surveillance reports on these covert recordings and examined the financial flows of at least two major national unions for potential connections to domestic terrorist financing.
Federal Agents Penetrate Anti-ICE Strategy Session
Reconnaissance documents from the investigative operation, designated “Project Whipple Shield,” demonstrate that HSI agents covertly attended a February 15 recruiting event targeting ICE held at Minneapolis’s United Labor Center, a hub for the city’s organized labor activities.
The Democratic Socialists of America’s Twin Cities branch helped coordinate the February gathering, billing it as a “Workers Assembly to Defeat ICE and Plan the Next Mass Strike.” The event followed a sustained campaign by anti-ICE militants who repeatedly targeted ICE operations at Minneapolis’s Federal Whipple Building during Operation Metro Surge. Multiple local labor solidarity organizations participated alongside the DSA chapter.
A social media announcement for the event invited Twin Cities workers, unions, community and rapid response groups to collectively determine future mass actions against federal immigration enforcement.
The undercover HSI operatives provided detailed briefings to departmental supervisors following the infiltration. After signing in at registration, the federal agents observed approximately 200 attendees discussing demands to release detained illegal immigrants and eliminate ICE as an institution, along with dismantling the entire Department of Homeland Security.
Meeting notes indicated participants ultimately decided to focus specifically on abolishing ICE rather than the broader DHS apparatus.
Audio surveillance from the assembly was preserved as evidence. The undercover team documented discussions of additional leftist agenda items including participation in Healthcare Workers for Palestine’s National Day of Action against Israel and a Revolutionary Communists of America proposal to establish a labor-based “Workers Party.”
According to the operational debrief, other radical organizations sponsoring the labor conference included Socialist Alternatives, the Ray Rainbolt Memorial Shooting Club, and the Minneapolis branch of the Communications Workers of America.
Tracing Financial Networks and Organizational Structure
HSI special agent reports identify Project Whipple Shield’s primary objective as exposing the funding mechanisms and organizational hierarchy behind the antifa network targeting the Federal Whipple Building.
Operational records show HSI launched an additional investigation titled “Operation Puppet Master” just four days following the Border Patrol shooting death of Alex Pretti, an anti-ICE activist, nurse, and member of the American Federation of Government Employees. This parallel operation aimed to identify conspirators exploiting civil disorder to incite riots, damage federal property, and assault officers protecting government facilities.
The St. Paul HSI field office reportedly uncovered a network of violent actors, subsequently identified as Direct Action Minnesota or DAMN, operating through both digital and physical channels by either directly engaging in assaults on ICE personnel near Whipple or facilitating such attacks through crowdfunding, strategic planning, and mass mobilization campaigns.
As part of its “protest domestic terrorist financing” inquiry, HSI secured financial documentation from the Service Employees International Union, the nation’s second-largest labor organization representing public service employees.
Through administrative subpoena, HSI collected multiple years of wire transfer records from various financial institutions connected to the SEIU’s Minneapolis bank account.
Initial examination of the obtained records has been documented, though the complete findings remain under seal as the criminal prosecution proceeds.
With information from Washington Examiner
