Summary

The FBI is investigating a surge of anonymous racist and offensive text messages targeting Latino, Black, and LGBTQ communities following last week’s election.

Messages have included threats of deportation, re-education camps, or being forced into plantation labor.

While no violence has resulted, the texts, sent via services like TextNow, have prompted collaboration between the FBI, DOJ Civil Rights Division, and local authorities.

Advocacy groups like LULAC and the NAACP condemned the harassment, citing it as a troubling resurgence of hate rhetoric emboldened by recent political developments.