Secret Signal chats reveal how anti-ICE agitators coordinated Newark riots

At 11:30 a.m. on June 3, an activation signal went out on social media
calling protesters and agitators to swarm Delaney Hall, the Newark, N.J.
ICE detention facility that has become one of the nation's most
contentious immigration battlegrounds. 

"CURFEW IS OVER. BACK TO DELANEY," read an Instagram post, promoted by a
fiery collection of anti-Israel, Marxist and Democratic organizations —
from "Palestine Solidarity Working Group" and Al-Awda to Indivisible and
50501 — that have joined tumultuous against the ICE, Newark police and
New Jersey state troopers over the past couple of weeks. 

Within minutes, the call to action spread through secret groups on
Signal, an encrypted messaging platform, activating hundreds of anti-ICE
activists with secret monikers like "framed.unrest" and "Wicked
Something," collaborating on transportation, logistics and supplies,
like goggles, protections against pepper spray, respirators and
protective knee pads. 

A Fox News Digital investigation, gathering information on the ground in
Newark, in secret chat groups on Signal and from scores of tax filings,
strategy documents and social media posts, reveals the protests outside
Delaney Hall are no organic outpouring of spontaneous rage. They are the
result of years of strategic planning by a network of well-funded,
well-organized groups that have once again exploited a local controversy
to wage a wider attack on federal immigration policies and the U.S. in
general. 

The activities of this network have motivated a group of tech sleuths on
the X — @DataRepublican, @Astrarce, @bitchuneedsoap and @gunshymartyr —
to penetrate these groups, their Signal chats and their operations like
a digital Avengers squad. 

BLUE STATE ICE FACILITY RAMPS UP SECURITY WITH NEW BARRICADES AMID
CLASHES WITH PROTESTERS 

According to Fox News Digital's analysis, the network behind the Delaney
Hall protests includes about 100 groups, some of them big names like the
ACLU, Indivisible and Democratic Socialists of America. Together, these
organizations report collective annual revenues of about $825 million,
approximately equal to the annual budget of Newark. The groups didn't
respond to requests for comment. 

About 70 of the groups have received special designations as charities
by the IRS, have status as regular 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) nonprofits,
as well as labor union 501(c)(5) and 501(c)(6) nonprofits, enjoying
tax-deductible donations and certain tax-free benefits. In recent
months, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and lawmakers on the House Ways
and Means Committee, the House Judiciary Committee and the House
Oversight Committee have launched investigations into the alleged abuse
of nonprofit laws to instigate conflict, sow discord and even inspire
political violence. 

The Delaneny network — which one expert calls the "Delaney Hall 100" —
message around shared language assembled in a strategic communications
document, called the "Delaney Hall Creator Brief," which Fox News
Digital obtained from X user @b----uneedsoap. The strategy document
directs content creators to call the detention center a "concentration
camp" and label detainees "imprisoned prisoners" and "captives." It
tells activists to eschew saying detainees were arrested, but rather
assert they were "kidnapped/abducted/taken." 

https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/06/2026-05-29
_delaney_hall_creator_brief.pdf 

Their tactics mirror the system deployed in Minneapolis earlier this
year to protest ICE actions, and military experts say the operations
resemble the tactics of an insurgency. 

"We should be very concerned about the Delaney Hall 100," said Chuck
Flint, a nonprofit expert and former U.S. Senate chief of staff.
"Protests like the kind we're seeing outside Delaney Hall are not
organic protests. These are manufactured strategic, calculated endeavors
by an army of nonprofits meant to push subversive activity. These groups
generate annual revenues greater than many of the cities in which they
protest. They act like military battalions with the ability to overwhelm
a city's public safety resources." 

"It's David vs. Goliath," said Flint, who is also a former state
prosecutor. 

INSURGENCY TACTICS TO HINDER ICE 

Last weekend, Fox News Digital spotlighted a series of far-left groups
that self-identify as socialist, Marxist and communist blending in with
immigrant groups. They included Democratic Socialists of America, the
U.S. Revolutionary Communist Party, Speak Out Socialist, Refuse Fascism,
Freedom Road Socialists Organization, Freedom Socialist Party and the
Black Panthers. 

Fox News Digital observed tents stocked with respirators, goggles,
protective pads, decontamination supplies and other protest-support
equipment. 

