FBI Investigating Minnesota Anti-ICE Signal Chats
“If that leads to a break in the federal statute or a violation of some law, then we are going to arrest people. You cannot create a scenario that illegally entraps and puts law enforcement in harm’s way.”
FBI Director Kash Patel told Benny Johnson that the agency opened an investigation into anti-ICE Signal chats exposed by independent journalist Cam Higby.
The chats revealed plots allegedly involving interference with ICE operations in Minnesota.
Johnson asked Patel about the operation:
JOHNSON: And this has now been exposed with some of these Signal chat leaks. The independent journalist who had done the exposing was just on right before you, and wanted to ask about this. He says that he has submitted some of the information that was available. There are top level leaders inside of the political infrastructure of Minnesota who are on these chats, and obviously you can’t conspire in order to attack federal agents. This is something that is at scale. They have license plate readers. They’re able to identify these agents. They’re able to dox them, find out where they’re sleeping at night. Is any of this legal, Kash?
PATEL: That’s exactly what we’re investigating. Look again, the First Amendment. You want to go peacefully protest, do it. You want to bring your firearm under the law, you’re allowed to bring it, as long as you don’t incite violence and or commit another crime in doing so.
What we’re asking people to do, what I’m asking people to do, is on the ground in Minnesota, is why would you bring a firearm in a situation that is so volatile right now, where so many arrests have been made, where so many people are coordinating to attack and expose federal law enforcement officers, that is just not smart. It is just not going to lead to a good scenario. And so we need everybody to tamp down, obviously, on that side.
But you’re right. Some of the best reporting has been through you, and I think Mr. Higby was just on before, before I was and other individuals.
Just so you guys know, we look at all this stuff. As soon as Higby put that post out, I opened an investigation on it, just like any other case, when we say, hey, quote, unquote, there was an attack in downtown Seattle. Does the public have information? We, the FBI, are looking to the public for information on these events.
We immediately opened up that investigation because that sort of Signal chat being coordinated with individuals, not just locally in Minnesota, but maybe even around the country. If that leads to a break in the federal statute or a violation of some law, then we are going to arrest people. You cannot create a scenario that illegally entraps and puts law enforcement in harm’s way.
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. There has to be a break point, and you’ve seen it broken in Minneapolis time and time again.
MASSIVE BREAKING: FBI Director Kash Patel confirms the Bureau has opened an investigation into the Signal group chats EXPOSED by independent journalist Cam Higby.
“We look at all this stuff. As soon as Higby put that post out I opened an investigation on it.”⁰⁰“That sort of… pic.twitter.com/IpTRMldwsk
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) January 26, 2026
I stayed away from the news over the weekend for my sanity, so I am still catching up on this news.
Higby has a long X thread on the expose. I’ll highlight a few:
You’ll notice emojis next to people’s names. Here’s a key for what those emojis mean.
The highlighted positions are the most crucial. Most are self explanatory. Mobile patrols spend their entire “shift” searching for suspicious vehicles.
When they find one they send it to the group so that “plate checkers” can compare with their database and see if it’s a known federal vehicle or if the patrol can make the confirmation so that the database can be updated.
Dispatch runs a maxed out call all day telling protestors where ICE has been spotted and how they can be best impeded.
🧵🚨 MINNEAPOLIS SIGNAL INFILTRATED
I have been undercover inside the groups for days.
You’ll notice emojis next to people’s names. Here’s a key for what those emojis mean.
The highlighted positions are the most crucial. Most are self explanatory. Mobile patrols spend their… pic.twitter.com/RF9eymqADe
— Cam Higby 🇺🇸 (@camhigby) January 24, 2026
Higby mentioned that anyone who has an “occupation” or “shift” position must have training.
Higby wondered who paid for all of this.
🧵🚨 MINNEAPOLIS SIGNAL INFILTRATED
For each “occupation” or “shift” position, protestors have to undergo “training”
It’s unclear what the training entails – other than numerous slides of instruction. I’ve seen it mentioned repeatedly. Who is paying for all this?! pic.twitter.com/bDjGt53NNv
— Cam Higby 🇺🇸 (@camhigby) January 24, 2026
Data Republican on X published a list of around 4,000 potential donors.
