Following the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis in January, the Trump administration launched 'Operation Puppet Master,' an investigation into progressive groups protesting deportations, rather than pursuing a federal criminal probe into the shooting itself. The Department of Homeland Security, not the FBI or Justice Department, issued administrative subpoenas reaching back three years and deployed undercover agents to infiltrate meetings and Signal chats, according to newly released documents.
At one Minneapolis library meeting, an undercover DHS officer reported that the Sunrise Movement's activists discussed de-escalation tactics and safety marshals, and the agent's own notes described the group's protests as peaceful. Fifteen people have been indicted on a 94-page complaint alleging blockades, thrown ice chunks, and 'stalking' of agents, with no specific officer injuries alleged; similar charges elsewhere have been dismissed at a high rate.
Prosecutors reportedly showed a grand jury a slide referencing 18 groups under scrutiny, though none has yet been criminally charged. The author, a former federal prosecutor, argues the legal theory linking lawful civic coordination to a criminal conspiracy is a significant stretch under existing conspiracy law.
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