Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials, including a CBP officer who was on the scene when another officer shot a U.S. citizen, are using a free walkie talkie app called Zello to coordinate their operations, 404 Media has found.The findings give insight into the sort of technology that ICE and CBP are relying on during the Trump administration\u2019s ongoing mass deportation effort. Zello was previously criticized for allowing at least two January 6 insurrectionists who broke into the Capitol to coordinate on the app that day, and for hosting hundreds of far-right channels.404 Media reviewed multiple pieces of bodycam footage from Chicago which showed CBP officials using the app. We also confirmed that multiple Zello user accounts on the app are associated with ICE email addresses, with some usernames containing acronyms such as ERO, which stands for ICE\u2019s Enforcement and Removal Operations, and verified that multiple ICE group channels exist on the platform. Some of these channels have names mentioning immigration operations, \u201csurveillance,\u201d and \u201cstrike team.\u201dZello is a smartphone app that acts much like a push-to-talk walkie-talkie. Users can communicate directly with one another, or create and join larger channels with groups of participants. On its website, the app claims to have 5 million active monthly users. The app offers a free version that anyone can download and start using, and a paid \u201cZello Work\u201d option which has more features.Screenshots of the bodycam footage, via this upload.In October, Border Patrol agent Charles Exum shot Marimar Martinez, a Chicagoan and U.S. citizen, five times. Initially, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claimed Martinez tried to ram agents with her car and authorities indicted her. Prosecutors dropped those charges in November. Since then, Martinez\u2019s lawyers have pushed for more evidence in the case to be released, including bodycam footage that directly undercut the DHS\u2019s narrative.In one clip, Exum is seen driving a vehicle. \u201cWe are boxed in,\u201d agents say in the clip. Exum then dramatically swings the steering wheel left then right, causing the crash. Exum then steps out of the vehicle with his weapon. Another officer in the backset, whose bodycam the footage comes from, then picks up a mobile phone.\u00a0\u201cBe advised, we\u2019ve been struck, we\u2019ve been struck,\u201d the officer says into the phone. Exum is then heard firing the five shots at Martinez.\u00a0In the body camera footage, the user interface of the app on the phone in Exum\u2019s vehicle clearly matches that of Zello. Members of a radio enthusiast forum also saw the phone was running Zello.Zello was also present in another clip from Chicago. Following 404 Media\u2019s reporting on Mobile Fortify, ICE\u2019s facial recognition for verifying someone\u2019s citizenship, CNN found a clip from Chicago where an officer is using two mobile phones. One of those clearly shows the Zello interface.\u00a0404 Media found many accounts on the Zello app are registered to users with official ice@dhs.gov email addresses. Group channels on the app also reference ICE or similar activity. They include ones with names containing ERO\u201d and \u201cHSI,\u201d referencing ERO and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the section of ICE usually focused on criminal investigations but which has largely been roped in to perform immigration enforcement. Others mention immigration operations.\u00a0Neither ICE nor Zello responded to a request for comment. CBP acknowledged a request for comment but did not provide a response in time for publication.On the Media and MilitiaWatch previously showed how Zello was a recruitment and organizing tool for the far right. They also found Zello\u2019s leadership resisted calls to enforce its own terms of service, including those which prohibit \u201cviolent extremist ideologies.\u201d In January 2021, Zello deleted more than 2,000 channels in response to that and further reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"