The Department of Homeland Security has not kept text message data from top officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, since April, according to a nonprofit watchdog group.
In a July 23 letter, Homeland Security’s public records office denied a request from nonprofit watchdog group American Oversight seeking records related to the National Guard deployment in Los Angeles in June, claiming that “text message data generated after April 9, 2025, is no longer maintained.”
American Oversight had requested all messages received and sent by DHS officials related to Donald Trump’s deployment of 4,000 National Guard troops to the city in response to protests against immigration raids at several Southern California workplaces.
The group also submitted a public records request on August 21, this time looking for text messages surrounding Florida’s new immigrant detention center Alligator Alcatraz.
Within two hours, DHS reportedly responded to the nonprofit “with a categorical ‘no records’ determination” and claimed it “no longer has the capability to conduct a search of text messages.”
Under the Federal Records Act of 1950, all federal agencies are required to maintain all records that document government operations and transactions. Agencies are required to make these records available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), though there are several exemptions.
The responses from DHS indicate officials have stopped maintaining internal communications, which would be a violation of federal law, according to American Oversight director Chioma Chukwu.
“DHS’s admissions are as alarming as they are unacceptable,” Chukwu said in a statement. “It appears the Trump administration has learned nothing from Signalgate about its obligation to retain the text communications of senior officials, and Secretary Noem is no exception.”
American Oversight also noted the first instance of a public records request being rejected seemed to have happened around the time of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s wrongful deportation.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadorian national, was mistakenly deported to a notorious mega-prison in his home country in March. He was imprisoned inside the brutal Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, for nearly a month before he was moved to another jail and then abruptly returned to the United States in June to face a criminal indictment in Tennessee, despite Trump administration officials repeatedly stating that he would never be allowed back to the country.
“DHS officials were engaged in significant internal discussions during this period about compliance with the Supreme Court’s orders — including through text messages — raising serious concerns that the agency’s failure to preserve or produce these records may have shielded critical communications from oversight and accountability,” the nonprofit said.
American Oversight went on to slam the DHS for its “new position,” which they say “suggests that critical records may not be preserved or accessible for lawful oversight, leaving the public in the dark about decisions with sweeping consequences for civil rights and public safety.”
A senior DHS official told The Independent that American Oversight’s report was “a non-story.”
“TeleMessage is not the exclusive means of preserving text data on Department-issued phones, nor is it the only way to meet the requirements of the Federal Records Act or the Freedom of Information Act,” the official said. “DHS has maintained and will continue to maintain records of phone data — including text messages — through established processes and systems.”
It was not immediately clear what the official was referring to in terms of “TeleMessage.”
A copy of American Oversight’s public records request indicated that the nonprofit requested text messages and messages on platforms like Signal, Slack, WhatsApp and other platforms.
“This is a non-story. The premise is false and the speculation from ‘experts’ is reckless,” according to DHS.
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