Leaked Signal Chats Reveal Network Behind Newark ICE Riots
A Fox News Digital investigation has uncovered leaked Signal chat messages revealing detailed coordination among anti-ICE agitators who organized violent protests outside the Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. The encrypted communications show activists using secret monikers to coordinate logistics, supplies, and messaging strategy, with the unrest fueled by a network of approximately 100 organizations boasting combined annual revenues of roughly $825 million.
Background: The Delaney Hall Flashpoint
Delaney Hall, a detention facility near Newark Liberty International Airport, was reopened in February 2025 by GEO Group Inc. under a long-term contract with ICE after being closed since 2017. The facility has become a national flashpoint for President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies. In April 2025, the City of Newark filed legal challenges against the reopening, with Democratic Mayor Ras Baraka publicly opposing the project.
Tensions escalated dramatically in late May 2026 when hundreds of detainees launched a hunger and labor strike, igniting a wider network of advocacy organizations. Violent clashes erupted on May 27, leading to dozens of arrests, and by June 3, an activation signal on social media called protesters to swarm the facility.
The “Delaney Hall 100” Network
According to Fox News Digital’s analysis, the network behind the protests includes about 100 groups — dubbed the “Delaney Hall 100” — featuring prominent organizations such as the ACLU, Indivisible, and the Democratic Socialists of America. Together, these groups report collective annual revenues of approximately $825 million, roughly equal to the annual budget of Newark itself.
About 70 of these organizations hold IRS designations as 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5), or 501(c)(6) nonprofits, enjoying tax-deductible donation status. The New York Post confirmed the findings, noting that major Democratic donors including Open Society Foundations and NEO Philanthropies have been identified as sources of support for network participants.
Coordinated Through Encrypted Channels
The investigation obtained access to secret Signal chat groups where activists employed monikers like “framed.unrest,” “Wicked Something,” and “Pete InDC” to coordinate operations. Messages revealed organized logistics including 3M 8246 respirators, gas mask filters, shatterproof goggles, sudecon wipes for pepper spray decontamination, protective pads, and electrolytes.
A strategic communications document called the “Delaney Hall Creator Brief” directed activists to label the detention center a “concentration camp” and detainees as “imprisoned prisoners” and “captives.” The document instructed activists to avoid saying detainees were arrested, instead asserting they were “kidnapped/abducted/taken.”
Expert and Official Reactions
Chuck Flint, a nonprofit expert and former U.S. Senate chief of staff, told Fox News Digital: “We should be very concerned about the Delaney Hall 100. 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.”
Flint added that these groups “act like military battalions with the ability to overwhelm a city’s public safety resources” and “use nonprofit status as a sword and a shield.”
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) had called for a DOJ investigation in February 2026, citing evidence of a “coordinated national operation supported by layered nonprofit pass-through entities.” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed multiple investigations into funding networks, noting that similar patterns emerged in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Contrasting Perspectives
While Fox News and the New York Post frame the protests as a well-funded, coordinated operation, progressive outlets like Truthout have offered a contrasting view, focusing on detainee conditions and ICE retaliation. Truthout reported that ICE agents used chemical agents on detainees inside the facility on May 28, with organizer Li Adorno of Cosecha New Jersey describing the actions as “retaliation for the organizing, for the freedom of speech.”
Detention Watch Network released a statement noting that “a shocking 18 people have died in ICE custody this calendar year — and 49 people total have died under this administration.”
Local outlet NJ Urban News provided neutral coverage of dueling pro-ICE and anti-ICE rallies on May 30, documenting approximately 75 pro-ICE supporters and 200 anti-ICE demonstrators, with no violence reported.
Congressional Investigations
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee, House Judiciary Committee, and House Oversight Committee have launched investigations into alleged abuse of nonprofit laws to instigate conflict and political violence. The DOJ has confirmed ongoing investigations into the funding networks supporting the protests.
What’s Next
The situation at Delaney Hall remains volatile, with the detainee hunger strike ongoing and protests continuing to escalate. The leaked Signal chats have provided unprecedented insight into the organizational structure behind the unrest, raising questions about the role of nonprofit funding in political activism and the boundaries of lawful protest.