// WIRED US/UK — FINANZA
Chicago-Area Cops Helped HSI Spy on Minnesota Anti-ICE Activists
Chicago-area law enforcement officers took part in an undercover probe by Immigration and Customs Enforcement into Minneapolis mutual aid networks last spring as part of the feds’ conspiracy investigation into 15 Twin Cities activists facing federal felony charges for resisting Operation Metro Surge, according to newly released documents reviewed by WIRED.
An April report by ICE’s investigations wing, Homeland Security Investigations, titled “Antifa Roadshow,” details in-person and electronic surveillance by a joint task force of an April 2 talk. The task force was made up of 14 law enforcement officers—six local cops and eight HSI Chicago agents. The talk included self-described anarchists in Minnesota who spoke about their organizing experiences during the three-month immigration surge, which resulted in the killings of two US citizens.
The document, released by the 15 Minnesota activists’ defense team as part of the ongoing federal case against them, exposes close cooperation between local police, sheriffs, and HSI agents on a prosecution that critics say crosses the line into political repression. The Chicago HSI task force, which included officers from Chicago, Aurora, Downer’s Grove, Cook County, and Kane County, used two undercover agents, unspecified electronic surveillance, audio recordings, license-plate-reader data, and surveillance cameras from Chicago’s sprawling CCTV network to identify the April 2 event’s attendees and build connections to other anti-ICE protests in Illinois and other states.
Records produced by the Kane County Sheriff’s office show the unit in question is the Chicago-area Homeland Security Investigations Task Force. Local cops who join the unit are accepted on either a full- or part-time basis for two years, with the sign-off of their superiors.
Since Operation Midway Blitz in Illinois last autumn, residents in Chicago and surrounding communities have pressed elected officials for answers about cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE. While Illinois state law prevents local law enforcement from participating in immigration enforcement operations, criminal investigations by HSI appear to fall outside those restrictions because they pertain to ICE’s other law enforcement functions.
Chicago police have substantial approval requirements for surveilling and infiltrating protests or public gatherings, per a 2017 departmental order. It is unclear how these regulations apply to Chicago Police Department agents participating in joint task forces with federal agencies.
In response to questions from WIRED, the CPD claims that no First Amendment notifications to CPD’s chain of command or the department’s general counsel were made for the April 2 investigation, and says its work with HSI is permitted under Illinois law because it pertained to criminal enforcement, not immigration. A source with knowledge of the matter stated that CPD believed the early April surveillance operation was in service of a federal racketeering investigation. The only financial element mentioned in the report is a GoFundMe account to support the Crimethinc speaking tour. There is no mention of funds solicited or received at the April 2 event.
The Chicago Mayor’s Office did not provide comment ahead of publication. In response to queries from WIRED, ICE would neither confirm nor deny details of past or present investigations and said individual agents are not authorized to speak to the media.
HSI is also emerging as the point agency for Trump’s war on internal dissent and opposition politicians: Its agents, not the FBI, conducted the Minnesota 15 investigation and served a search warrant earlier this month on congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
The targeted April 2 event was held at Co-Prosperity, a Leftist gallery in the Southside Chicago neighborhood of Bridgeport. Several speakers from the Twin Cities area attended the event to share information about resisting federal immigration surges. This was part of a