Federal Conspiracy Charges Target ICE Protesters

In early June, special-education teacher Treasure Thoreson was taken from her Minneapolis home after agents presented a warrant for “conspiracy to impede federal officers.” The government has charged Thoreson and 14 others with a civil-war-era conspiracy statute that carries a maximum six-year prison term. Similar prosecutions have followed protests in Washington state, Illinois and other states, where defendants were accused of blocking ICE detainee transports or allegedly damaging property, even when they were not personally involved in any violence.

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NPR’s review of court records shows that, since President Trump took office, the Justice Department has filed more than three dozen conspiracy-to-impede charges in at least ten cases, all involving immigration-enforcement protests. Prior to 2025 the statute was most often applied to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection and far-right groups; those cases were largely dismissed after the Trump administration. The recent surge reflects a broader shift toward using the law to target peaceful civil-disobedience.

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An internal email seen by Reuters indicated that U.S. attorneys were directed to prioritize prosecutions of protesters who destroyed property or assaulted officers. Former Attorney General Pam Bondi later issued a memo ordering prosecutors to charge protesters with “the highest provable offense available.”

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Legal scholars and civil-rights advocates argue the government is stretching the statute to sweep up activists whose conduct does not rise to criminal conspiracy. Katie Schwartzmann of Protect Democracy described the indictments as “an attempt to scare Americans” and urged that ordinary organizing not be chilled.

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• “I go and I see a woman standing there in office clothes, but with a Homeland Security vest over the top. And I see six more agents standing in my front yard,” — Treasure Thoreson

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• “These cases are part of a broader trend that's worth watching,” — Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression

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• “At the end of the day. I fundamentally couldn't stomach admitting to doing something I know I didn't do,” — Jac Archer

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• “Being charged with a federal felony, a conspiracy charge that holds the potential for six years in prison because I showed up to a protest, seems to me to be an attack on a fundamental right that all Americans hold,” — Bajun Mavalwalla, a combat veteran

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• “toggle caption Jamie Kelter Davis for NPR "It's important to see these indictments and the use of this law for what it is, which is an attempt to scare Americans," Schwartzmann says.” — Katie Schwartzmann

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