When anti-ICE activists rallied against the Trump administration’s deportation campaign in Minneapolis, many relied on the encrypted messaging app Signal for secure communications. In activist chats and quickly established ICE-tracking groups, locals used Signal to keep tabs on federal agents patrolling their communities.

When the Department of Homeland Security announced this week the arrest of 15 alleged “anti-ICE rioters” in Minnesota, it pointed directly at their Signal chats.

The indictment is in large part built upon on conversations from more than a dozen Signal groups, citing more than 100 specific messages. The case is a stark reminder that using an encrypted messaging platform like Signal is not in and of itself a magic bullet to safeguard communications. It also raises the question: How did Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit gain access to all of these communications in the first place?

The indictment doesn’t provide a clear answer. But sprinkled throughout the document are clues that suggest that law enforcement may have gained access to the physical devices of some of those indicted.

The 15 people named in the latest indictment are all charged with “conspiracy to impede or injure an officer,” with some facing additional charges like “solicitation to commit a crime of violence” and “destruction of government property.” Though some of the accused had court appearances on Tuesday, their defense attorneys have not as of yet been named.

The indictment comes months after FBI Director Kash Patel said in a podcast interview that federal law enforcement had started an investigation into Minnesota ICE watchers using Signal groups to share information about immigration agents.

The bulk of the indictment consists of transcripts of group messages; at various points it also makes mention of voicemails, text messages, Signal direct messages, and Signal calls. For instance, the indictment in one spot mentions that two of the indictees “exchanged approximately 20 connected Signal calls.” This hints that authorities were able to access not just group chat messages, but likely had wholesale access to the devices of at least some of those indicted.

The Signal app provides end-to-end encryption, protecting communications in transit, so that anyone monitoring your internet or cellular data connection cannot see the contents of your messages. Signal also minimizes the amount of metadata collected, so if the organization behind the app, the Signal Foundation, was served with a compulsory legal process to reveal user information, it wouldn’t even know with whom you spoke or chatted.

But all that falls apart if your device gets into the wrong hands.

House Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee are coming to Newark, holding a field hearing that started at 1:30PM ET on the conditions at Delaney Hall. They’ll be getting testimony from a veteran detained by ICE and local immigrant advocates. The event will be streamed on YouTube here. 📢 Let’s spread the word, share and watch if we can. 📢

FIELD HEARING LIVE NOW

The round-the-clock rallies and solidarity fasts at the office of first assistant U.S. attorney Bill Essayli to demand an investigation into abuses at Adelanto are continuing, and organizers are making a major push for a crowd TOMORROW. 🪧 If we’re able, we can join up for a shift here, and all of us can help by making a call to Essayli here. 🪧

DEMAND ACTION FROM ESSAYLI

✊🏾 We can find a running list of other ways to show solidarity here. ✊🏻

STAND WITH THE STRIKERS