Late last Saturday, controversial Marxist influencer Hasan Piker arrived
at the protests for a quick walk-through, wearing a pink gas mask. He
told Fox News Digital that he was there to advocate for the demands of
the detainees inside, remaining on the scene for less than 30 minutes
before driving off. 

Later, he responded to Fox News Digital's images of the tents filled
with riot-gear provisions and called the supplies "mutual aid." 

The preparations for protests Wednesday night offer a window into how
the organizations motivate, coordinate, mobilize, focus and discipline
their foot soldiers. 

By 1:17 p.m., a user, "Pete InDC," shared a video outside the detention
facility, with a car honking nonstop and "ICE OUT" drawn in chalk on
Doremus Avenue. 

"Come on down!" wrote "Pete InDC."

AGITATORS OUTSIDE DELANEY HALL SET UP ORGANIZED LOGISTICS OPERATION
BEFORE NEWARK PROTESTS BEGAN 

At 1:29 p.m., "yarrow" asked, "any car pools from nyc today? or any
medics coming from nyc?" 

By 1:46 p.m., others asked if one of the main protest organizers,
Cosesha, approved the protest, and yet others started organizing
transportation, parking and tents, as if they were headed to a concert. 

"Tamale" asked "so if we do go should we be bringing supplies or only
rallying? do ppl need water." 

By 2:11 p.m., when "Durga" asked for others to "like" the message if
they were on Doremus Avenue, another user — "tiny" — admonished "Durga,"
warning "please don't self id in the chat," adding "or ask others to." 

Often these organizations speak their own language, for example,
compiling "otg" — or "on the ground" — intelligence. 

At 3:08 p.m., "Jay D" asked, "Is anyone otg and can give a report?"

FEDERAL AGENTS IN NEW JERSEY BEAT BACK ANTI-ICE AGITATORS IN CHAOS
OUTSIDE DELANEY HALL DETENTION FACILITY 

Quickly, the communications moved into a very serious preparation for a
showdown with law enforcement authorities. 

By 4:07 p.m., "Mason D" offered to bring "sudecon wipes for help with
pepper spray/tear gas attacks, multiple sets of protective pads for
elbows/knees, electrolytes" and "non-ventilated goggles." Sudecon wipes
are specialized decontamination towelettes designed to neutralize and
remove chemical defense sprays like pepper spray and tear gas. 

Behind the scenes, months, or even years, of coordination precede these
events. This past weekend's violent mobilization came after about a year
of quieter activism by local groups. 

In late May, hundreds of detainees launched a hunger and labor strike,
igniting a wider network of advocacy organizations, legal groups, faith
leaders, community organizers, elected officials and national nonprofits
that quickly mobilized around the facility. 

Within days, congressional delegations were demanding access,
rapid-response networks were coordinating demonstrations across New
Jersey, and the issue had become a national political story. 

Fox News Digital found that many of the organizations active today had
spent years building coalitions, communications networks, funding
relationships and rapid-response infrastructure before the current
protests began. 

BLUE STATE POLITICAL BATTLE INTENSIFIES AFTER DEM MAYOR'S ARREST AT ICE

The origins of the Delaney Hall 100 can be traced to February 2025 when
GEO Group Inc., a federal contractor, said that it would reopen Delaney
Hall in Newark as a federal immigration detention facility under a
long-term contract with ICE. The facility, near Newark Liberty
International Airport, had previously housed immigration detainees
before closing in 2017. 

In April 2025, the City of Newark filed legal challenges against the
reopening, arguing that the facility had begun operations without
required permits and inspections. Democratic Mayor Ras Baraka publicly
opposed the project and made Delaney Hall a central issue in his ongoing
dispute with federal immigration authorities and private detention
contractors. 

Around then, a small group of local activists began gathering outside
the facility. According to accounts from participants, one activist
started visiting Delaney Hall alone in the days before detainees
arrived, distributing flyers to employees and raising concerns about
immigration detention. Within days, two additional activists joined.
What began as an informal vigil evolved into a regular presence outside
the facility. 

RIOTS 

Those early gatherings became the foundation for what would later be
known as "Eyes on ICE NJ." 

Throughout the spring and summer of 2025, the coalition expanded.
Members of "NJ Peace Action," "Pax Christi New Jersey," "Sisters of St.
Joseph of Peace," "First Friends of New Jersey and New York" and other
faith and activist organizations began participating in regular vigils
and support activities. 

