Fifteen Twin Cities residents are facing charges in connection with anti-ICE protests “for conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers” and for efforts to allegedly “violently oppose immigration law enforcement” during the surge of federal immigration officers in the state earlier this year.
On Tuesday, 12 defendants made their initial appearances in court as a hundred or so people gathered outside the federal courthouse in St. Paul to protest the arrests.
“The people who have been charged, who were protesting against ICE — I mean, it’s just not right,” said Diego Juarez, who attended the protest with his mother.
The new indictments come as the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office has dropped or deferred dozens of other cases against protesters. In December and January, federal prosecutors charged 36 people, mostly protestors, with assaulting or impeding federal immigration agents. But half of those cases have been dropped.
“We have to continue to stand up for them,” said civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong, who is facing federal charges related to a church protest in January. “They put their necks on the lines, they put their bodies on the lines, they put their jobs on the line to stand up for freedom, justice and equality. We need to be standing up for them.”
Many demonstrators said they believed the federal government intended to intimidate other protesters with Tuesday's charges.
“It’s scary to know that the federal government is turning on its own people,” said Rev. Jen Crow, a senior minister at First Universalist Church in Minneapolis. “But it’s not a reason to not show up. When we stop showing up, it’s just going to happen more and more to more and more of us, and we need to share that risk.”
The protest outside the courthouse was largely peaceful, but at one point, several people tried to hold open the courthouse door so their chanting could be heard inside. After attempts to close it failed, U.S. Marshals pepper-sprayed the group and deployed aerosol grenades.
“This is the type of stuff that gets prosecuted as misdemeanors in state court, not as federal felonies with a coordinated propaganda show by the U.S. Attorney,” said Bruce Nestor, a lawyer who defended protesters charged earlier this year. “This is not about law enforcement. This is an act of political repression. It's designed to punish and intimidate.”
The 94-page indictment is largely based on Signal chats of the group Direct Action Minnesota planning protest actions. The indictment notes that defendant Isaac Sant “wrote an article for CrimethInc., an anarchist-style blog.” Prosecutors included that and an “anarchist speaking tour” Sant took part in as evidence of conspiracy.
“I’ve been practicing criminal defense in this district for a long time. This is the first indictment that I’ve ever seen where the government alleges that going on a speaking tour is somehow part of a conspiracy,” said Kevin Riach, Sant’s attorney. “It’s an insult to democracy and the rule of law.”
During their initial hearing Tuesday, attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice argued that defendants should be detained until trial because they constitute a flight risk.
The judge ruled instead that each defendant should be released on the condition that they not protest on federal property or communicate directly with co-defendants. An exception was made for defendants who were roommates.
