[News] The FBI spied on a Signal group chat of immigration activists, records reveal

[Anti-Imperialist News]

theguardian.com 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/21/fbi-signal-group-chat-immigration> 



  The FBI spied on a Signal group chat of immigration activists, records
  reveal

Sam Levin
November 21, 2025
------------------------------------------------------------------------

people in dark clothes and face masks stand in an elevator

Federal immigration officers board an elevator with respondents at 
immigration court in New York on 17 November 2025. Photograph: David Dee 
Delgado/Reuters

The FBI <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/fbi> spied on a private 
Signal group chat of immigrants’ rights activists who were organizing 
“courtwatch” efforts in New York City this spring, law enforcement 
records shared with the Guardian indicate.

The FBI, the documents show, gained access to conversations in a 
“courtwatch” Signal group that helps coordinate volunteer activists who 
monitor public proceedings at three New York federal immigration courts. 
The US government has repeatedly been accused 
<https://www.npr.org/2025/08/25/nx-s1-5503595/immigration-court-new-york> 
of violating 
<https://immigrantjustice.org/press-release/unlawful-ice-arrests-at-immigration-courthouses-prompt-lawsuit-by-advocates-and-immigrants/> 
immigrants’ due process 
<https://www.nycbar.org/reports/case-dismissals-in-immigration-court-to-facilitate-ice-arrests-violates-due-process-and-undermines-access-to-humanitarian-protections/> 
rights at those courts.

A “joint situational information report” from the FBI and the New York 
police department (NYPD), dated 28 August 2025, quoted from a chat on 
Signal, the encrypted messaging app, and also characterized the court 
watchers as “anarchist violent extremist actors”. The two-page report 
was distributed to other law enforcement agencies across the US.

The records were obtained by Property of the People 
<https://propertyofthepeople.org/>, a government transparency 
non-profit, through public records requests.

Activist groups have expanded efforts to observe and document courthouse 
activities in recent months as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 
has increasingly been detaining immigrants 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/22/ice-arrests-immigration-courts> 
who have shown up to court for routine hearings. An ICE directive 
<https://stateline.org/2025/11/19/ice-courthouse-arrests-meet-resistance-from-democratic-states/> 
issued the day after <https://www.ice.gov/node/66174> Donald Trump took 
office in January established that agents could arrest immigrants 
<https://www.ice.gov/doclib/foia/policy/11072.3_CivilImmEnfActionsCourthouses_01.21.2025.pdf> 
at court; the practice had been restricted 
<https://www.ice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ciEnforcementActionsCourthouses2.pdf> 
under the Biden administration due to concerns that court arrests would 
interfere with “the fair administration of justice”.

In immigration courts across the country this year, the US government 
has repeatedly dismissed immigrants’ cases at their hearings, enabling 
federal agents to then arrest the immigrants in courthouse hallways, the 
Guardian previously reported 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/sep/19/trump-immigration-cuba-asylum-seeker>. 
A recent Associated Press investigation suggested that the Department of 
Homeland Security (DHS) has set up “deportation traps 
<https://apnews.com/article/immigration-courts-deportations-trump-administration-8b9fab5475c0da4c0f13f3381de91448>” 
at the courts. A federal officer was filmed pushing a woman to the floor 
<https://www.propublica.org/article/ice-officer-shoves-woman-till-eckert> 
at a New York City courthouse in September, prompting a rare rebuke from 
the DHS 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/26/ice-officer-video-relieved-of-duties>.

The FBI’s report from August, prepared by its New York division, does 
not make clear how the bureau accessed the Signal group. The Signal 
platform, widely used by activists, is known for its end-to-end 
encryption 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/28/what-is-signal-the-messaging-app-at-the-heart-of-a-us-security-leak>; 
typically, the only way law enforcement can access messages is if they 
are directly included in the chat 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/06/signal-group-chat-leak-how-it-happened>, 
are sent copies from a participant or have access to a member’s unlocked 
phone.

The FBI said the information came from a “sensitive source with 
excellent access” and introduced the report as a warning about 
“extremist actors targeting law enforcement officers and federal 
facilities”.

In “late May”, an individual “participated in a debrief session held via 
a Signal call within the ‘courtwatch’ Signal groupchat”, the FBI wrote, 
without identifying the individual or the specific group or 
organizations involved. That person “discussed how to improve future 
activities near federal facilities in New York City, including 26 
Federal Plaza, 201 Varick Street and 290 Broadway”, the report 
continued, listing the addresses of three immigration courts in Manhattan.

“Collecting media of activities was ‘critical information’; media 
included photos and videos of law enforcement officers including their 
badges, faces, names, license plates, law enforcement vehicles, and the 
interior of federal facilities,” the FBI wrote, summarizing the 
conversations.

Discussions in the chat included “instructions on where to go and what 
to say in order to gain access to federal courtrooms”, with the FBI 
noting that members of the group were told which floors to visit and to 
tell officials they were there to observe, with statements like: “I’m 
due at a 9:30 hearing.”

The FBI added: “‘Courtwatch’ is a private/invite only, encrypted Signal 
application group chat created by the identified [individual]. In 
private encrypted online chats, the identified [individual] is known to 
instruct protest participants to use violence against [law enforcement].”

