Jacobin reports on the disclosure that the Department of Homeland Security ran a sweeping undercover investigation in Minnesota early this year — codenamed “Operation Puppet Master” — targeting labor unions alongside climate and racial justice groups. Undercover agents infiltrated meetings of CWA Local 7250 and SEIU, used Clearview AI facial recognition to build photo dossiers on activists, and subpoenaed union financial records.

The investigation followed the killing of two people — Renée Good and union nurse Alex Pretti — by federal agents in January, which sparked mass protests and a January 23 strike. Fifteen people were indicted in June; their attorney calls it a “political prosecution.”

  • CWA Local 7250 President Kieran Knutson: “[Our members] were active in the fight against the federal occupation and racist campaign of terror by ICE”
  • Four undercover agents attended the February 15 Workers Assembly to Defeat ICE — a democratic meeting of 300+ unionists — taking detailed notes on every speaker and political position
  • At a Sunrise Movement teach-in, an undercover posing as a construction worker offered to build tools for “direct action”
  • DHS combed SEIU’s wire transfers for “domestic terrorist financing” and found only regular union expenses: dues, strike funds, pensions, medical costs
  • Deputy Attorney General Brian Lynch — who participated in the January 6 insurrection — leads the task force behind the prosecutions
  • A grand jury slide depicted unions, nonprofits, and even a bike shop as part of an “antifa conspiracy”

The parallel to McCarthyism is explicit — and fitting. The Minnesota AFL-CIO president called it “bringing back McCarthyism to paint unions and organizations that advocate for workers and families as threats to the nation.” CWA’s national president put it simply: “We will not be intimidated, and we will not be silenced.”

The receipts — disclosed financial records showing nothing but routine union business — are the real story. The Trump administration spent taxpayer dollars on facial recognition, undercover agents, and grand jury presentations to prove that unions spend money on strike funds and retiree benefits. That’s either a conspiracy or a Tuesday.