Violent Antifa Activists ‘Infiltrated’ Peaceful Protesters in Minnesota: US Attorney

An Antifa group “infiltrated and exploited lawful protests” while they disrupted federal immigration enforcement officers earlier this year, alleged Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen.

Now, 15 members or associates of that group, Minnesota Direct Action, are accused of conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer. Several of the defendants also face additional charges alleging that they stalked, threatened, or attacked officers and damaged government property.

Rosen’s remarks during a June 16 news conference, coupled with details from the defendants’ 94-page indictment, reveal inner workings of the alleged conspiracy to thwart U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other agencies.

In late 2025, federal agents started a Minnesota crackdown called “Operation Metro Surge.” President Donald Trump directed agencies to deport illegal immigrants and clamp down on foreigners who exploited government benefit programs.

Clashes between officers and Minnesota protesters were frequent; officers fatally shot ICE opponents Renee Good and Alex Pretti in two separate January confrontations. Weeks later, federal officials scaled back the operation, citing increased cooperation from local authorities.

The alleged conspiracy involving Minnesota Direct Action occurred from January through June.

“Direct action refers to disruptive and obstructive tactics … to forcibly challenge, block, or stop immigration raids, detentions and deportations,” the indictment said.

The group called itself “a decentralized coalition of working-class people” focused on “community defense” against federal immigration efforts and “far-right violence more broadly,” according to the court document.

The group’s alleged violent tactics “endanger law enforcement and, importantly, endanger the very communities that these defendants falsely claim to be protecting,” Rosen said.

In fall 2025, prior to major anti-ICE resistance in Minnesota, Trump had Antifa classified as a “domestic terrorist organization,” citing armed standoffs against ICE in Portland, Oregon.

‘Smokescreen of Discontent’

On Jan. 24, just after the Pretti shooting, one of the Minnesota defendants wrote a Facebook post aligning with Rosen’s contention: Violence-prone Antifa activists purposely blended in with nonviolent protesters.

Crowds gathered in the streets helped “create a smokescreen of discontent that makes all of us safer and harder to track,” defendant Cameron Kennedy’s post said, as quoted in the indictment.

This support emboldened front-line activists, Kennedy wrote, inspiring them to “act far more boldly because they know if they fight ICE in the street, folks actually harbor them … instead of lecturing them on ‘non-violence.’”

That quote is among dozens that the indictment cites to support the allegations.

Group members exchanged information via social media, text messages, and the “Whipple Watch” chat group on the Signal encrypted-communication app. The group’s name refers to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, which includes ICE offices.

No More Peaceful Protests

Rosen played an Instagram video of a man whom the indictment identifies as Kyle Wagner.

Wearing a bulletproof vest in the Jan. 24 video, Wagner launches into a profanity-laced rant. He proclaims his Antifa affiliation and states, “There’s so much rage in me. … It’s time to suit up. Boots on the ground. … No, not talking about peaceful protests anymore. We’re not talking about having polite conversations anymore.”

He said ICE opponents should have been armed with guns and march upon the Whipple building.

“Sorry, but welcome to America 2026 where the Second Amendment is the only thing that’s gonna keep you [expletive] protected from literal [expletive] Nazi gunmen that are killing innocent people in the street with impunity,” he said in the video.

Wagner also urged his followers, “Get your [expletive] guns and stop these [expletive] people.”

He is accused of solicitation to commit a crime of violence and interstate threats in addition to the main conspiracy charge. The indictment alleges Wagner threatened to “assault, kidnap, and murder a federal law enforcement officer.”

At the time the new charges were filed, Wagner was already in custody. Officers arrested him Feb. 5 for “alleged murder and assault threats on ICE,” the Justice Department said.

Group Was ‘Highly Organized’

The newly released indictment quotes defendants’ calls for violent resistance and plans to interfere with officers. Their statements also documented actions ranging from creating blockades to vandalizing law enforcement vehicles.

“Minnesota Direct Action was highly organized, holding meetings on a regular basis, and engaged in what they called ‘operational security,’” Rosen said.

This so-called “op-sec” called for group leaders to collect and hold onto members’ cellphones so they were unable to secretly record in-person meetings, the indictment said.

The group allegedly conducted training sessions on surveillance, event planning, and “rapid mass mobilization against ICE enforcement actions,” including how to use shields against law enforcement officers, according to the court record.

The main Minnesota group coordinated with like-minded “affinity” groups, the indictment said, noting, “Antifa groups frequently blend anarchist and communist views.”

Some peaceful protest groups were unaware that Antifa activists were in their midst.

Direct Action Minnesota affiliates “did not always disclose who they were to those … [who] might otherwise have been lawful actors in protest,” Rosen said.

‘Czech Hedgehogs’ Used in Blockades

At times, Antifa activists disrupted immigration enforcement with blockades. Some incorporated overturned recreational-vehicle trailers and metal-beam obstacles called “Czech hedgehogs,” Rosen said.

“Soft blockades” included use of “homemade shields constructed from plastic, wood, and metal” to resist officers and “aggressively ‘wedge’ or break through teams of officers on foot,” the indictment said.

Group members would also allegedly identify, follow, surveil, harass, and confront law enforcement officers, Rosen said, sometimes throwing ice blocks at them.

They also followed officers from their workplace to their homes, Rosen alleged.

“Such stalking and other direct actions against law enforcement are criminal, they’re un-American, and they’ll be met with swift justice,” he said.

“It’s a crime to conspire for the purpose of impeding or injuring federal officers,” Rosen said. “It’s a crime to conspire together in order to commit crimes of violence.”

Specific Charges Outlined

All 15 defendants were charged with conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer. All but one were in custody, Homeland Security said in a June 16 news release, which did not make clear which defendant remained at large.

William Morgan and Natasha Rakotz face an additional charge of assault on a federal officer.

Morgan allegedly knocked an agent’s notes out of his hand.

Rakotz is accused of “ramming” her Honda Civic into an immigration officer’s government-issued vehicle, Homeland Security said.

Morgan is also accused of destruction of government property for kicking a government vehicle, denting it.

He faces a fourth charge, interstate stalking, which was also filed against co-defendant Isaac Auman Sant in a separate incident. Both Morgan and Sant are accused of following an officer from Minnesota ICE operations to his home in Wisconsin.

The remaining defendants are: Kennedy, Emmett James Doyle, Callum Robinet, Erik Davis, Brian Stillwell Apland, Hannah Margaret Van De Water Davis, Treasure Cay Thoreson, Nathan Junho Kim, Alec Stewart, Douglas Misterek, and Dustin Scott Beisell.

Court records listed no attorney for Wagner, Thoreson, Misterek, or Rakotz. The federal defender’s office, which represents the other defendants, did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.