Justice Dept. indictment describes anarchists’ playbook for invading, attacking ICE officers

ANALYSIS:

The Trump administration has provided a detailed picture of how the radical left organizes ragtag armies to violently harass federal officers as they arrest and deport violent foreign criminals.

The document lists several shadowy antifa-linked groups of anarchists and anti-capitalists. The street thugs try to exploit their hatred of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers for their ultimate endgame: no more America as we know it.

They organize on a network of Signal group chats. They assign protesters various missions based on their growing database of ICE officers and vehicles. The anti-ICE army includes scouts, “commuters” (attackers), drivers, “jail support,” blockade builders, deployment marshals, fundraisers who acquire multiple debit cards, and logisticians who hand out heavy shields to ram against police officers.

One protester gave this advice: use the shields against “scrawny” cops.

How antifa and company work is contained in a June 11 federal grand jury indictment. Its 95 pages charged 15 anarchists with a criminal conspiracy to impede ICE from January to June. Among the 15, some are charged with stalking and physically assaulting officers.

The crimes revolve around the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, where ICE maintains a field office that led the 2025 crackdown on illegal alien criminals in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Anarchists descended on the fenced complex in January and again on March 1, prompting the Justice Department’s criminal probe and indictment.

It’s not the charges themselves that are unique. It is the indictment’s details gleaned from a collection of Signal chats among the accused Whipple 15 as they planned their March 1 attack. The tactics mirror how left-wing extremists have converged on other ICE facilities in Portland, Los Angeles and New Jersey.

The militants’ Minneapolis coalition was led by Twin Cities Direct Action, which became Direct Action Minnesota (DAMN), with subgroups such as the antifa-infiltrated Black Cat Workers Collective (BCWC) and another antifa group, the Ray Rainbow Memorial Shooting Club.

Also joining was the group Melt the Ice. Unit cohesion came from the Rapid Response Networks (RRN).

The Signal chat groups included Whipple Watch, whose members surveilled ICE and police, and created a database. There were also chats named DAMN, Renegade, SecuritAs, and Art/Money/Coms Club.

The indictment describes Black Cat as “a Minneapolis-based antifa affinity group committed to militant class struggle, community self-defense, and revolution.

“Militant class struggle includes disrupting rallies, digital campaigning, community organizing, and physical confrontation… . BCWC members advocate, promote, and utilize militant tactics and violence,” the document states.

The indictment’s group chat transcripts reveal people committed to defeating ICE and to promoting anarchy.

Defendant Issac Auman Sant told one group that the coalition is “extremely well-organized and have very good communication practices. Signal groups with 1000 people in them form every day, and are deleted and re-created every night. We benefit a lot from a counter-surveillance program called Whipple Watch, which is mostly what I did for the first 5 weeks of the invasion.”

Kyle Wagner (aka Kaos), an antifa member, says on a video, “I have my truck on standby. I have gas masks on the ground there, as much as l could deliver. J [sic] have people in en route. If you’re seeing this video, we’re done with peaceful protests now. The gloves come off and ICE needs to get out. Run for the hills, boys …… Get your f!’***** guns and stop these fi’***** people.”

Cameron Kennedy (aka Cam, Olive Knite) tells colleagues:

“Hi, my name’s Cam. I’m now Olive Knight in the chat. I’m a revolutionary anarchist… .I’ve more or less traveled around the country doing various types of struggles, um, since I was 15 … I’ve got fairly extensive experience with how to specifically coordinate propaganda with effective direct action to help supply material.”

The defendant wrote in all-caps, “YOU WILL NEVER WIN WITH NON-VIOLENCE ALONE. Ever. No one has. No one will. You absolutely need militants to win.”

On Feb. 14, Brian Apland (aka Tiny) introduced a chat group to a new arrival:

“Hey y’all, l just met/hung out with an anarchist visiting from the Bay Area who is here with a comrade to help/learn from us if she can. Doing a lot of anti ICE stuff out there and very knowledgeable. I just met her.”

On Feb. 18, Emmett James Doyle (aka Plotnikov) apologized for tardy deliveries of shields: “I’ve been delayed on the shield building as I’m battling a bad cold. I’II get back on it and pump out the remainder when I recover.”

He later provided an update.

“Fighting with the fascists rather than just going at them just chest to chest with no shields, if you have a shield wall, you are going to be more effective and much more safe than they are … Take [your] strongest, heaviest, fastest most aggressive people and put them at the point of that wedge … have your strongest people pushing through …”

Defendant Sant advised shield-wielders, “Find two scrawny looking cops and get between … and in that case, somebody just used an umbrella as a wedge … and just parted the two cops.”

As the March 1 date for the Whipple assault neared, Alec Stewart said, “We decided two scouts on bikes with burners and radios on our side to watch for kettling [police encirclement] from the north side of Minehaha (sic). We’ll deploy shields and some other stuff on Minehaha (sic).”

Sant joined a Whip chat on March 1 to talk about recruiting Melt the Ice for shield training.

’’I’m asking Melt the ICE organizers which welcome center is the most inoffensive one for us to have a shield training at,” he said. “I don’t know if a particular one is better for finding people who might participate on Sunday, but I think we should plan to use them to recruit some people. People will be coming from out of town looking to get involved in stuff like what we’re doing.”

Defendant Hannah Margaret De Water Davis (aka Nube) went on the same chat to strategize a retreat, if needed.

“Another important need to get squared away is exfil vehicles. We need folks with cars that are willing to post up in the north lot and come down Minnehaha towards the light rail station to pick people up if we need to leave in a hurry. I did exfil at the Daunte Wright protests in 2021. and can chat.”

In the March 1 attack at Whipple, the Hennepin County sheriff’s office said 38 people were arrested after deputies issued dispersal orders. Individuals were accused of blocking roads and access to businesses, dumping glass in the street, and throwing ice chunks, rocks and water bottles at law enforcement officers.