Federal authorities announced charges Tuesday against 15 individuals allegedly affiliated with a Minneapolis-based activist organization, accusing them of coordinating efforts to interfere with immigration enforcement operations earlier this year.
The defendants, described by prosecutors as members or associates of a group known as Direct Action Minnesota, face multiple felony counts including conspiracy to obstruct a federal officer, assault on a federal officer, and destruction of government property. According to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Minnesota, the group embedded itself within larger, lawful demonstrations taking place outside the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis — once on January 23 and again on March 1 of this year — using those crowds as cover to carry out more aggressive interference with Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel.
U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Daniel Rosen said only 12 people from the group were arrested by Homeland Security Investigations on Tuesday.
The charges are the most significant law enforcement action yet to emerge from a months-long wave of protests that swept across Minnesota in response to the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown. Beginning in early 2026, thousands of Minnesotans participated in demonstrations opposing mass deportation operations, with rallies drawing residents from across the political spectrum. Prosecutors allege that a smaller contingent within those demonstrations had a more confrontational agenda.
The indictment lands against a politically charged backdrop. In September 2025, President Trump signed an executive order formally designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. It stated:
Antifa recruits, trains, and radicalizes young Americans to engage in this violence and suppression of political activity, then employs elaborate means and mechanisms to shield the identities of its operatives, conceal its funding sources and operations in an effort to frustrate law enforcement, and recruit additional members. Individuals associated with and acting on behalf of Antifa further coordinate with other organizations and entities for the purpose of spreading, fomenting, and advancing political violence and suppressing lawful political speech.
The administration characterized the movement as an organized, anti-government enterprise bent on undermining federal authority. Since then, federal prosecutors in several jurisdictions have invoked Antifa as a framework for charging individuals involved in protests against immigration enforcement.
The fifteen defendants now face the prospect of a federal trial.
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