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What Happened in Minnesota? 15 People Charged After ICE Raids
The federal indictment against 15 people in Minnesota has reignited controversy over Antifa and the Minnesota ICE raids promoted by Trump.
By  Ernesto Iván Vargas Martínez
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What Happened in Minnesota? 15 People Charged After ICE Raids
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Posted on06/17/26 at 10:04

  • 15 People Charged After Minnesota ICE Raids
  • Case Linked to Antifa
  • ICE Raids Under Scrutiny

U.S. justice officials accuse 15 people of alleged conspiracy against federal agents in Minnesota.

  • Why it matters: The indictment comes after major immigration operations carried out in Minnesota and forms part of President Donald Trump’s government efforts to prosecute actions that, according to authorities, sought to interfere with the enforcement of immigration laws.

U.S. justice officials on Tuesday charged 15 people with allegedly conspiring to obstruct or assault federal agents during immigration operations carried out in Minnesota at the beginning of the year.

The indictment was filed by prosecutor Daniel Rosen, who identified the individuals as members of Antifa, a left-wing movement that the Trump government has tried to portray as an organized group.

U.S. Accuses 15 Alleged Antifa Members of Confronting ICE Agents

According to authorities, 12 of the defendants were arrested Tuesday morning.

Another person was already in custody on separate charges. The two remaining defendants remain fugitives, according to Infobae.

During a press conference in Minneapolis, Rosen said the arrests are part of a broad federal effort to confront organized conduct that, he said, seeks to obstruct the enforcement of federal law and put law enforcement at risk.

The prosecutor also emphasized that the people charged “are being accused not for what they said but for what they did.”

Government Links the Defendants to Direct Action Minnesota

The court document charges the 15 people detained in the Minnesota ICE Raids with conspiracy to obstruct or injure government agents.

In addition, some of those named face additional charges related to assault, use of weapons, harassment, and destruction of government property.

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According to the indictment, the defendants were part of a group described by authorities as “militant” called Direct Action Minnesota.

The government maintains that this organization was dedicated to carrying out direct actions against federal laws and immigration rules.

Authorities claim the group used disruptive tactics to challenge, block, or forcibly prevent immigration raids, detentions, and deportations.

The indictment also describes several of the alleged tactics used.

Among them were setting up barricades on some streets, monitoring agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and sharing information about officials’ locations through groups on the encrypted messaging platform Signal.

Debate Over Antifa and the Context of the Operations

The events are related to the operation called “Metro Surge,” which began in late 2025 and extended into the first months of 2026.

During that period, the government deployed hundreds of ICE agents in Minneapolis.

The operation triggered strong confrontations with members of the civilian population.

According to the information released, it also resulted in the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of government officials.

Last September, Trump signed a presidential order designating Antifa as a “terrorist organization.”

However, it is not clear how that designation could be applied because the United States does not have a domestic terrorism law that would allow a group to be formally categorized under that label.

Several specialized organizations maintain that Antifa is not a formal or structured organization.

The Southern Poverty Law Center says it is a network without a centralized structure.

For its part, the Congressional Research Service describes Antifa as a decentralized movement made up of independent groups and like-minded individuals.

The institution also notes that its principles may reflect ideas linked to anarchism, socialism, or communism.

In 2020, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray stated that Antifa was an ideology and not an organized group.

More recently, in March of this year, U.S. justice officials in Texas convicted eight people of providing support for terrorism in the country’s first trial related to Antifa.

That case was linked to a protest outside an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas, that escalated into a shooting in which a police officer was injured.