The FBI declined to comment in response to a detailed list of questions. 
The DHS also declined to comment, referring questions to the FBI. ICE 
did not respond to requests for comment.

The memo did not provide any further details about the individual or 
their alleged past calls for violence and offered no specifics or 
evidence to explain why the FBI characterized them as “anarchist violent 
extremists”. The courtwatch efforts have been non-violent, and the FBI 
did not respond to an inquiry seeking specific examples of violence and 
did not answer questions about whether law enforcement had ongoing 
access to the private group.

An NYPD spokesperson said in an email: “This is not an NYPD document. It 
references a broader counterterrorism investigation into a range of 
possible criminal activities, including weapons training, violence 
against law enforcement, property damage and destruction, and 
discussions about bomb-making. This investigation has been reviewed by 
an external civilian representative exercising oversight pursuant to 
court order.”

The FBI’s report does not include references to “bomb-making” or any of 
the other specific claims of criminal activity, and the NYPD declined to 
comment further.

Hearings at immigration court, which is run by the Department of 
Justice, are open to the public 
<https://www.justice.gov/eoir/media/1414731/dl?inline> and observers do 
not have to inform the courts in advance of their attendance.

It is unclear**whether specific groups were targeted by the Signal 
surveillance. Volunteers with a range of immigrants’ rights 
organizations and grassroots groups have been involved in New York 
immigration court watching, which has become a common practice in cities 
across the country as DHS arrests have escalated.

Brad Lander, New York City’s comptroller, was arrested by ICE in June 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/19/new-york-mayoral-candidate-brad-lander-interview> 
inside an immigration courthouse while accompanying an immigrant New 
Yorker. The former mayoral candidate, who has regularly participated in 
court watching, condemned the FBI’s report in a statement, saying the 
“FBI surveillance tactic is ripped straight out of the J Edgar Hoover 
playbook”, referring to the longtime former FBI director 
<https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/21/the-gospel-of-j-edgar-hoover-lerone-martin> 
known for his spying and attacks on activists.

“Observing immigration court hearings is a legal and non-violent act, 
unlike the ICE abductions we have witnessed regularly for months outside 
of the courtrooms,” Lander said. “The mission of courtwatch is to 
provide transparency and ensure people are not disappeared without due 
process – surveillance and intimidation by Trump’s corrupted Justice 
Department won’t stop us from showing up to protect our neighbors and 
the rule of law.”

“Basic civic participation is not a terrorist threat,” added**Dr Ryan 
Shapiro, executive director of Property of the People, in a statement. 
“The FBI treating it like one is yet another example of the Trump 
regime’s profound contempt for even the most rudimentary of democratic 
freedoms.”

Natalie Baldassarre, a justice department spokesperson, did not respond 
to questions about the FBI surveillance, but said in a statement: “After 
four years of the Biden administration forcing immigration courts to 
implement a de facto amnesty for hundreds of thousands of aliens, this 
Department of Justice is restoring integrity to our courts and will 
continue to enforce federal immigration law to protect national security 
and public safety.”

Spencer Reynolds, a civil liberties advocate and former senior 
intelligence counsel with the DHS, said the FBI report was part of a 
pattern of the US government criminalizing free speech activities. He 
noted Tom Homan, the White House border czar, stating earlier this year 
that “know your rights” trainings could be considered impeding law 
enforcement 
<https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/tom-homan-warns-aoc-may-be-in-trouble-over-ice-webinar-is-she-crossing-the-line-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-immigration-mass-deporations-border-czar>; 
the DHS arresting people 
<https://www.wbez.org/immigration/2025/10/30/dhs-kristi-noem-tammy-duckworth-dick-durbin-ice-agents-filming-arrests> 
filming immigration agents 
<https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-demands-information-from-dhs-about-alarming-pattern-of-retaliation-against-those-recording-immigration-agents>; 
and Trump signing an executive order 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/22/trump-executive-order-antifa-terrorist-organization> 
designating “antifa”, the decentralized antifascist movement, a 
“domestic terrorist organization”, raising fears of a broad crackdown on 
leftist activism 
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/23/what-is-antifa-meaning-trump>.

“The US government is turning these powerful national security agencies 
towards critics and people who are standing up for the rights of 
immigrants, and while it’s so shocking to see something like this, it’s 
not surprising,” said Reynolds, who reviewed the FBI document for the 
Guardian. “These activities, and public access to our courts, are lawful 
and protected by our rights in the US constitution, yet routinely we’re 
seeing federal officials portray efforts to obtain basic accountability 
as threats.”

FBI surveillance of this nature is not subject to significant oversight 
and there are limited guardrails to prevent abuses of people’s rights, 
Reynolds added.

Reynolds likened the FBI surveillance to the bureau’s past efforts to 
infiltrate and disrupt 
<https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/assault-left-fbi-and-sixties-antiwar-movement> 
the civil rights movement in the 1960s and spy on Muslim communities 
<https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/how-the-fbi-spied-on-orange-county-muslims-and-attempted-to-get-away-with-it> 
after 9/11.

Undercover operations, he noted, can lead to conflicts among activists 
and increasing distrust: “There is a significant risk of chilling and 
undermining these sorts of private discussion environments.”

  *

    This article was updated on 21 November to include a longer
    statement from the NYPD.

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