Hacker group releases data for 41,000 federal immigration workers

More than 41,000 Department of Homeland Security employees may have had their personal details exposed online. A hacktivist group known as the Department of Peace posted a searchable database to the website Distributed Denial of Secrets late Wednesday. The file includes employee names, office locations, contact information, and job assignments for staff across multiple federal agencies.

The group claims the data was stolen from an Okta single sign-on service used by the Department of Homeland Security. The database covers personnel from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Customs and Border Protection, and the DHS headquarters. Okta has not yet responded to requests for comment regarding the breach.

Distributed Denial of Secrets stated that the list is not exhaustive. Emma Best, a cofounder of the organization, said the leak targets specific individuals rather than every employee. "Rather than an indiscriminate directory of every DHS employee, Icepick identifies many of the architects and drivers of DHS policy and operations," Best said.

The Department of Homeland Security told the Washington Post that it is aware of a potential breach. The agency added that it is working to address the situation swiftly and effectively. DHS has not responded directly to requests for comment on the specific data set.

The hacker group said the release was a reaction to comments made by DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. On July 17, Mullin reportedly said that ICE would be turning up the heat on the streets by intensifying immigration arrests and traffic stops. The group framed the data leak as a response to that policy shift.

The department has completed 980,000 deportations in the first 18 months of President Donald Trump's second term, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Backlash against these enforcement efforts has grown as video footage shows ICE agents using physical force during operations.