LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — The ACLU of Nevada is suing the state Department of Motor Vehicles, raising concerns over its alleged use of the encrypted messaging app Signal to communicate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The ACLU announced a lawsuit against the Nevada DMV for what it calls violations of the Nevada Public Records Act regarding communications and cooperation between the department and ICE.
During a news conference Friday, ACLU officials cited a reference to a Signal group chat in heavily redacted records received by the organization. Signal is a publicly available chat app that offers encrypted communications. Sadmira Ramic, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Nevada, called the references “concerning.”
“[It] begs the question of why is this being used in the first place, if it is being used?” Ramic said.
ACLU officials also pointed to what they described as a lack of transparency.
“We have made multiple requests to the DMV to get information on how they are communicating with ICE … and we were stonewalled at each way,” Ramic said. “Initially, they did not want to turn over any records. They indicated that they were not public records to be turned over.”
After sending a demand letter, ACLU officials said they received partial records that were heavily redacted.
“It is not clear to us why much of the material and many of the items were so heavily redacted,” said Athar Haseebullah, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada.
The lawsuit seeks full disclosure of communications between the DMV and ICE, along with the release of any Signal group chat history. If none exists, ACLU officials want a public explanation for its reference in the records. Additionally, they are calling for an independent state investigation and a disclosure by Gov. Joe Lombardo on any cooperation between ICE and the DMV.
FOX5 reached out to the DMV of Nevada and to Gov. Lombardo’s office for comment on the lawsuit.
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