Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is urging the Justice Department to open a formal investigation into what he describes as well-funded and professionally coordinated anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement demonstrations that he says are posing public safety and national security risks.
In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday, Hawley argued that recent protests against federal immigration enforcement aren’t spontaneous or decentralized, but reflect “a coordinated national operation” backed by opaque funding networks, nonprofit organizations, and “short-lived ‘grassroots’ fronts” designed to obscure donor identities.
It’s time for a full DOJ investigation into the left wing dark money groups funding “grassroots protests” across the nation 👉 pic.twitter.com/yoTimAwCsG
&mdah; Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) February 3, 2026
“Recent reporting indicates that these protests are neither spontaneous nor decentralized,” Hawley wrote. “Instead, they reflect a coordinated national operation supported by layered nonprofit pass-through entities, fiscal sponsorship arrangements, and short-lived ‘grassroots’ fronts designed to obscure donor identity, funding sources, and operational control.”
Hawley said the similarities in protests across American cities, uniform messaging, and logistical coordination in Minneapolis, Portland, and parts of California point to centralized planning that may cross legal lines. He warned that if foreign groups are linked to the funding streams, the activity could violate federal prohibitions on foreign influence and potentially amount to racketeering.
Citing public-safety and national-security implications, Hawley urged the DOJ to promptly open a full investigation. The department did not respond to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment Tuesday.
Hawley’s letter comes as senior DOJ officials have publicly linked recent anti-ICE unrest to potentially broader criminal activity that is already under federal inquiry. Todd Blanche said on Fox News’s The Ingraham Angle that federal investigators are in the process of investigating what he described as a “massive underground fraud network” in Minneapolis that appeared to pivot rapidly into organized opposition to immigration enforcement.
“We had a massive fraud going on all through Minneapolis, all through Minnesota, and suddenly it turned,” Blanche said Monday on Fox News. “It became suddenly all about ICE, all about getting ICE out.”
Blanche said investigators are making progress tracing financial streams tied to the alleged network and emphasized that following the money is now a priority.
“It’s not just a coincidence that these massive numbers of protesters and agitators show up at the same time,” he said.
As Republicans like Hawley raise concerns about a potentially robust financial and organizational structure behind anti-ICE activity, Democratic state leaders are also moving to formalize close monitoring of immigration enforcement operations.
Separately on Tuesday, Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that her office will deploy state-trained legal observers to document federal immigration enforcement activity in the state. The program will send observers wearing purple safety vests to reported locations of immigration enforcement to record interactions between ICE agents and civilians.
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James’s office said the initiative is intended to ensure transparency and compliance with the law. The observers are not authorized to interfere with operations, but will act as witnesses to federal activity.
James’s approach mirrors tactics deployed by activists during recent enforcement operations in Minneapolis, where individuals have been using Signal group chats to coordinate staking out ICE vehicles, tracking agent movements, and positioning themselves close to officers during arrests and searches.
