Feds bring assault charges against protesters and observers they say impeded immigration agents

Federal prosecutors charged more than a dozen people with crimes tied to alleged assaults on agents carrying out President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota.

Charges were unsealed Jan. 28 against 14 people in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, and all but one — who suffered a medical emergency — were in court for initial appearances.

On social media, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi referred to the group as “rioters” and accused them of “allegedly assaulting federal law enforcement” and resisting and impeding agents. Bondi claimed federal agents had arrested the individuals, plus two more who did not appear in court and did not have criminal charges that could be found in public filings after the hearing.

“We expect more arrests to come,” Bondi wrote from Minneapolis. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: NOTHING will stop President Trump and this Department of Justice from enforcing the law.”

They are among the first protesters and observers of the ICE crackdown in the state facing charges. Bruce Nestor, an attorney for two of the defendants, said the individuals had been arrested and held at the Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling in recent weeks for eight to 12 hours and released without charges. He said the government then issued arrest warrants, and individuals turned themselves in.

“The government is trying to shift the narrative by bringing these charges against people previously released without charge and create a false narrative that federal agents are under assault and attack,” Nestor said.

Bondi posted names and photos of the defendants to social media before their charges had been unsealed in court. The move prompted concern from a federal public defender and a scolding from U.S. Magistrate Judge Dulce J. Foster, who told Department of Justice attorneys she was “deeply disturbed” that the government posted photos of the individuals, who she noted are presumed innocent while awaiting trial.

Lisa Lopez, a federal public defender, said the government sought orders barring defendants from contacting agents involved in their arrests and that the identities of agents — who wear masks as they conduct their operations in Minnesota — are not in court records.

“They were looking for no-contact orders as if our clients are the ones attacking them, and then also have privacy concerns for their masked agents who refuse to identify themselves,” Lopez said.

Affidavits filed in federal court accuse defendants of anything from spitting to throwing an egg or brick at federal agents. They also accuse them of other efforts to impede law enforcement, including blocking, striking or bumping agents’ vehicles, shoving agents or resisting arrest.

Several of the arrests stem from a confrontation between federal agents and protesters at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis. Others occurred after confrontations in front of the Whipple Building, the epicenter for immigration agents’ operations, or were tied to immigration enforcement operations around Minnesota.

For weeks, thousands of federal officials have been in Minnesota to carry out Operation Metro Surge, which the Trump administration has referred to as the largest deployment of immigration agents in U.S. history.

Kevin Riach, an attorney for Paul Johnson, one of the defendants, said his client was assaulted by federal agents, resulting in a traumatic brain injury and damage to his shoulder. Johnson wore a sling in his court appearance.

Riach alleged that while Johnson was in the hospital receiving treatment, he came to and saw that agents were standing over his bed taking pictures of him on their personal cellphones, “no doubt to disseminate as kind of trophy photos of the violence that they had visited upon him.”