FBI hacked into Signal group chats of immigration activists who watched court proceedings in New York, report says

The FBI hacked into Signal group chats used by immigration activists who were watching court proceedings in New York City, according to a report.

The documents claim that the FBI characterized the users of the “courtwatch” Signal group as “anarchist violent extremist actors” for observing three federal immigration courts.

The report was jointly filed by the NYPD and the FBI on August 28, 2025, and obtained by Property of the People and handed to The Guardian.

It is unknown how the FBI gained access to the group chat, given that Signal uses end-to-end encryption, which is supposed to make it almost impossible to hack.

Typically, law enforcement officers access Signal chats by obtaining a group chat member’s unlocked phone, being directly included in the chat, or receiving copies from a participant.

The FBI has allegedly claimed that information related to the “courtwatch” Signal chat was given to them by a “sensitive source with excellent access” and said that they filed the report as a warning about “extremist actors targeting law enforcement officers and federal facilities,” according to The Guardian.

Discussions in the chat allegedly centered around where to conduct operations and what to say “in order to gain access to federal court rooms.”

Their report comes as activist groups, such as the “courtwatch” group, ramp up their campaigns amid the government’s hardline crackdown on immigration.

ICE Agents have increasingly been detaining immigrants who have appeared at court for routine hearings, a practice restricted under the Biden administration due to concerns that it would interfere with the justice process, according to the Associated Press. An ICE directive issued just a day after Donald Trump took office in January 2025 reversed the policy.

Brad Lander, New York City’s comptroller, condemned the FBI’s surveillance of the group in a public statement seen by The Guardian.

“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,” he 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.”

Signal, the app used to conduct the “courtwatch” operation, is widely considered to be one of the most secure messaging platforms on the market.

However, the brand became the center of another Trump administration controversy when the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, was added to a secret group chat about military strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.

Since the journalist was added to the group by accident, end-to-end encryption proved useless for keeping the covert plans under wraps.

The chat included Secretary of War and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, and national security adviser Mike Walz.

Goldberg was privy to the contents of the chat for six days before removing himself and chose only to publish information that he deemed not to be sensitive or would not put American lives at risk.

The Independent has contacted the DOJ for comment.