The Trump Administration Has Been Spying on Labor Unions
Earlier this year in Minnesota, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security infiltrated and surveilled meetings of nonprofit groups and two of the US’s biggest labor unions, the Communications Workers of America and the Service Employees International Union.
After the mass strike in Minneapolis against ICE this winter, the Trump administration launched a sweeping investigation that involved infiltrating labor unions. The news should unite the labor movement in defense of constitutional rights and democracy. (Jerome Gilles / NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Last week, news broke of a sweeping undercover investigation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in Minnesota early this year to infiltrate and surveil meetings and obtain the financial records of nonprofit groups and two of the country’s largest unions, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). This investigation was behind the indictments of fifteen people in June.
The news should unite the labor movement in defense of constitutional rights and democracy as its members face what one defendant’s attorney calls “political prosecution.”
“CWA 7250 has learned that we have been subject to an illegal and aggressive federal investigation that used undercover agents to enter our office, infiltrate meetings we co-sponsored, subpoena our finances, and surveil one of our officers,” said CWA Local 7250 President Kieran Knutson:
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