Encrypted Messaging Apps for Community-Based Response to Immigration Enforcement

Since Donald Trump’s second presidential term, individuals have used encrypted messaging apps to build rapid response networks that protect immigrants in their communities. These networks mobilize residents to identify ICE vehicles and report them, respond to and document ICE activities, educate their communities, gather mutual aid. Grounded in the Situational Theory of Problem Solving (STOPS) and the Social Identity Model of Collective Action (SIMCA), I conducted in-depth interviews with individuals in these rapid response networks along the California Central Coast to explore their participation in the networks, their motivations, their perceptions of encrypted messaging apps, and their attitudes toward the risks involved with this form of activism. A thematic analysis revealed that individuals are motivated by a sense of responsibility towards their immigrant neighbors and utilize the safety features of Signal to enable varying responses towards immigration enforcement.