A “joint situational report” from FBI and NYPD records obtained by the Guardian and the organization Property of the People reveals that agents infiltrated a Signal chat of activists in New York organizing courtwatch efforts in immigration court.

This year immigration organizers have ramped up their court watch and court accompaniment programs, as ICE has used increasingly forceful tactics in court, including detaining people who show up to routine hearings, something prohibited under the Biden administration.

The FBI’s report characterized court watchers as “anarchist violent extremist actors,” and the report did not specify how they accessed the Signal group. The infiltrator participated in a Signal debrief call within the courtwatch chat, and also claimed that discussions within the chat included instructions for participants to use violence against law enforcement. There were however no specifics in the report around what violence was discussed. Court watching has long been a nonviolent tactic, and activists are worried this could be one more way the Trump Administration suppresses speech.

(Taken from an email sent to me by Never Again Action.)