Trump Administration Expands Free Federal Chaperone Service
The Trump administration unveiled a major expansion of constituent services Friday after court documents showed Homeland Security agents attending anti-ICE meetings undercover, monitoring private chats, collecting license-plate data and obtaining years of financial records from progressive organizations and labor unions. The Minnesota initiative, called Operation Puppet Master, ensured protesters would no longer face the isolation of political participation without a federal employee nearby pretending to be interested in the sign-up sheet.
Officials also developed Project Whipple Shield, a complimentary financial-vigilance program for organizations including the Sunrise Movement, the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union and the Communications Workers of America. None has been charged with a crime, freeing investigators from the outdated administrative custom of identifying criminal conduct before investigating people. “Every American is completely free to say whatever they want, and under my administration, somebody very strong from the federal government will be listening, writing it down and checking their bank account,” President Donald Trump said. “That’s real freedom. Frankly, nobody has ever protected speech by recording so much of it.”
The surveillance emerged in a case against 15 protesters accused of impeding immigration enforcement in Minnesota. Federal reports described agents attending gatherings in libraries, churches, schools and parks, where alleged extremists discussed peaceful sit-ins, safety marshals and de-escalation tactics. Officials viewed de-escalation as particularly troubling because reducing conflict could deprive the government of useful footage demonstrating that protesters are violent. Civil-liberties advocates called the program political spying, apparently overlooking that the Constitution protects freedom of assembly but never promises freedom from an undercover officer asking participants to repeat their full names near a microphone. The administration has therefore preserved the First Amendment by assigning it a case number.
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