--- title: "ICE Agents Accidentally Add Random Person to Group Chat, Uncover Highly Sensitive Data" description: "404 Media confirmed that ICE agents accidentally added a total rando to an insecure mass text containing sensitive information." date: "2025-08-17" modified: "2025-08-17" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ice-agents-add-random-person-group-chat" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "ice" - "immigration" - "Law enforcement" - "the digest" --- # ICE Agents Accidentally Add Random Person to Group Chat, Uncover Highly Sensitive Data ![]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Mass Text US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents accidentally added a random person to a mass group text in which officers from multiple federal law enforcement agencies discussed extremely sensitive information about arrests, targets, and strategy. As [*404 Media* reports](), the group text was titled "Mass Text" and included an unredacted ICE document titled "Field Operations Worksheet." The document included "detailed information" about the person the agency was searching for: a convicted attempted murderer who agents were seeking to find and deport. The texts also revealed that agents were drawing on resources like DMV data and license plate readers to aid their search. "At first I thought it was just another series of spam messages like I get all the time from home improvement, car insurance, business loans, etc," the unnamed person who was added to the chat, who isn't in law enforcement in any capacity, told *404 Media.* "Then I saw the rap sheet and license plate numbers and was like WTAF." It's one thing for an everyday citizen to accidentally send a birthday invite to the wrong number. But these are federal agents imbued with a [massive amount of power and money]() who, as they push to meet impossible deportation quotas, have made a series of alarming errors — ranging from adding random numbers to group chats to deporting the [wrong people](), [kids allegedly included](). "This breach strikes me as indicative of the current carelessness of officers," an unnamed Department of Homeland Security official told *404*. "They're concerned about pumping up arrest numbers, not about operating with the level of care and rigor we should expect from law enforcement officials." ## Untitled Chat The incident echoes the Signal scandal from earlier this year, in which US Secretary of Defense and former *Fox News* personality [Pete Hegseth]() shared sensitive war plans in a group chat that [included *The Atlantic* editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg](). Goldberg was mistakenly added to the confidential chat by then-National Security Advisor Michael Waltz. In this case, though, there's one major glaring difference. While the Signal scandal was hugely embarrassing and certainly not up to the security standards required at that level of government, it at least took place over a service that offers end-to-end encryption. The ICE chat, in contrast, occurred over regular old Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages, which is [a much less secure ]()way for law enforcement agents of the federal government to yap about DMV data and deportation targets. **More on ICE:** [*ICE Deletes Post About Stopping the Flow of Illegal "Ideas"*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()