Federal agents launched a sweeping undercover surveillance operation earlier this year targeting conservative organizations, labor unions, and other groups protesting the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, according to court documents.

Operation Puppet Master

The program, dubbed Operation Puppet Master, was aimed at what officials called a network of conspirators helping “violent opportunists and agitators.” The documents were filed in a case involving 15 people charged by federal prosecutors in June with impeding the crackdown, accusing them of conspiring against the federal government through a range of actions.

The government documents revealed that Department of Homeland Security officers infiltrated meetings in churches, schools, and parks that were often simply discussions of constitutionally protected protests. A statement from the department said Homeland Security Investigations doesn’t comment on the existence or status of ongoing investigations or investigative methods.

Defense attorney Kevin Riach said the operation was a “broad and irrational investigation” driven by politics and not criminal conduct. Riach requested that officials disclose more material collected during the investigations.

Concerns Over Surveillance

Many people are concerned that the surveillance operation could deter people from expressing their beliefs. Ahilan Arulanantham, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, said it’s very disturbing and could lead to a “creeping police state.”

Groups that the government investigated were furious at the news. The president of the Communications Workers of America, Claude Cummings Jr., said, “Our union has become the latest target of a corrupt administration that weaponizes the legal process against law-abiding Americans exercising our Constitutional rights.”

Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.