Save you a click: the descent into a fascist police state continues. Plus, a reminder that the state apparatus exists to leverage force against its own citizens.

In Homeland Security Investigations lingo, CUC refers to “Certified Undercover” (CUC) operations in which DHS — typically in consultation with the Justice Department — grants agents and informants authorization to engage in otherwise illegal activities as part of the investigation. A CUC also exempts the agencies from laws that would typically prohibit them from actions like creating shell companies, setting up fake bank accounts, and other types of aggressive investigative steps.

These authorities are typically granted for operations against drug cartels, international money launderers, and other dangerous targets of federal law enforcement, experts told TPM. Now, the Minneapolis documents show, HSI is deploying these tactics against protesters using their First Amendment rights to oppose the Trump administration. Undercover agents monitored a No Kings Rally, a protest of the Iran War, and entered a local church in which a court had barred DHS from conducting some investigations. It’s part of a broader effort that the federal government launched after the killing of Charlie Kirk to criminalize opposition to the president, enlisting terrorism and anti-gang laws and tactics against non-violent protesters.

… The investigations into Minneapolis protesters ramped up in March, filings show. Since then, the DOJ has also run an initiative called Joint Task Force Vanguard, which reported to then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, now the Senate-confirmed attorney general. Vanguard is the task force through which federal prosecutors are implementing National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), the September 2025 White House directive to law enforcement to treat progressive beliefs as indicators of domestic terrorism.

… House Democrats have begun to respond to the mounting revelations around how NSPM-7 has prompted government surveillance on protesters. In a letter released on Tuesday, more than two dozen House Democrats led by Reps. Delia Ramirez (D-IL), Jim McGovern (D-MA), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)asked the Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to provide details on how it’s being implemented.