FBI Opens Investigation into Minnesota Signal Groups Tracking ICE Operations

The FBI has opened an investigation into Signal group text chats used by Minnesota residents to share information about federal immigration agents' movements, FBI Director Kash Patel announced Monday, creating a new front in the Trump administration's conflict with potential free speech implications.

Patel told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson that he wanted to determine whether any Minnesota residents had put federal agents "in harm's way" by sharing agents' license plate numbers and locations through the encrypted messaging app. The investigation was reportedly prompted by a social media post from conservative journalist Cam Higby, who claimed to have "infiltrated" Minneapolis Signal groups allegedly obstructing law enforcement.

The investigation immediately drew skepticism from free speech advocates who argued that the First Amendment protects members of the public who share legally obtained information about law enforcement activities. Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, emphasized that there are legitimate reasons to share such information, including enabling the public to observe and document law enforcement activity and hold officials accountable for misconduct.

For months, digital tools have been central to how people have pushed back against immigration enforcement efforts in Minnesota and across the country. The administration's opponents have used group text chats to track Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, share photos of suspected ICE vehicles, and raise awareness for neighbors. In June, administration officials criticized ICEBlock, an app designed to share information about ICE sightings. Apple removed the app from its app store in October, prompting a lawsuit from the app's developer alleging the administration unlawfully pressured Apple to remove it.

In the Twin Cities, Signal group chats have become a standard part of activist toolkits—along with walkie-talkies and whistles—used by volunteers to warn families about immigration enforcement activities by relaying real-time information, especially near schools. Patrol volunteers have said that with more than 3,000 federal immigration agents in Minnesota, they are motivated by a desire to protect parents, children, and school staff members who are not U.S. citizens.

Patel did not specify which laws he believed Minnesota residents may have violated. An FBI spokesperson said the bureau had no further information to provide. The announcement seemed likely to have significant implications for the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech.

Alex Abdo, litigation director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said the First Amendment protects the right to record law enforcement officers as they carry out their official responsibilities. "The ability of everyday citizens to hold government agents to account, by observing them and advocating for change, is what has distinguished the American experiment with democracy from authoritarian regimes around the world," Abdo said in an email. "Unless the FBI has evidence of a crime, and not just evidence of activity the Constitution protects, it should stand down."

Patel acknowledged in the interview with Johnson that an investigation into group text chats would raise free speech concerns and said the FBI would "balance" the rights guaranteed by the First and Second Amendments with what he said were potential violations of federal law. "Now, we will balance the First and Second amendment constantly, but we have to let the community know that we will not tolerate acts of violence and an escalation and a violation of the federal code," he said.

The Second Amendment could be at issue because Alex Pretti, the nurse shot and killed by a federal agent Saturday in Minneapolis, was permitted to carry a gun in public and had one with him. Terr, of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said the government does not get to "balance" the First Amendment against its other interests. "The Constitution takes precedence over any conflicting state or federal law, and over any official's desire to suppress speech they dislike," he said in his email.

He added: "There is a First Amendment exception for speech intended and likely to provoke imminent unlawful action, but that doesn't apply to just any speech the government claims puts officials in harm's way. By contrast, if individuals are threatening federal agents or conspiring to physically harm them, that is illegal. But conspiracy requires an agreement to commit a specific crime and a substantial step toward carrying it out."

Patel also said the FBI had made "substantial progress" in an investigation into groups and people responsible for funding resistance to immigration enforcement. He alleged that the protests and neighborhood monitoring are "not happening organically" but did not immediately provide evidence.

The case highlights the ongoing tension between law enforcement's operational security and the public's right to monitor government activities. Signal, considered one of the most secure chat apps, has become a go-to resource for people concerned about privacy. It is perhaps best known as the app Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used to share sensitive military information last year in a group chat that accidentally included a journalist.

As the investigation unfolds, it raises fundamental questions about the limits of free speech in the digital age and the extent to which citizens can use technology to monitor and document government activities without facing legal consequences.