Groups targeted by Homeland Security surveillance call on big companies to condemn tactics
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Community groups and unions targeted by federal surveillance this winter and spring vowed to stand strong against what they see as federal efforts to quash their Constitutional rights.
Tuesday morning members of the groups - including some of the 15 anti-ICE activists facing federal conspiracy charges - gathered outside Target's headquarters in downtown Minneapolis.
Speakers called for large companies in the state to use their influence to condemn what they see as a federal crackdown on dissenters.
Court documents made public in the last week show that federal agencies sent undercover agents into community meetings at churches, union halls and libraries earlier this year. They called it Operation Puppet Master.
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Minister JaNaé Bates helps lead the group Faith in Minnesota. She said the federal government's surveillance of activists is reminiscent of government repression of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. She believes the federal government’s actions should be roundly condemned by all parts of our society, including businesses.
“We are calling on every Minnesotan to lean in to recognize that this surveillance cannot continue, to recognize that our democracy truly matters, and that every single corporation should stand with us,” Bates said.
Target did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Federal authorities also subpoenaed financial information from unions and community groups they viewed as supporting anti-ICE activists, according to the court documents.
Bernie Burnham is president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, which was one of 18 groups listed as supporters of an anti-ICE conspiracy to grand jurors. She said federal prosecutors used an “unhinged conspiracy theory” to justify targeting political opponents.
“The Trump administration continues to weaponize our federal government to intimidate our unions, our communities, and anyone who peacefully opposes their radical authoritarian agenda,” Burnham said.
Treasure Thoreson is a teacher and member of the Minneapolis Federation of Educators, who is also one of 15 activists facing conspiracy charges for anti-ICE protests. Thoreson said they’re being prosecuted for nonviolent activities during the surge, like food drives and organizing patrols outside of schools.
“We engaged in these protected acts of resistance to protect ourselves from the government,” Thoreson said, “and they were offended that we dare do so.”
Gabriel Van de Water is one of Thoreson’s co-defendants. He said churches, unions and others who stood together as federal agents swarmed the streets over the winter need to continue to stand strong now that the threat isn't so obvious.
“The Minnesota 15 case and others like it must be understood as an attempt to criminalize dissent, to make an example out of some of us, so that all of us hesitate to exercise our rights to protect one another,” Van de Water said. “We will not allow this to happen.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security referred questions about the surveillance operations to the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office, which has not responded to requests for comment.
The court case is proceeding against the Minnesota 15 in federal court. Attorneys for the defendants have asked the judge to order the government to turn over more investigative reports detailing their surveillance of Minnesota activists.
