(MINNESOTA) – Homeland Security Investigations arrested 15 people in Minnesota on June 16, 2026, after federal investigators accused them of taking part in coordinated anti-ICE violence during immigration enforcement operations in the Twin Cities.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said all 15 were charged with conspiracy to impede or injure an officer under 18 U.S.C. § 372. Federal authorities said some also face charges including solicitation to commit a crime of violence, interstate threats, interstate stalking, destruction of government property, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees.

Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also served two criminal search warrants as part of the case. Officials said 12 defendants were arrested on Tuesday, one was already in custody, and two remained at large.

DHS identified some of those arrested as people associated with Antifa. Prosecutors said the defendants included members of Direct Action Minnesota, known as DAMN, and the Black Cat Worker’s Collective, which officials described as Antifa-affiliated groups.

Markwayne Mullin, the secretary of homeland security, said the arrests were intended to send a warning after months of clashes tied to federal immigration activity in Minnesota. “The arrests of these 15 rioters is a win for law and order. If you lay a hand on law enforcement, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We have ZERO tolerance for violence against our law enforcement. If you assault or obstruct law enforcement, you will face the consequences.”

Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, described the alleged conduct as organized and sustained. “As alleged, these defendants, which included members of Antifa groups, engaged in an unrelenting campaign of harassment and violence targeting federal and local law enforcement. Their actions created a dangerous environment that threatened not only their intended targets, but the community as a whole. These arrests demonstrate the Department’s commitment to law and order and stopping organized political violence in Minneapolis and beyond.”

Daniel N. Rosen, the U.S. attorney, tied the charges to a broader federal push against interference with immigration enforcement. “The direct actions alleged in the indictment are un-American. Today’s charges and arrests reflect a broad federal effort to address organized lawless behavior, which seeks to disrupt the execution of federal law.”

Prosecutors said the investigation grew out of Operation Metro Surge, a federal deployment in the Twin Cities earlier in 2026. DHS said that period brought a 1,300% increase in assaults on immigration officers, a 3,300% increase in vehicle attacks, and a 8,000% increase in death threats.

Federal officials said the defendants used several tactics to obstruct officers and frustrate arrests. Those methods included physical blockades with overturned RVs, anti-tank obstacles, and blocks of ice placed around federal buildings.

Authorities also alleged that some participants used what prosecutors described as soft blockades, forming human chains and carrying shields made of plastic, wood, and metal. Other conduct in the indictment included direct violence, among it ramming a vehicle into a federal officer’s car and kicking government-issued vehicles.

Investigators said digital organizing played a role as well. Officials alleged that social media platforms including Instagram and Facebook were used to call for violence against agents and to mobilize people around immigration actions in Minnesota.

The case places Homeland Security Investigations at the center of an inquiry that moved beyond street-level confrontations and into conspiracy allegations. DHS said HSI led the arrests and indictments after investigating rioters and agitators accused of coordinated violence against law enforcement during immigration operations.

Federal authorities released the case through separate announcements from the DHS Newsroom, the Department of Justice, and ICE. Across those statements, officials framed the Minnesota arrests as part of a zero-tolerance approach toward attacks on federal officers and political violence tied to immigration enforcement.

The criminal counts carry the possibility of federal prison time if the defendants are convicted. Officials did not present the case as a single spontaneous disturbance, but as an organized campaign that combined physical obstruction, alleged assaults, interstate conduct, and online agitation.

Tuesday’s enforcement action also reached beyond those taken into custody. With two defendants still at large, the case remained active as federal agents continued to look for the remaining suspects named in the indictment.

The arrests are already feeding a wider fight over how immigration operations are carried out in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Advocacy groups, including the Immigration Defense Network, have protested the raids and said federal authorities are targeting what they called “constitutional observers.”

That response sets up a sharp contrast with the government’s account of the case. Federal officials say the defendants did not merely observe immigration arrests or protest ICE operations, but took part in actions designed to block officers, damage vehicles, threaten agents, and interfere with the execution of federal law.

In Minnesota, where immigration enforcement has collided with street protest throughout the year, the indictment points to a more structured allegation than a crowd-control case. Prosecutors said the conspiracy involved people tied to named groups, repeated tactics, and actions that stretched from blockades outside federal sites to threats and stalking charges that crossed state lines.

The government’s public account emphasized the effect on officers working immigration details during Operation Metro Surge. Officials linked the arrests to a period in which hostility toward immigration agents rose sharply and said the case showed federal investigators would use conspiracy and violence statutes, not only disorder charges, against people accused of obstructing ICE.

By late Tuesday, the message from Washington and from prosecutors in Minnesota was consistent: the administration intends to treat attacks on immigration officers as felony conduct, and the 15-person case will stand as an early test of that approach in the Twin Cities.