She sent the information to the FBI:
In one of the files revealed by @camhigby, a resources file directs people with money to a website, Stand with Minnesota, which in turns directs donors to a campaign ran by Tending the Soil on Chuffed.
More about Tending the Soil later. What to know: the campaign is hosted by Chuffed and the first donation came from Jonny Soppotiuk, a Canada-based community organizer who is part of Chuffed leadership and specializes in fundraising. He is most likely a central figure in raising money.
So, yeah. Starting to look like foreigners are playing a key role in all of this.
That’s not all. I’ve put together a spreadsheet of 4000+ donors and their possible identities.
🚨💵 BREAKING: SIGNALGATE DONORS LIST AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD; POLITICIANS + FOREIGN LEADERSHIP CONFIRMED?
In one of the files revealed by @camhigby , a resources file directs people with money to a website, Stand with Minnesota, which in turns directs donors to a campaign ran by… pic.twitter.com/5CDhWxRKhk
— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) January 26, 2026
Download for yourself! Consider subscribing to me if you want to support my efforts here. https://t.co/PzyBN3WwDq pic.twitter.com/5Jd1TJiix8
— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) January 26, 2026
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Please arrest someone who is not living in their grandmother’s basement.
Why is a Missouri Synod Lutheran church providing support to these rioters?
ICE could start contracting with guys who know how to gather info, be invisible, watch, infiltrate and create dysfunction in these orgs without physically engaging.
I read an article describing how this is more than a protest, it’s an insurgency by the scale and coordination these people are putting in to identify and follow law enforcement. The communications are a hallmark of a well-planned insurgency. The US armed forces have some of the best counterinsurgency experts in the world so DHS needs to start consulting with them on how to break things up.
Another note- I also think ICE should start impounding vehicles used to impede ops.
Let them walk home and wait a month to get their vehicle from the impound yard.
Though I hate the concept… asset forfeiture….
do not pass go, do not collect $200
I can appreciate hatinf asset forfeiture, but when said asset is used in commission of a crime….
Local police need to be out there stopping these mobs from turning into riots. As long as they’re allowed to stand back and watch federal officers being attacked on city streets, this shit never ends.
Local LE is in a bad position. They know MN politicians don’t have their backs to the extent the police have only half the numbers they should have and can’t hire anymore as no one wants to go there. They also know that one wrong move and the prosecutors up there will go after them and they will probably not only be fired but be put in jail themselves. I bet if you took a show of hands most of them are waiting for the Feds to send in troops to take control.
Not just don’t have their back. They are standing there with a knife of their own to stick in after stuff goes sideways.
Never-ending shit is the whole point for them.
I think the local police are corrupt or they’re afraid to lose their pensions. Their oath was to the law not the politicians. But when the politicians say boo, they jump.
Some are probably helping the revolt by quietly giving them the owners names of license plates they need to check.
And with all the foreign money and communists running these operations, where the eff is congress and specifically the repubs? Too busy running their NGO for their kids? Or some other scam?
https://x.com/DataRepublican/status/2015865798905233532
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Highly disturbing hypothesis about Somalian fraud here
“Some” MN cops don’t recall ever being dispatched for normal deaths of elderly Somalis in MN.
Hypothesis: the deaths are NOT being reported so that Granny’s welfare check and food stamps keep rolling in.
Follow up question: what happens to the bodies?
The question I’ve had for a while was, why were so many of these fraudulent enterprises being run out of addresses that turned out to be restaurants? I’d hate to think these questions had any relevance to each other.
Police are not incorruptible. But this is Minneapolis where local LEs have effectively been zombies since the George Floyd caper.
I want to see heels kicking when the insurrectionists are hoisted from the nearest lamp post. Any government officials involved in these organized attacks should be hoisted first.
What do you have against lampposts? A wooden gallows worked for the Lincoln conspirators just fine.
Well if you used lampposts you could leave the body up for a while as an object lesson. With gallows your going to have to take the body down for reuse of it unless you build a lot of gallows.
By the way if foreigners are involved drone them. No questions asked. They are prosecuting a war against the US.
I want to see the law come down on these traitors like an Acme anvil on Wyle E. Coyote’s (Super Genius) head.
