The Nevada Attorney General’s Office, under Attorney General Aaron Ford, has acknowledged that it provided inaccurate information in court regarding the Department of Motor Vehicles’ use of the encrypted messaging app Signal in communications involving federal immigration officials.
The admission came in a supplemental legal filing in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, which is seeking records related to the DMV’s cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In earlier discovery responses and during a February hearing, attorneys from the Attorney General’s Office represented that the DMV did not use Signal to conduct official business. According to a subsequent filing, those statements were “believed to be accurate at the time they were made” but later proved to be incorrect based on additional information learned after the Feb. 6, 2025, hearing.
The ACLU filed suit last year to determine the extent of communication between the DMV and ICE. Nevada is one of 19 states and the District of Columbia that issue identification cards to illegal aliens.
Court filings reveal that DMV enforcement officers participate in the U.S. Marshals Service Southern Nevada Violent Crime Offenders Task Force, which used Signal to communicate while tracking violent fugitives. J.D. Decker, chief of the DMV’s Compliance Division, stated that to his knowledge, DMV officers have not used Signal to communicate with ICE outside of that task force and have not engaged in immigration enforcement.
He also wrote that there are no records of the task force’s communications with ICE.
Earlier this month, Carson District Judge Kristin Luis ordered the DMV to produce public records and department policies requested in the lawsuit after determining that prior responses were heavily redacted or incomplete.
ACLU of Nevada Executive Director Athar Haseebullah called on the state to release the requested records and clarify the full scope of communications.
The case remains pending in Carson City District Court.
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