Federal Charges Against Minneapolis Protest Poet Isabel Lopez Collapse. Judge Orders Only a $25 Fee
Contributing writer Clint Combs reports on the collapse of federal charges against Isabel Lopez, an Aztec dancer and poet whose four felony assault charges were reduced to a misdemeanor after prosecutors alleged she attacked federal agents during a June 2025 protest in south Minneapolis, with Judge John Tunheim rejecting a year of probation and closing the case with a $25 court fee.
The criminal case against Isabel Lopez fell apart.
Earlier this month, prosecutors reduced four felony charges to a misdemeanor assault charge in exchange for a guilty plea. Last Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim rejected a prosecutor’s request for a year of probation, instead ordering Lopez to pay a small mandatory court fee.
Lopez joins a growing list of protesters whose charges have been dropped or reduced after federal prosecutors alleged assaults against federal agents based on limited evidence.
“I don’t see you as a threat to the community,” Tunheim told Lopez. “This is over once you pay the $25.”
Rachel Dionne-Thunder, vice president of the Indigenous Protectors Movement, said she hired Lopez as art director because she saw “a bright young woman with potential and creativity.”
The Aztec dancer and poet carried only two things when she responded to a protest in south Minneapolis on June 3, 2025: her cellphone and a copy of the 24 Demands of George Floyd Square.
That day, dozens of federal agents from the DEA, FBI, ICE and Homeland Security Investigations arrived near Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue in armored vehicles, sparking fears that the operation was part of President Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign. Authorities later said it was part of a drug investigation.
“We were both there on the day of June 3, and I stand firm in knowing that that day was the beginning of what we now know as Operation Metro Surge,” Dionne-Thunder said.
Prosecutors alleged that Lopez kicked and punched federal agents, according to court filings. During the sentencing hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Kline questioned Lopez about those allegations.
“You threw a softball at victim B,” Kline said. “That officer was not injured?”
“Yep,” Lopez replied, drawing quiet laughter from the packed gallery.
Tunheim also asked whether Lopez’s PTSD diagnosis was related to the events underlying the case. Lopez said it was.
The judge later asked whether she wanted to clarify anything after admitting in court to pushing, shoving, kicking and throwing a softball at federal agents.
“It’s pronounced Taqueria y Birrieria Las Cuatro Milpas,” Lopez responded, prompting spectators to snap their fingers in agreement.
Video footage from the June 3 operation shows an FBI agent in military gear pinning Lopez to the ground before lifting her back up. Protesters then pulled her away. Photos later showed blood on Lopez’s right shoulder. Federal agents arrested her after she completed an interview with journalist Georgia Fort of BLCK Press.
“I still have back pains from that day. The way that I move won’t be the same again,” Lopez told Tunheim. “From the beginning there was a narrative.”
The Trump administration has announced conspiracy charges against 15 protesters in its latest effort to characterize threats from the American left, including an executive order designating “ANTIFA” as a “domestic terrorist organization.” A subsequent national security directive, NSPM-7, claims various protests and incidents of unrest are part of a coordinated campaign to intimidate the president’s supporters and disrupt democracy.
Kline called the charges against Lopez “an incredibly serious offense,” arguing that she “posed a danger to law enforcement.”
Civil rights attorney Nekima Levy-Armstrong encouraged supporters not to accept that framing.
“Just because they are connected to the FBI does not make them credible,” Levy-Armstrong said. “The FBI has been responsible for kicking down people’s doors, ramming their cars, snatching them, slamming women to the ground, along with ICE.”
“Back then she was all alone,” attorney Jordan Kushner said. “Now there’s company.”
A year of probation would have imposed travel restrictions and other conditions. Instead, Tunheim declined the government’s request and closed the case.
Still, Lopez said the experience continues to affect her.
“Even yesterday I was in my car, and I was literally, I was chilling, but every time it doesn’t matter where I’m at … I don’t know if someone’s gonna come and hurt me or grab me again,” she said.
She said she has not written poetry in a year and sees a double standard in how the Justice Department prosecutes political violence.
“They’re saying that I’m violent, but then the FBI agents who killed Renee Good and killed Alex Pretti are not violent because they never got into trial, they never got convicted,” Lopez said.
Clint Combs welcomes reader responses at combs0284@gmail.com.