Minneapolis, MN – On August 30, T-Mobile and AT&T disclosed that they had sent the phone records of several Twin Cities activists to ICE and Homeland Security Investigations agents after receiving a summons filed by Homeland Security on April 12, 2026. These included the telecommunications data of Jess Sundin, Steff Yorek and other anti-ICE and anti-war activists, such records for the phone line for Minnesota Council for American-Islamic Relations.

T-Mobile and AT&T complied with the summons even though none of the three were charged with any criminal charges, nor were they notified or asked to consent to such disclosures. Given the fraudulent nature of the summons, other companies, such as Google, declined to disclose any data.

These summons came as part of an ongoing federal investigation of the activists who protested on January 18 in Saint Paul against the preacher in Cities Church, David Easterwood, who is the acting field office director for Enforcement and Removal Operations, known as ERO St. Paul. 39 Minnesota activists, including Black community activists Monique Cullars-Doty and Nekima Levy Armstrong, were arrested in connection to this action, along with the high-profile journalists Georgia Fort and Don Lemon.

Sundin and Yorek are anti-war activists whose record of international solidarity activism goes back decades. They were included in FBI raids in 2010 and subsequent subpoenas to a grand jury, with which they refused to comply. They were not present at nor involved with the planning of the Cities Church protest. The Minnesota Council for American-Islamic Relations phone line also lacks any discernible connection to the Cities Church action.

One important aspect of the summons is that they are not court-issued search warrants. Listed on the summons as one of the recipients of the data is HSI Special Agent Timothy Gerber, who worked for the IRS before moving over to ICE in 2026. He attempted, first in February 2026 and then again in March 2026, to secure search warrants to seize electronic data for five defendants in the Cities Church case but was struck down by Judge John Docherty for failure to establish probable cause. Twice.

Since then, Gerber, Grayson Cooper and Special Agent Steven Schrank have resorted to ICE summons to retrieve this data. The summons cites a law that mandates the disclosure of data related to fees paid to customs and other customs business. The City Church investigation is not related to this at all. The ICE summons has received widespread disdain from lawyers and civil liberties organizations.

These summons come as the next step in the saga of political repression launched against anti-ICE activists in the Twin Cities. Apart from the Cities Church protest, 15 anti-ICE protesters, known now as the Minnesota 15, have been indicted on bogus federal charges and face up to over a decade in prison for their activism at the federal Whipple Building in Minneapolis. The charges include felony conspiracy to impede a federal officer, assault of a federal officer, interstate stalking, interstate threats, and more.

In spite of protests involving over 100,000 people over the course of subzero winter months, Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who killed Renee Good, and Jesus Ochoa and Raymundo Gutierrez, the ICE agents who killed Alex Pretti, are walking free and have not been charged for any crimes.

“Many of the Righteous 39 Cities Church protesters are my friends and movement colleagues,” said Jess Sundin, one of the Anti-War 23 and one of the Twin Cities activists whose phone records were seized. “They are being prosecuted for doing the right thing – standing against ICE's brutal attacks on immigrants. The idea that the government would use a bogus summons to get records of their communications with me is a desperate attempt to make a case out of nothing. Instead of dividing us, or silencing us, the government's actions are only strengthening our solidarity and commitment to keep fighting for justice.”

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