Up and until this point, I’ve seen nothing.
The January 6 defendants languished in jail as political prisoners (in the United freaking States!) for being invited into the Capitol while these scumbags are fomenting rebellion against the United States and walk free.
We must not tolerate this one single bit.
Get rid of the democrat judges who were appointed for the agenda and not the Constitution.
lefty created a hollywood worthy scenario(s) during trump 1 and beyond
even getting a civil court conviction with the e jean carroll tripe
( uhh I cant remember if he actually put his fin ger in)
now we have real documented actions by leftists in pursuit of anarchy including omars sudden *jackpot* of $30 million etc
they won the 9 11 battle and attacked and then took over nyc/ny state
but they cant be allowed to win the war
The corrupt judges both federal and state won’t allow it. The blue slip stacking of liberal states has the judiciary filled with judges more corrupt than Hunter Biden. Derek Chauvin sits in prison for not killing someone. The Republicans cower beneath their sheets hoping it all goes away and they can get back to their grift of selling out the people that elected them.
IMO there’s gotta be some results from these ‘investigations’. That means finding the participants, their leadership, their financiers, the organizers and yes their protectors and enablers in gov’t then arresting them and prosecuting them for their crimes. Seize any property, any assets used in commission of these crimes. Used your laptop at your house? Sucks for you your house gets seized. Used your nice $100K pickup to deliver ‘resistance supplies’…sucks for you it gets seized. Used funds tradable back to a particular bank account? Seize the account. Allowed your NGO to funnel $ to these groups oops seize the assets. I don’t care if it was 1/2 of 1 % of your otherwise totally legit truly worthwhile charity feeding and housing homeless Veterans…. you’re going to jail if you authorized it and your charity and all its assets are getting seized. No sob stories. No willful blindness.
If the FBI already didn’t have someone on the inside monitoring and recording evidence, they weren’t doing their job. Leftists have been using signal for years to organize riots.
The only time the FBI ever does their job is to entrap people or set up political opponents. That’s their key function.
The FBI in Minnesota doesn’t investigate the left in any possible way. They are actively in on it just like the Daycare fraud they discovered in 2017.
That was my FIRST thought “Why hasn’t the FBI already tracked the group and obtained WARRANTS to gather the info? Where are the WARRANTS to Cell providers for GEO Location Data on these people? If the moron Merrick could have all this going then why not NOW?
Because the judges need the evidence they will get by tapping these phones to authorize these taps. Were not talking about tapping the phones of Republicans here. The judges are on the side of the rioters.
FBI investigating the very political operatives they created? Say it isn’t so! antifa and these other communists have been around since it was occupy Wall Street. In all that time the FBI never made an arrest of the leaders. Hmmmm
Yawn. Wake me when the DOJ charges anyone of any significance in this or any other scandal.
The 35 enumerated offenses in the RICO (anti-conspiracy) Act include obstruction of justice and obstruction of criminal investigations. Whether what’s going on here meets the statutory definitions of those offenses I don’t know but would like to think that, for a 250 year-old country, there’s at least something in federal law to guard against such clearly AstroTurfed, law-impeding behavior on the streets.
This seems like an accurate assessment of what is happening. The question is how to put it down while not violating the constitution. There’s clearly a vast conspiracy to deploy both lawful protest and criminal obstruction. Separating the two objectives seems like a mess and a half. Anyone who’s involved, at any level, in an agreement to obstruct is subject to arrest. The only immune ones are those who not only have never been involved in obstruction, at any level, but have never agreed to the common objective of obstruction.
The first step in dealing with the scenario described in that thread (very accurately IMO) is to recognize the situation has moved beyond a law enforcement framework. It is the first phase of an insurgency. That’s not the province of law enforcement alone. We’re gonna have to use, at minimum, basic counter insurgency tools to supplement normal LEO procedures, tactics but more critically gathering intelligence. IOW all the signal gathering and surveillance tools we use against insurgents elsewhere we’re gonna have to use here. As unpleasant/unfortunate and contentious as that may be the alternative is feckless whack a mole by LEO operating under restraints that render them ineffective v an insurgency. Which means refusal to apply the counter insurgency tactics early allows the insurgents to build support, strength, grow in experience and willingness to commit an escalating level of violence, chaos/anarchy to accomplish their goal of destabilizing the Nation. If we wait until this stage to honestly and forthrightly identify the enemy and confront them with effective tactics then we’ll have moved past the point where using Intel and evidence gathered by abnormal methods to arrest and prosecute them in court will be effective and we’ll have to use very violent, very kinetic tactics to stop them and that will look like Ramadi or Fallujah which we should work to avoid if at all possible.
