MINNEAPOLIS — U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen announced federal charges against 15 individuals in Minneapolis on June 16, 2026. The charges are related to protest activities during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in the city.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the arrests. The DHS cited conversations on the Signal encrypted messaging application as evidence in the case. Volunteers in Minnesota had participated in rapid response networks, monitoring and reporting the presence of federal immigration agents by recording vehicle license plate numbers.

All 15 individuals named in the indictment face charges of conspiracy to impede or injure an officer. Some of the indicted individuals also face additional charges, including solicitation to commit a crime of violence and destruction of government property. Several of the accused individuals had court appearances on Tuesday.

A federal indictment mentions conversations spanning more than a dozen Signal groups and refers to over 100 specific messages. The indictment includes transcripts of group messages, voicemails, text messages, Signal direct messages, and Signal calls. It also states that two of the defendants exchanged approximately 20 connected Signal calls. The Homeland Security Investigations unit of ICE was involved in the investigation. FBI Director Kash Patel stated in a podcast interview that federal law enforcement had begun an investigation into individuals in Minnesota who used Signal groups to share information about immigration agents.

The Signal application, developed by the Signal Foundation, utilizes end-to-end encryption and minimizes metadata collection. The application allows users to configure messages to automatically expire within various timeframes. While disappearing messages delete content, they do not remove metadata indicating that communications occurred. On iPhones, the Signal application integrates its call history into the device's standard call log by default. Authorities have previously recovered deleted incoming Signal messages in a separate case by using archived push notifications on iPhones. A recent iPhone software update addresses the issue of push notifications archiving deleted messages.

No independent assessment of U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen’s claims was available.