Plainclothes Feds Arrest Poet After Interview With Press, Unseal Conflated Complaint
Saint Paul, MN — Plainclothes federal agents arrested 27-year-old Isabel Lopez on Monday after she left an interview with the press about being assaulted by feds during a protest against what many thought was an immigration raid on Minneapolis’ Lake Street a week prior. On Tuesday, the government unsealed a complaint against Lopez, which details federal charges pressed against her for allegedly assaulting agents and obstructing operations during a civil disorder — she was given an additional assault charge for allegedly punching an arresting agent in the head.
In the complaint and public press release, federal agents revealed new details of allegedly finding 900 pounds of methamphetamine that they say is worth around $22 to $25 million hidden in metal spools in a Burnsville storage unit at some point in the past, mixing up allegations about the drug bust with Lopez’s charges, though they are completely separate. Many local corporate news platforms then conflated the stories, lumping Lopez into what would be state’s largest meth bust if true — no one has been charged with the alleged meth find.
Footage of Lopez with blood on her shoulder surrounded by several agents strapping her into the seat belt of an unmarked vehicle before slamming the door and driving off was released by independent media producer Georgia Fort on Tuesday.
One of the agents told Fort that “she had a warrant” and was being brought to Sherburne County Jail in Elk River, 30-plus miles north of the Twin Cities. Sherburne County is one of three jails in Minnesota with ICE detention agreements; Freeborn and Kandiyohi county jails are the other two.
Lopez, an esteemed poet, water protector and community organizer, had just left the BLCK Press office building in downtown St. Paul on Monday after being interviewed by Georgia Fort. Lopez was apprehended by several agents dressed with vests underneath plain jackets — “none wearing visible badges” — who took her into a unmarked Ford Explorer.
Fort was “deeply shaken” at the “lack of protection or strategy from local officials when it comes to press freedom and public safety.” She said only one of several elected officials she contacted had answered and that “no one could offer help, clarity, information, or assurance that the First Amendment protections I’m supposed to be covered by still hold weight in moments like this.”
Fort asked, “How did federal agents know exactly where she would be—and when? Was she being surveilled? Or targeted for speaking to the press?”
Following the arrest, it was unclear what was happening to Lopez, stoking fears for her safety across the Twin Cities community.
A day before the arrest, government attorneys had claimed there was a “safety risk” if Lopez had been “alerted of her impending arrest on the federal warrant,” and U.S. Magistrate Judge John Docherty had the complaint and affidavit sealed. Read the motion to seal filing submitted by new Trump appointee Joseph Thompson, acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, and the order to seal filing.
After her arrest, the complaint was unsealed (pdf). Lopez had her initial hearing on Tuesday at 2:10 p.m. and has her next hearing set for June 12 at 12 p.m. in Courtroom 6A at the Warren Burger Building in St. Paul. [Update: Lopez has been released from custody and pled not guilty to her charges.]
Around 50 supporters and activists held a noise demo and rally on Wednesday morning outside the Sherburne County Jail, demanding her release and dismissal of all charges.
“The government is cracking down on our First Amendment rights and Isavela is a crucial defender of those rights and the rest of our inalienable human rights. She is also an environmental justice advocate, and multidisciplinary artist and much more. She fights for us daily and we need to fight for her.”
Activist Statement
The Lake Street Raid and Charges
With communities across the country on edge and fearful of immigration sweeps and raids, around 200 people quickly responded to South Minneapolis at Bloomington and Lake Street on June 3 as armed federal agents, many covering their faces, descended on Taqueria y Birrieria las Cuatro Milpas.
Locals chanted, yelled, blocked federal vehicles from moving between alleyways and faced off with federal agents, eventually forcing them away from the neighborhood “before agents could collect all the desired evidence,” according to the agencies conducting the raid.
During the initial community defense on Lake Street, several people were injured by law enforcement and at least one person was detained and released.
It was in these moments that Lopez, who is a slender five feet and two inches tall, was filmed being tossed on the ground by a large federal agent before being picked up and thrown to the ground again.
