MINNEAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 A Minneapolis man was arrested Thursday on charges of cyberstalking and threatening to kill or assault Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers involved in the crackdown in Minnesota.<\/b>
\nA Minneapolis man was arrested Thursday on charges of cyberstalking and threatening to kill or assault Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers involved in the crackdown in Minnesota.
Federal prosecutors said in a statement that Kyle Wagner, 37, of Minneapolis, was charged by complaint, and that a decision to seek an indictment, which is necessary to take the case to trial, would be made soon.
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Court records in Detroit, Michigan, where the case was filed, do not list an attorney who can speak on Wagner’s behalf. The complaint was filed on Tuesday and unsealed Thursday.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi alleged in a statement that Wagner doxed and threatened law enforcement officers, claimed an affiliation with antifa and \u201cencouraged bloodshed in the streets.\u201d
President Donald Trump announced in September that he would designate antifa a \u201cmajor terrorist organization.\u201d Antifa, short for \u201canti-fascists,\u201d is an umbrella term for far-left-leaning militant groups and is not a singular entity. It consists of groups that resist fascists and neo-Nazis, especially at demonstrations.
When Trump administration border czar Tom Homan announced Wednesday that about 700 federal officers deployed to Minnesota would be withdrawn immediately, he said a larger pullout would occur only after there\u2019s more cooperation and protesters stop interfering with federal personnel.
According to prosecutors, Wagner repeatedly posted on Facebook and Instagram encouraging his followers to \u201cforcibly confront, assault, impede, oppose, and resist federal officers\u201d whom he referred to as the \u201cgestapo\u201d and \u201cmurderers.\u201d
The complaint alleges Wagner posted a video last month that directly threatened ICE officers with an obscenity-laden rant. \u201cI\u2019ve already bled for this city, I\u2019ve already fought for this city, this is nothing new, we\u2019re ready this time\u00a0\u00bb, he said, concluding that he was \u201ccoming for\u201d ICE.
The complaint further alleges that Wagner advocated for physical confrontation in another post, stating: \u201cAnywhere we have an opportunity to get our hands on them, we need to put our hands on them.\u201d
It also details how Wagner used his Instagram account to dox a person identified only as a \u201cpro-ICE individual\u201d by publishing a phone number, birth month and year, and address in the Detroit suburb of Oak Park, Michigan. The complaint says Wagner later admitted that he doxed the victim\u2019s parents\u2019 house.
Federal prosecutors didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on why the case was filed in Michigan instead of Minnesota. The alleged doxing was the only Michigan connection listed in the complaint.
The U.S. Attorney\u2019s office in Minnesota has been hit by the resignations of several prosecutors in recent weeks amid frustrations with the surge and its handling of the shooting deaths of two people by government officers. One lawyer, who told a judge that her job \u201csucks,\u201d was removed from her post.
Trump\u2019s chief federal prosecutor for Minnesota, Dan Rosen, told a federal appeals court in a recent filing that his office is facing a \u201cflood of new litigation\u201d and is struggling to keep up just with immigration cases, while his division that handles civil cases is down 50%.
Rosen wrote that his office has canceled other civil enforcement work \u201cand is operating in a reactive mode.\u201d He also said his attorneys are \u201cappearing daily for hearings on contempt motions. The Court is setting deadlines within hours, including weekends and holidays. Paralegals are continuously working overtime. Lawyers are continuously working overtime.\u201d
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Associated Press reporter Eric Tucker in Washington contributed.<\/p>\n