Leaked Data Shows Canadian Organizer Seeded Fundraising as Citizen Researchers Identify Over 10,000 Donors
When Americans think about immigration enforcement, they might imagine it’s a simple matter of federal agents doing their jobs and local residents having mixed feelings about it. But a massive data leak from Minneapolis is revealing something much more organized and much more troubling.
Investigative researchers have exposed what they’re calling “Signalgate,” a coordinated network of encrypted Signal chat groups that tracked ICE agents’ movements in Minnesota while directing millions of dollars in funding from donors around the world. The first donation to the campaign came from a Canadian community organizer, raising immediate questions about foreign influence in American law enforcement matters.
Following the Money Trail
Conservative journalist Cam Higby infiltrated several Signal chat groups in Minneapolis that activists were using to coordinate responses to Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. What he found inside those chats led to a much bigger discovery. Resource documents shared within the groups directed donors to a website called “Stand with Minnesota,” which funneled money through an organization called “Tending the Soil” on the crowdfunding platform Chuffed.
The very first donation to this fundraising campaign came from Jonny Soppotiuk, identified as a Canada-based community organizer who is part of Chuffed’s leadership and specializes in fundraising. For conservatives who value American sovereignty and the rule of law, this raises a fundamental question: why is a foreign national appearing to seed a campaign to obstruct U.S. federal law enforcement?
Data researcher “DataRepublican” downloaded and analyzed the complete donor list, creating a spreadsheet identifying more than 10,000 individual donations. The data shows at least 218 donations came from foreign sources, according to flags in the leaked dataset.
The total campaign has reportedly raised over $590,000, with the USD portion alone exceeding $294,000.
Who Is Behind Tending the Soil?
Tending the Soil describes itself as an alignment of five Minneapolis-area organizations focused on worker and tenant organizing in communities of color.
The coalition includes Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL), Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia, The New Justice Project, SEIU Local 26, and Unidos MN. These groups have received significant government funding, including a $1.5 million Minnesota state grant and a $250,000 forgivable loan from Minneapolis for their “Rise Up Center” project.
Taxpayer dollars are supporting organizations that appear to be simultaneously raising private funds to obstruct federal law enforcement operations.
Political Connections Under Scrutiny
The leaked Signal chat logs have drawn attention to possible connections with Minnesota political figures. Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan was suspected by some researchers of operating under the alias “Flan Southside” in the Signal chats, though her office has forcefully denied these claims. State Representative Alex Falconer, a Democrat, publicly acknowledged participating in Signal networks used to organize “community responses” to ICE activity.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced Monday that the bureau opened an investigation into the Signal chat groups, sying:
“We immediately opened up that investigation, because that sort of Signal chat – being coordinated with individuals not just locally in Minnesota, but maybe even around the country – if that leads to a break in the federal statute or a violation of some law, then we are going to arrest people.”
Critics of the investigation worry about First Amendment implications. But as Patel noted, there’s a clear difference between peaceful protest and coordinated efforts that potentially endanger federal officers.
He said:
“You cannot create a scenario that illegally entraps and puts law enforcement in harm’s way.”
The distinction matters when chat groups are sharing license plate numbers and real-time locations of federal agents conducting enforcement operations.
What Happens Next
The FBI investigation is underway and will determine whether coordinating to track and potentially impede federal officers crossed legal lines. DataRepublican has indicated that law enforcement received a more complete, “less sanitized” version of the donor database with screenshots of social media profiles linked to each donation.
Meanwhile, the leaked data continues to circulate online, and more researchers are digging through the Signal chat logs and donor information. Some donors have reportedly deleted their social media profiles, though researchers claim to have already archived screenshots.
For conservatives watching, the message is clear: immigration enforcement has become a flashpoint where organized networks are willing to coordinate across state lines and international borders to obstruct federal operations. The question now is whether authorities will treat this as protected speech or as something that crossed the line into obstruction of justice.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. This article was written with the assistance of AI. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
