Federal agents launched a sweeping undercover surveillance operation earlier this year targeting progressive 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 with impeding the crackdown, accusing them of conspiring against the federal government through a range of actions.
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.
Groups that the government investigated were furious at the news. “Our union has become the latest target of a corrupt administration that weaponizes the legal process against law-abiding Americans exercising our Constitutional rights,” CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. said in a statement.
Original reporting: Alexandria, VA News – WTOP News — read the source article.
