FBI Investigates Alleged Anti-ICE Signal Chats

The FBI started an investigation into Signal chat groups allegedly being utilized by anti-ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) activists.

How it Started: Cam Higby, an independent journalist, made claims of infiltrating "organizational signal groups all around Minneapolis with the sole intention of tracking down federal agents and impeding/assaulting/and obstructing them." Higby recorded portions of the chats that showed the users coordinating "shifts" of people to search for federal law enforcement vehicles, defining roles for these people, such as "plate checkers," which consisted of people confirming or updating a database of information used for tracking the movements of the federal agents and their vehicles. Patel said that "We are not going after people and infringing on their freedom of speech to peacefully protest," but added "if you incite violence and or threaten to do harm to law enforcement officials and break the law in any other way" it then "become[s] an investigatory matter."

What's Next? Kash Patel announced an investigation into the chats Monday on The Benny Show with the host of the podcast, Benny Johnson (Right bias).

For Context: This is not the first time a Signal chat, which is often used for secure, private conversation with end-to-end encryption, made headlines. In March, the Trump administration accidentally included a journalist from The Atlantic (Left) in a chat detailing US military operations in the Middle East. Some people, like Eric Schwalm, who identified as a former US Army Special Forces soldier, said on X after viewing the chats, "What's unfolding in Minneapolis right now isn't 'protest.' It's low-level insurgency infrastructure" and added "replace 'ICE agents' with 'occupying coalition forces' and the structure maps 1:1 to early-stage urban cells we hunted in the mid-2000s."

How the Right Covered it: Outlets on the right like Fox News (Right) and The Western Journal (Right) highlighted the "sophisticated" and "complex" network that, according to Fox News, "helped put Alex Pretti in harm's way, then made him a martyr." The Fox article said that the group chats "show 'rapid responders' mobilized demonstrators to harass federal agents, then socialist groups capitalized on killing to foment protests." The Western Journal article echoed some of this, and highlighted Schwalm's statements regarding the tactics mimicking insurgency tactics utilized in Afghanistan in the mid-2000's. 

How the Left Covered it: The Guardian (Left) highlighted what they called the "far-right" nature of the claim about the Signal chats, and added remarks from several experts who said the chats appeared to be "organized for purposes that are fully protected by the first amendment: to observe, to speak and to alert others of possible dangers," and that the FBI had "no business" investigating the chats. Other outlets on the left, like NBC News (Lean Left), highlighted the accidental leak of US military plans in March, and said "Signal group chats have been a standard part of toolkits — along with walkie-talkies and whistles — used by activists, parents and neighborhood watch members."  

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