WHY would they be included in the group and respond if they didn’t intend to obstruct? Those who “did not obstruct” but were in the chat group must have KNOWN that there was going to be the militants obstructing so if they went but did not actively obstruct they were still in on the Conspiracy to Obstruct! Any smart ones would have immediately posted “This is insane and ILLEGAL – I’m OUT” and deleted their access! As far as the FOREIGN Conspirators? They should be arrested and brought to the USA for prosecution – I sort of believe it’s a CRIME to ATTACK OUR NATION!
As I understand it, no one in these groups explicitly and openly talks about obstructing. They do that in their “ICE Watch” manual, and training sessions, but someone in these groups could be in it purely for peaceful protest, and never have agreed to breaking the law. Such a person would not be guilty of conspiracy. And the onus is on the government to prove beyond reasonable doubt that any given individual did agree to the obstruction.
Sure. The govt does have that burden to convince the jury. I suspect ID the individuals then a warrant to search their homes, vehicles, storage buildings, their geo location, communications and electronic devices will separate the posers. I’d view it as routinely attending multiple KKK meetings, rallies and events as part of the Klan mob then claiming you had no interest in the criminal activities of the Klan…you were ‘just present and observing’ but didn’t personally throw the torch or douse the building with gasoline.
Chief, the right to protest is not only protected as the right to assemble, but also the freedom of speech.
And all sidewalks have the status of traditional public forums. You are free to behave like this on any street, so long as you don’t block traffic, and obey the same noise regulations that apply to everyone else (i.e. up to so many decibels during the day, a lower limit at night).
What person in their right mind who wants to “peacefully protest” would join a crowd like those we see in the media, screaming, blowing whistles, banging pots, spitting, etc. etc.
Nah. There are no “peaceful protestors” in the midst of the anarchists. Get real.
Screaming, blowing whistles, and banging pots, and spitting are all peaceful forms of protest. Spitting on someone is not.
No they are not. All cause noise and disturb the peace. The whistles may even cause physical harm depending on decibel level the generate. Spitting on someone is battery.
The overly broad, permissive view of ‘peaceful’ is not gonna work. The 1A protects ‘peaceable assembly’ not ‘protest’ and sure as hell not battery.
Chief, as I said, spitting on someone is not peaceful. But spitting at someone, i.e. in their direction, as well as spitting in general, is peaceful.
Some level of noisemaking is part of the American tradition of protests going back to before the founding. Local noise regulations, that apply to everyone equally and were not made with the intent of suppressing protests, may be enforced against protests to the same extent as they are against everyone else.
Milhouse,
The 1A doesn’t protect ‘protests’ it protects ‘right of the people peaceably to assemble’.
Peaceably is the limiting principle and no act that would otherwise be a violation is ‘peaceably’ especially for acts which ‘disturb the peace’.
IMO unless you’d agree that an individual who decides to go next door to the sidewalk in front of their neighbor’s home and perform the same acts for.weeks on end is totes ok then it ain’t peaceable. Obviously traditional forums/places are different; in front of City Hall, at the County Courthouse and so on.
Can RICO be invoked in a meaningful and helpful way in this?
I don’t know that it would be necessary. Good old fashioned criminal conspiracy should be enough. But sure, if RICO helps, use it.
The Insurrection Act should be invoked too, because that is exactly what this is. These people don’t actually care about illegal aliens; their aim is to overthrow the United States.
More on this over at PowerLineBlog: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/01/inside-the-resistance.php
Patel says the FBI is “looking at it.” What exactly does “looking at it” entail?
(I’m looking at the screen right now and I’m typing.)
So I wouldn’t be entirely surprised to find out you are doing MORE right now than the FBI is.
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