Minnesota protester demands government surveillance records

A man charged with conspiring to obstruct U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers asked a judge on Thursday to make federal officials hand over records about their alleged surveillance of Minnesotans. Isaac Sant claimed that documents federal officials had already released to him during the discovery period for his criminal case revealed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security conducted what he described as a massive spy operation on Minnesota residents. But the government was withholding other records related to the extent and nature of that surveillance, Sant said. 

Warrantless federal surveillance of ordinary U.S. citizens is controversial, with legal groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union regarding it as illegal. 

Sant said undercover DHS agents conducted surveillance on and gathered information about citizens who were exercising their First Amendment right to speak freely. He also said that DHS used artificial intelligence tools to comb the internet for information about Minnesota protesters. Additionally, the federal government secretly obtained the bank records of labor unions and social justice groups while possessing no evidence they were involved in any criminal activity, Sant said.

Did the DOJ or DHS have any comment on Sant’s allegations? The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment about Sant’s claims. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it would not comment on the existence or status of ongoing investigations or investigative methods. The department referred further requests to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota. The attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

What records did Sant already obtain from the government? Sant’s filing on Thursday appeared in federal court records alongside 31 other documents. The 31 documents posted to the online federal document database PACER contained all but one of 32 “exhibits” obtained during the discovery process. The only document unavailable on PACER was “Exhibit 20,” according to WORLD’s examination. I’ve linked to the documents below this story. 

Dig deeper: Read my report from the streets of Minneapolis, Minn., earlier this year about the protests against ICE agents’ presence in the city.

• Motion for Discovery

• Exhibit 1

• Exhibit 2

• Exhibit 3

• Exhibit 4

• Exhibit 5

• Exhibit 6

• Exhibit 7

• Exhibit 8

• Exhibit 9

• Exhibit 10

• Exhibit 11

• Exhibit 12

• Exhibit 13

• Exhibit 14

• Exhibit 15

• Exhibit 16

• Exhibit 17

• Exhibit 18

• Exhibit 19

• Exhibit 21

• Exhibit 22

• Exhibit 23

• Exhibit 24

• Exhibit 25

• Exhibit 26

• Exhibit 27

• Exhibit 28

• Exhibit 29

• Exhibit 30

• Exhibit 31

• Exhibit 32