Sometimes all I can truly do is hang my head in shame when I look at what the United States of America has become under Donald J. Trump — where even churches aren’t safe from this authoritarian federal government.
Earlier this year, a federal agent with the United States government went undercover inside University Baptist Church in Minneapolis, which describes itself as a “progressive, open, theologically diverse and biblically-inspired environment,” where congregants are focused on “peace, justice, inclusion, and authentic and relevant religious expression.” The undercover agent was acting as part of a larger undercover federal operation, spearheaded by the Department of Homeland Security, against the house of worship that included repeated surveillance, including hidden agents who recorded individuals entering and exiting the church, took photos of vehicles around the building, and even ran license plate numbers to determine individuals’ identities.
The aforementioned undercover DHS agent entered University Baptist Church on May 28th of this year, posing as “one of them,” to gain access to “Left Jab,” a class that was described by the US federal government as a Left-wing martial arts group, held in the church’s gymnasium.
While attending the group, the undercover female agent physically sparred with multiple other attendees as part of the group’s intended training and utilized that opportunity to pressure them for information regarding how they became involved with the group.
In the course of the event, the agent’s recording device fell to the gymnasium floor towards the end of training. It took her 3 minutes to discover that her recording device was missing and return to the gymnasium to retrieve it.
A Homeland Security report of investigation contained the following, with regard to the earpiece incident:
As noted above, this particular undercover operation was part of a larger scheme by DHS, as confirmed in the same report of investigation:
All of this behavior, and more, from the Department of Homeland Security appears to stand in direct violation of a federal court injunction that barred the US federal government from any enforcement of civil immigration laws on any property belonging to University Baptist Church. UBC belongs to the Alliance of Baptists and the American Baptist Churches USA. Both entities successfully secured a temporary injunction in the District of Massachusetts in February 2026 against Homeland Security that effectively forbade the department from taking and “immigration enforcement action” at any of their churches. That injunction was signed by US District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV and explicitly banned “arrest, seizure, search, interrogation, questioning, interview of investigation” of any churches belonging to the entities that won the court order.
Yet, DHS did all of the above.
The injunction clearly states that violations of the court order would lead to punishment via sanctions and/or penalties for the defendants, which includes any and all officials and agents operating under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Border Protection.
The discovery of the undercover agent infiltrating University Baptist’s “Left Jab” group came in connection with federal reports that went public in the ongoing conspiracy case against 15 anti-ICE protesters in Minnesota, known as the Minnesota 15.
The church has submitted evidence to the court, alongside a legal declaration, noting that they have posted multiple notices all around the grounds of their church, informing the public that their grounds are under the protection of the federal court order in Massachusetts. Among that evidence was a photo of a sign on church grounds that clearly states that federal agents are not permitted on the property.
Interim pastor of University Baptist, Rev. Cody J. Sanders, told MPR News that church leaders were unaware that their church was being surveilled and investigated by Homeland Security until one of the defendants in the Minnesota 15 case filed a motion for discovery this week.
Sanders openly encouraged society to embrace the notion that churches and other sacred spaces should never be subject to government infiltration, but openly acknowledged that churches across the US, in today’s political environment, “have become a threat to those in power when we care for our neighbors, provide safe spaces for our community members to gather in peace, and strive together toward justice.”
“We will continue to insist that solidarity with our most vulnerable neighbors is the way that we best follow the ways of Jesus in the world.”
The surge of documents that went public following the discovery motion in the Minnesota 15 case has shed horrifying new light on just how far the federal government is going in its clandestine efforts to bring left-leaning Americans to heel, following the massive intrusion of ICE and other federal agencies into Minnesota, where both Renee Good and Alex Pretti were slaughtered in the streets, over the winter that ignited a hurricane of public outrage.
These documents reveal that much of the federal operations were connected to Operation Puppet Master, a federal initiative aimed at what the government describes as “violent opportunists,” born from a 2025 executive memorandum that directed law enforcement in the US to sharpen its focus on investigations into “anti-fascist” individuals and entities.
The newly uncovered DHS reports reveal a long-running history of federal agents going undercover as protesters to infiltrate churches, union halls, and libraries all across the Twin Cities.
These horrifying revelations have sparked intense outrage among community groups, leading to a powerful coalition statement: “We know the power we have when we organize and act together, and we’ll continue using that power to defend our neighbors and our freedoms.”
Please make no mistake that the United States federal government is coming for us all, and they’ve made it perfectly clear that no court order, injunction, or sign will stop them.
Act accordingly.