The federal complaint against Lopez says the federal agents’ actions throwing her around at this point was “to assist her in getting off” a trash can in the street.
According to the feds, Lopez punched, kicked, and threw an object at federal agents as the community was defending itself. They used body-worn camera footage to identify her and put numerous screenshots of her alleged actions into the complaint.
After the feds left, Lopez led a march to the burnt-up Third Precinct and back to Bloomington and Lake.
ICE-Led ‘Homeland Security Task Force’ Raid Draws Large Mobilization in Minneapolis
Law enforcement then investigated the actions that community members took, the complaint says, “to identify incidents of assaults by crowd members against federal officers and work to identify the individuals who had engaged in these assaults. One such individual that was identified by law enforcement was Lopez.”
As noted above and widely reported, the community responded to the federal agents under the notion that an immigration raid was taking place. A community in which leaders had called a “sanctuary” for immigrants and had vowed — and so far failed — would be safe from federal authorities.
It was later publicly stated that federal agencies had rolled out a newly minted “Homeland Security Task Force” to search eight locations around the metro area as part of a criminal investigation into alleged cartel activity.
Directly after the violent, chaos-triggering raid, narrative wars began online and in the press. Local politicians bashed federal authorities, and then they all joined forces and bashed anyone with the assumption that the raid was an immigration raid. The mainstream press then amplified the push against community defense.
New Federal Task Forces Under 287(g) Could Form ‘ICE Army’ From National Guard, State, Local & College Police
The Conflated Complaint
Inside the complaint against Lopez, FBI Special Agent Monica Evans provides several pages of detailed information on the criminal investigation that led to the searches, even though it’s unrelated to Lopez’ actions.
An alleged giant meth bust, a couple handguns similar to ones “seized from narco-traffickers” and several portraits of the movie Scarface are scattered throughout the complaint as if she were the one under investigation.
It’s these details that some press are then combining into the charges on Lopez. In effect this demonizes community defenders without questioning the wider picture of the violent chaotic raid and conflated complaint.
Local news always does this– focus on the actions of one protestor instead of question whether this heavy handed federal task force was acting proportionately, why aren't their charges against the business that was raided on Lake if this was such a necessary raid, etc https://t.co/4tWo22Au28
— Sam Richards (@MinneapoliSam) June 11, 2025
One must question the way the complaint details their investigative raids within the probable cause statement. Background information is needed in a federal complaint filed by an agent, however the extent of the high-profile details, the fact that they still have no arrests in the drug investigation and that the indictments for the searched parties remain sealed, raise more questions and are applied differently to Lopez.
According to agents, Lopez’ warrant had to be sealed for safety measures; however, they publicly divulged details into the largest meth seizure while still keeping those indictments sealed.
This slanted communications style is becoming increasingly common in the Trump DOJ. Two other recent examples: U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi raised allegations against Kilmar Abrego Garcia which are not in his new federal indictment, and on April 1 the DOJ dropped a press release and Instagram post claiming Luigi Mangioni murdered Brian Thompson, without noting that defendants have the presumption of innocence. Mangioni’s attorneys argued this is intended to taint the jury pool and violate due process.
Many in the Twin Cities community are also asking questions about how this is being handled.
Interesting how law enforcement decided to arrest a protester days after the protest, yet a week later & still no arrests for the largest meth bust in the history of MN…900 pds of meth found in Burnsville, previous record was 170 pds in 2018 https://t.co/o7BbduWkcY
— Jennifer (@JenniferJenn612) June 11, 2025
Infamous former President of the Minneapolis Police Federation and decades-long police officer Bob Kroll called into a radio show the day after the raid, complaining about the local politicians and MPD Chief O’Hara while boasting that authorities had seized “700 pounds of fentanyl.” This is different than 900 pounds of meth but similar in scale.
Whether the 900 pound bust is true or not, conflating the seizure with Lopez is weaponizing these claims in attempts to erode public support for Lopez and community defense by planting divisive questions with a cooperative corporate media.
Cover image by Niko Georgiades for Unicorn Riot – Photos courtesy of Georgia Fort and Aaron Johnson.
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