DHS Agents Infiltrated Churches, Group Chats, and a Martial Arts Class to Spy on ICE Protesters in Minnesota

 

The details of Operation Metro Surge just keep getting worse.

The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota apparently came with its own deeply creepy side project: Per newly disclosed court records, undercover federal agents infiltrated churches, libraries, schools, restaurants, and private group chats to spy on people protesting ICE. 

The documents revealed that, throughout February—weeks after the death of Nicole Renee Good, federal agents secretly recorded meetings, photographed license plates, obtained financial records from unions and progressive groups, and slipped into encrypted Signal chats. Some target individuals had no prior criminal track record.

In one instance, an undercover agent reportedly operated under the Signal handle “peanutbutterjelly.” I’ll take Painfully Obvious Narcs for $1,000.

And peanutbutterjelly didn’t just lurk. According to the records, the agent actively offered to help organizers with fundraising, protest flyers, and donation platforms. In another instance, an undercover agent at a library meeting allegedly claimed he worked in construction and “didn’t mind going to jail”—exercising his First Amendment Right to, you know, protest. 

The surveillance was part of “Operation Puppet Master,” launched amid February protests over the federal immigration surge in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The records surfaced in the prosecution of 15 Minnesotans accused of conspiring to impede immigration officers—all of whom pleaded not guilty—revealing a spying dragnet that extended far beyond the actual defendants.

At Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, one undercover Homeland Security agent attended an anti-ICE meeting, recorded attendees’ license plates, ran them through databases; and compiled dossiers detailing names, home addresses, jobs, vehicle registrations, and family members. Because imagine sitting through a church-basement meeting only to learn some narc with a badge turned your Honda Civic into a gateway to stalk your extended family. Speaking to NPR, Interim Pastor Steve Sylvester said it made him feel like he was living in “1950s Eastern Europe.”

Things got even more unhinged at University Baptist Church, where an agent attended a martial arts class wearing a concealed wire. She reportedly sparred with participants while secretly recording them until she—in a scene too absurd for even a terrible spy sitcom—dropped the recorder flat on the gym floor, walked out, and slinked back minutes later to fetch it.

To make matters more lawless, University Baptist was supposed to be protected by a federal court order barring warrantless immigration enforcement at specific churches involved in an ongoing lawsuit. Religious groups are now accusing DHS of blatantly violating that injunction, and on Monday, a federal judge ordered the government to explain why it shouldn’t be held in contempt.

The surveillance didn’t stop at the sanctuary doors. Undercover agents hit libraries, schools, parks, restaurants, and union halls, while investigators fed images into Clearview AI facial-recognition software to identify attendees.

According to NPR, prosecutors then showed grand jurors a powerpoint connecting 18 organizations in a web, titling it “The Conspiracy.” Among the shadowy criminal masterminds were a teachers union, local labor groups, and a literal bicycle repair shop. The government later claimed it wasn’t actually alleging those groups were conspirators… which begs the fairly obvious question: why were they beneath a giant bold header reading “The Conspiracy.”

Speaking to NPR, Brennan Center attorney Rachel Levinson-Waldman called the sheer breadth of the Minnesota operation “breathtaking.”

Which brings us to the core issue: Are federal agents investigating actual crimes, or are they policing political dissent? Because once showing up to a community meeting can land your address, job, and relatives in a federal dossier, the government doesn’t actually need to arrest everyone to shut down a movement.

They just need everyone to know peanutbutterjelly might be listening.