Chicago-Area Police Aided HSI Surveillance of Minnesota Anti-ICE Activists
A joint task force of local cops and federal agents conducted undercover surveillance of an April 2 anarchist event in Chicago, gathering evidence later used in a conspiracy prosecution against 15 Minnesota activists.
What happened
In April 2024, a Chicago-area task force comprising six local police officers from Chicago, Aurora, Downers Grove, Cook County, and Kane County—along with eight HSI agents—conducted surveillance of an April 2 event at Co-Prosperity gallery in Bridgeport. The gathering featured speakers from Minnesota anti-ICE activist networks discussing resistance to federal immigration operations. The task force deployed two undercover agents, audio recordings, electronic surveillance, license-plate readers, and Chicago's CCTV network to identify attendees and log 219 vehicles. A plainclothes Aurora officer entered the venue to confirm no security screening, followed by an HSI undercover agent who livestreamed the event to the surveillance team for an hour. Remarks by defendant Callum Robinet from the event were later included in federal conspiracy indictment charges against the Minnesota 15, linking the Chicago law enforcement surveillance to the prosecution.
Context
The surveillance operation reveals coordination between local police and federal authorities in investigating activist networks critical of immigration enforcement. Illinois state law prohibits local law enforcement participation in immigration enforcement operations, but HSI criminal investigations appear to fall outside those restrictions. Chicago Police Department protocols require First Amendment notifications for protest surveillance, yet the CPD stated no such notifications were made for this operation, claiming it fell under federal criminal—not immigration—enforcement. The case raises questions about whether criminal investigations can serve as cover for political investigation of dissent, particularly given that HSI is described as emerging as the lead agency for federal investigations into internal opposition. The Minnesota 15 defendants face federal racketeering charges, with remarks from the Chicago surveillance operation included in the conspiracy indictment.
What's disputed
The CPD claims the investigation was authorized under Illinois law as criminal enforcement rather than immigration enforcement; the legal and factual boundaries between these categories in joint federal-local task force operations remain unclear. The CPD also claims no First Amendment notifications were made and states it is unclear how departmental protest surveillance regulations apply to CPD agents participating in federal task forces. HSI declined to confirm or deny details of the investigation.