The first major direct-action protest occurred on May 14, 2025, when
clergy associated with Faith in New Jersey and several Unitarian
Universalist congregations blocked the facility's main entrance. 

By the fall of 2025, multiple organizations had established an ongoing
presence around the detention center. 

The movement surrounding Delaney Hall largely operates through three
overlapping coalitions. 

The first, "Eyes on ICE NJ," grew from the daily vigils outside the
facility. Its members focus on monitoring activity at the detention
center, supporting visiting families, documenting conditions and
maintaining a public presence outside the gates, engaging in narrative
warfare, sharing family stories with the media, putting family members
in front of microphones and giving lawmakers the constituent case
studies to bolster their arguments with federal officials. 

The second, "ICE Out of NJ," functions as a broader mobilization and
legislative campaign. It brings together immigrant-rights organizations,
rapid-response networks, labor-aligned groups and direct-action
activists to oppose detention expansion and immigration enforcement
policies. 

The third, New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, functions as a
coalition umbrella linking about 59 member organizations across the
state. Its membership includes legal advocacy organizations, labor
allies, immigrant-rights groups, faith-based organizations and community
organizing networks. 

observation, media outreach, community support and personal narratives,
while the other concentrates on mobilization, political pressure and
statewide organizing, and the other focuses on the immigration issue. 

Understanding the power of the Delaney Hall network requires following
the nonprofit funding streams that sustain many of its major
participants, including big Democratic donors like Open Society
Foundations and NEO Philanthropies, that act as a source of support for
some of the network's influential participants. 

SENATOR CALLS OUT ‘GRASSROOTS’ ANTI-ICE GROUPS, URGES DOJ INVESTIGATION
INTO ‘COORDINATED NATIONAL OPERATION' 

During the Delaney Hall controversy, elected officials including
Democratic Sen. Andy Kim, Sen. Cory Booker, New Jersey Gov. Mikie
Sherrill, Rep. LaMonica McIver, Rep. Rob Menendez and others have become
highly visible participants in the debate. But the protesters have also
turned on them, with Indivisible organizing a protest at Sherrill's
office on Monday and Democratic Socialists of America demonstrating
outside the offices of New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport on
Tuesday. 

While Fox News Digital has been able to compile the list of
organizations that make up the Delaney Hall 100, most of the network's
work remains secretive. 

"Most everything is concealed from the ground up to their identities in
Signal chat rooms, their funding and names of the people on the streets
and their leaders," said Flint, the nonprofit expert. "They know what
they are doing is wrong. They don't want you to know who is in charge.
They have masks on. They don't want you to know anything about their
organizations, their people. They are flipping the rules. They shout to
masks." 

"They use nonprofit status as a sword and a shield," said Flint. "They
use it to take advantage of all the rules and then when they get in
trouble they use it to protect themselves." 

That tension has emerged in recent days as the protests have turned
violent with more radical elements of the Delaney Hall 100 emerging with
makeshift shields and swords. 

By 4:31 p.m., an anonymous Signal user, using the "sqeek" moniker,
shared a "MEDIC DONATIONS" list that experts said resembled one that
would be prepared for a military operation, often identified by the
mask filters," "3M 60923," "Goggles — shatterproof, without vents or
foam edges (ANSI 87.1 or MIL-PREF 32432)." 

"Sqeek" punctuated the message with the emoji of a muscular flexed arm.

On cue, agitators, many of them far-left white protesters clad in the
black-and-white checkered Palestinian scarf called a keffiyeh, started
trickling onto Doremus Avenue in front of Delaney Hall around 8 p.m.
last night, sharing their commuting and parking woes in their Signal
chat. 

At 9:42 p.m., one agitator, behind barriers, shouted, "This is what
counterinsurgency looks like!" 

And then, at 9:47 p.m., as if reading off the communications strategy
script, directing the groups to call Delaney Hall a "concentration
camp," another protester yelled at the mostly minority Newark police
officers and the other law enforcement authorities, her voice breaking:
"You work for a concentration camp! You work for a concentration camp!
Quit your job!" 

"Kill yourself!" a man added, as the group broke into a chant, "Quit
your job! Quit your job!" 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/secret-signal-chats-reveal-how-anti-ice-
agitators-coordinated-newark-riots