We sat down with Emilia González Avalos, executive director of Unidos Minnesota, in wake of the discovery last week that the Trump administration has engaged in wide-ranging surveillance of over a dozen Minnesota labor unions, civil society organizations, and more.
Court filings exposed what many organizers had feared for months: the Trump administration launched a massive surveillance campaign targeting over a dozen Minnesota labor unions, civil society groups, and even a bike shop that had organized opposition to Operation Metro Surge. The Department of Homeland Security named their operations “Operation Puppet Master” and “Operation Whipple Shield.”
The Whipple Building became a detention center where ICE and Border Patrol agents held immigrants, U.S. citizens, refugees, and protesters. U.S. Representative Kelly Morrison, who represents Minnesota’s third congressional district and works as a physician, discovered conditions inside that she described as horrifying and heartbreaking, documenting a complete lack of medical care for detainees.
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The surveillance operation went deep, gathering financial records of targeted organizations stretching back three years. Agents infiltrated organizing meetings and signal chats. Some traveled 600 miles to Michigan to observe presentations Minnesota organizers were giving about their resistance tactics. Among the groups caught in the net was Unidos Minnesota, which trained tens of thousands of constitutional observers before and during Operation Metro Surge.
“We Knew to Expect Surveillance”
Emilia González Avalos, executive director of Unidos Minnesota, told us that from the beginning her organization operated with suspicion informed by historical precedent. “We had suspicion and we trained our folks knowing what we know about history,” she said. “I am a nerd. I mean, I’m an organizer, but I also love history.”
One key lesson González Avalos taught participants from the outset: “We can expect surveillance. We can expect infiltration. They want to divide our movement and they want to make us look bad and criminalize us, and we cannot give an inch to them.”
González Avalos drew parallels to earlier eras of political repression, noting, “I have read through memos and memories and documents and history books about the red scare and what happened with immigrant organizers trying to unionize in places like Chicago and Detroit, and they would use immigration and customs to union bust and deport them to Eastern Europe.”
“We are a bunch of geeks and nerds that like to learn what people did in the past so that we can learn and do better in the future,” she explained. “Through the Red Scare and MacArthurism, what happened with COINTELPRO and Hoover, we just knew that in terms of power of surveillance and armed strength, we were outnumbered. And so our answer is to organize as many regular people as possible.”
Standing Ground at Public Meetings
On December 7, González Avalos personally led a training session in Richville, a community she calls home after living there for over 20 years. Despite recovering from gallbladder surgery, she attended because, as she said, “this is the lifeline for my family.”
She welcomed everyone present, including suspected government agents.
“I said, they’re may be ICE officers in this room. Just so you know, everything we’re doing is constitutional. We have nothing to hide. This is a public meeting. You can be here. We do not consent of you recording us,” she said.
Corporate Silence Under Scrutiny
On Tuesday, August 18, affected organizations and elected officials held a press event at Target Corporation headquarters. The group demanded the Fortune 500 retailer publicly address what González Avalos calls “the erosion of constitutional rights.”
“[ICE Operations] began at their parking lots when they arrested some of their workers without a warrant while being U.S. citizens on the job,” she noted. “We still haven’t heard anything from them.”
The call to action targets Target’s public image as a beacon of Minnesota’s diversity and prosperity. “We want to take them up on that in order to protect that prosperity, that vibrancy, that diversity,” González Avalos said. “They have to say something.”
Records show Target contributed $1 million to Trump’s inauguration and $125,000 to a coalition of Minnesota corporations supporting immigrant-owned businesses devasted by Operation Metro Surge. The City of Minneapolis estimates the toll of the economic damage was roughly $700 million dollars.
When asked whether those corporations followed up with additional support, González Avalos responded, “Not that we’re aware of.”
She referenced emerging economic research suggesting “goods and services corporations do not thrive under authoritarian governments,” noting one study by Nobel Prize-winning economists published in 2024. While acknowledging some corporations may be building data infrastructure around surveillance, she questioned the long-term viability of that approach.
The Irony of Sponsorships
Adding to the tension, Target is sponsoring a Hispanic celebration ceremony scheduled for September 10, which includes an award recognizing the courage and bravery of Twin Cities residents. “It is very interesting that they’re trying,” González Avalos observed. “But we don’t want galas. We want freedom. We want democracy. Target, read the memo, read the tea leaves. Join us.”
Monarca 2.0: Democracy Defense
Looking ahead, Unidos Minnesota is launching “Monarca 2.0,” an initiative focused on election observation and voter protection. González Avalos describes it as entirely nested on the organization’s 501(c)(4) primary purpose side, shifting from leadership development to what she calls “constitutional embodiment.”
“They had guns, we had whistles; they had surveillance, we had the constitution; kind of like that,” she said. The new phase focuses on “Monarca Action Democracy Defense,” building teams to help people become resilient voters who have their registration checked, know where to vote, and have time to organize others and vote early in person.
Beyond individual preparedness, the initiative recruits volunteers to serve as protective monitors in their precincts. These teams will act as “eyes and ears” for people who might feel intimidated by increased surveillance presence in other counties or encounters with heightened enforcement activity.
Connect with Unidos Minnesota’s work at unidos-mn.org.
