# Operation North Star **Operation North Star** is the umbrella name [[Homeland Security Investigations]]' St. Paul office uses in internal reports for its Minnesota caseload during and after [[Operation Metro Surge]], the ICE surge in Minneapolis that began in December 2025. The name and the case list come from an HSI consolidated report dated **July 23, 2026**, released to Democracy Forward in October 2026 as part of the ICE voter-fraud FOIA ([[ICE Voter Records Collection]]). The report puts voter-fraud cases, protest prosecutions, a nonprofit funding investigation and undercover operations against activist networks under one heading. In HSI's own filing system, election cases and anti-ICE protest cases are the same operation. ## The cases, as HSI describes them | HSI case | What the report says | |---|---| | **Hennepin County Voter Fraud** (opened Feb 17, 2026) | HSI, the FBI, the State Department and USCIS are investigating noncitizens who allegedly voted or registered in federal elections. The US Attorney's office "is interested in prosecuting 18 U.S.C. 611." HSI referred 20 targets, and in another line 8 more, to USCIS for administrative subpoenas of voter records. "According to the local AUSA, the results of these administrative arrests and interviews will be used to support the ongoing criminal case." | | **"Invasion of Cities Church"** | HSI's name for the prosecution of the January 18, 2026 protest at a St. Paul church (see [[Cities Church Protest]]). Eight grand jury subpoenas requested for people who attended a protest "pre-brief" but were not at the church. | | **Cooperation Cannon River et al.** | HSI is investigating Cooperation Cannon River (CCR), a Minnesota nonprofit, "for its role in providing funding and material support to groups engaged in obstructing and assaulting federal law enforcement." CCR is the fiscal sponsor of "Defend the 612," a fund raised for anti-ICE organizing. HSI says CCR's financial records show "irregularities in donations, professional fees, occupancy expenses, mutual aid, and travel costs." Grand jury subpoenas served on **10 financial institutions**. | | **Stalking of ICE Employees by Rapid Response Network Members** | "Since December 2025, anti-ICE demonstrations and Rapid Response Networks (RRNs) in Minneapolis have escalated to coordinated surveillance, harassment, and obstruction of federal law enforcement." HSI St. Paul, HSI Milwaukee and the US Attorney are investigating interstate stalking and doxing of officers. **"HSI undercover agents have infiltrated these groups, provided actionable intelligence, and confirmed coordinated targeting of law enforcement."** Awaiting a prosecution decision. | | **Operation Puppet Box** | A draft search warrant submitted to prosecutors. "At the USAO's request, UCAs [undercover agents] are maintaining daily communication with" a redacted target "and suspected information suppliers to the database." | | **Project Whipple** | "On June 16, 2026, 15 agitators were arrested on federal conspiracy charges" — the public case is the [[Direct Action Minnesota Indictment]]. Prosecutors are considering a superseding indictment. A related case seeks assault charges over a June 16 "riot" outside the federal courthouse. | ## What it shows **Undercover agents inside activist networks.** The report states in two places that HSI undercover agents are working inside Minneapolis anti-ICE networks: one entry says they "have infiltrated these groups," and another has agents in "daily communication" with a target. Rapid-response networks are the volunteer phone trees and observers that track ICE activity in a neighborhood. Infiltrating them is surveillance of political organizing, whatever the stated stalking predicate. **Following the money to the funders.** The CCR entry treats a fiscal sponsor, the nonprofit that handles donations for a grassroots fund, as a possible material-support target, and has already subpoenaed ten banks. A conservative watchdog asked the IRS to review CCR's tax status in January 2026. HSI's investigation is the government version of that campaign. **Immigration powers as a criminal-investigation tool.** In the Hennepin County case, administrative immigration arrests and interviews feed a criminal voter-fraud prosecution, by the prosecutor's own account. Administrative arrests don't require a judge's warrant or the protections of a criminal interview. Using them to build a criminal case is the same move the [[Cities Church Protest]] defendants challenge: HSI applying customs and immigration authority to domestic political cases. ## See also - [[Operation Metro Surge]] · [[Cities Church Protest]] · [[Direct Action Minnesota Indictment]] - [[ICE Voter Records Collection]] · [[Homeland Security Investigations]] - [[FACE Act]] · [[Surveillance State]]