Minnesota US Attorney Indicts 15 Members of Direct Action Minnesota, Alleging Antifa Ties, Invoking NSPM-7

Summary

A federal grand jury indictment was filed June 11, 2026 and unsealed June 16, 2026, charging 15 people described by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota as members and associates of “Direct Action Minnesota” (DAMN), a Minneapolis-based direct-action group the government alleges has “antifa ties,” including a subgroup called the Black Cat Workers Collective. U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen and HSI Special Agent in Charge Michael McCarthy announced the eight-count felony indictment at a press conference. Twelve defendants were arrested in a coordinated Homeland Security Investigations operation the day the charges were unsealed; one was already in custody; two remained at large.

This is a distinct case from the Prairieland/North Texas “Antifa Cell” prosecution (2025-10-16–doj-unseals-first-antifa-terrorism-charges-prairieland) — different court (D. Minn. vs. N.D. Tex.), different defendants, different underlying facts (Minneapolis ICE-enforcement protests during “Operation Metro Surge” vs. the July 2025 armed attack on Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas), and a different (though related) charging theory: conspiracy to impede/injure federal officers and related counts here, vs. material-support-for-terrorism and attempted-murder charges in Prairieland. It is also distinct from the Cities Church / Levy-Armstrong prosecution in the same district (2026-01-29–cities-church-protest-federal-indictment-18-usc-241-face-act) — that case has 38-39 defendants charged under 18 U.S.C. § 241 and the FACE Act over a church-service protest against ICE-affiliated pastor David Easterwood, while this case charges 15 people under conspiracy/assault/stalking/threats statutes tied to street-level anti-ICE actions during Operation Metro Surge.

Charges

Eight-count felony indictment. All 15 defendants are charged with:

• Conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer

Additional counts against specific defendants:

• Kyle Wagner: solicitation to commit a crime of violence (18 U.S.C. § 373); interstate threats (18 U.S.C. § 115(a)(1)(B)) — tied to January 24, 2026 social media posts
• Isaac Auman Sant: interstate stalking (18 U.S.C. § 2261A(1)(B)) — tied to a May 4, 2026 pursuit of a federal officer into Wisconsin
• William Morgan: assault on a federal officer; interstate stalking; destruction of government property
• Natasha Rakotz: assault on a federal officer

Notable defendant: Erik Davis, identified in coverage as a Macalester College professor.

The “pre-crime” framing — what it specifically refers to

The task framing (“pre-crime designation”) is substantiated, but precisely: this is not a formal legal “antifa is a terrorist organization” designation (no such statutory mechanism exists, and NSPM-7 itself designates ideological/political indicators, not a chartered organization — see 2025-09-25–nspm-7-domestic-terrorism-targets-anti-capitalist-beliefs). Rather, “pre-crime” describes the government’s charging methodology in this specific indictment:

1. US Attorney Rosen’s own words minimize the requirement of actual harm. Asked directly whether any federal officers were harmed, Rosen would not confirm either way, and stated: “Whether or not they actually, at the end of the day, caused bodily harm is not the measure of whether or not they committed a serious federal crime” (Talking Points Memo, 2026-06-16).

2. The indictment enumerates 269 “overt acts,” many of which are not independently criminal — per Unicorn Riot’s review, these include posting opinions to Facebook, being present at protests, attending meetings where “direct actions” were discussed, and wearing certain clothing. These are used as conspiracy-membership evidence rather than being charged as standalone crimes, but their inclusion is the evidentiary backbone of the conspiracy count applied to all 15 defendants — including several whose individual conduct is not separately alleged to be violent.

3. NSPM-7 was explicitly invoked by Rosen when announcing the charges (Common Dreams, 2026-06-17) — the September 2025 presidential memorandum that, per the KB’s existing entry, identifies “anti-capitalism,” “anti-Christianity,” “anti-Americanism,” and “extremism on migration” as domestic-terrorism indicators based on belief rather than conduct. Its invocation here operationalizes that ideological-indicator framework against a real prosecution.

4. Legal-advocacy source Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB) disputed the government’s framing entirely, saying the defendants “did nothing wrong” and that federal agents, not protesters, caused community harm.

So: the case is real, tier-1-confirmed, and the “pre-crime” characterization is a reasonably accurate journalistic gloss on (a) Rosen’s own statement that harm isn’t the measure of criminality, and (b) an indictment whose overt-acts list leans heavily on protected/political conduct (social media posts, meeting attendance, presence at protests) rather than exclusively on discrete violent acts — not on any formal legal designation of antifa as a terrorist entity, which does not exist as charged law here.

Context

The indictment arises from Minneapolis-area anti-ICE actions during what DHS/DOJ officials referred to as “Operation Metro Surge” — a large federal immigration-enforcement surge in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in early-to-mid 2026. Government allegations described in coverage include: infiltration of protests near the Whipple federal building, blockade activity on January 23 and March 1, 2026 aimed at disrupting federal operations, and online threats/doxing directed at federal officers. Defense-side sources note roughly half of 36 prior Minnesota federal felony cases against activists were previously dropped for prosecutorial misconduct or insufficient evidence (Unicorn Riot).

Status as of verification (2026-08-06)

Twelve defendants arrested June 16, 2026 (plus one already in custody); two remained at large as of initial coverage. No trial date identified in sourced coverage as of this writing. This entry should be revisited for arraignment/plea/trial developments.

Related KB Entries

• 2025-09-25–nspm-7-domestic-terrorism-targets-anti-capitalist-beliefs — the ideological-indicator framework invoked by Rosen
• 2025-10-16–doj-unseals-first-antifa-terrorism-charges-prairieland — the distinct, earlier North Texas “antifa cell” case (Prairieland)
• 2026-06-23–prairieland-defendants-sentenced-30-100-years-antifa-terrorism — Prairieland sentencing outcome (sibling case, not this one)
• 2026-01-29–cities-church-protest-federal-indictment-18-usc-241-face-act — the distinct Cities Church / Levy-Armstrong prosecution, same district
• docket-record-united-states-v-levy-armstrong-0-26-cr-00025 — docket record for the (separate) Cities Church case, useful as a template for a future docket-record note on this case
• 2026-07-07–nspm7-antifa-fusion-centers-fbi-informant-offer-texas — NSPM-7 operationalization pattern elsewhere