A Minnesota man with suspected ties to white supremacist groups planned to attack the Mexican consulate in St. Paul, believing it would stir debate on immigration amnesty issues ahead of the 2012 Presidential election, according to a federal affidavit recently unsealed in federal court and obtained May 17 by the Associated Press. He was indicted in April on drug charges, though authorities had been watching him and another man since 2010 as part of a domestic terrorism probe.

The affidavit said he had amassed weapons and wanted to attack minorities, people with left-leaning political beliefs, and government officials. We consider him a threat, and we believe he had the capacity to carry these threats out, an FBI spokesman said in an interview May 17. In the plot against the consulate, the suspect allegedly told an undercover agent he wanted to load a pickup truck with barrels of oil and gas, drive it into the consulate, allow the mixture to spill, then set it ablaze with a road flare. He also suggested placing hoax explosive devices along the May Day parade route in the Twin Cities, saying he had video of prior parades so he could identify parade participants.