The FBI warned law enforcement agencies that a small group of women was allegedly creating fake dating profiles using "tradwife" imagery to attract immigration officers, identify them and publish their personal information online, according to an internal February 2026 memo obtained by Property of the People and shared with The Guardian.
The FBI's Chicago office said that, as of late January, women were allegedly creating profiles featuring a "traditional wife" aesthetic and carefully selected interests designed to appeal to law enforcement personnel.
Their alleged objective was to lure officers into online or in-person encounters before they were "publicly exposed and doxed online," potentially causing embarrassment and discouraging immigration enforcement, The Guardian reports.
The bureau provided little evidence for the warning and the memo did not identify dating platforms, locations or individuals involved, nor did it say whether any officers had actually been deceived or doxed. It described its contents as "not finally evaluated intelligence" derived from a "collaborative source."
The alert followed social-media posts and a New York Post report describing women discussing efforts to date and expose ICE agents, although that reporting provided no evidence that an agent had actually fallen for such a scheme. It did not mention the "tradwife" tactic.
"It's absurd the FBI issued a thinly-sourced security alert about ICE agents' online dating troubles," Property of the People executive director Ryan Shapiro told The Guardian. Former FBI agent and civil-liberties advocate Mike German similarly questioned the absence of citations or sourcing in the briefing.
The document is part of a broader series of FBI and law-enforcement warnings about threats and doxing targeting immigration personnel. Records obtained by Property of the People in late 2025 showed the FBI had opened criminal and domestic-terrorism investigations involving threats to immigration enforcement across at least 23 regions.
The issue has continued to intersect with disputes over how incidents involving immigration agents are investigated. In July, CBS News reported that FBI field offices received guidance directing Homeland Security Investigations, an ICE component, to take the lead on assault cases involving DHS personnel, including some agent-involved shootings.
Justice Department and DHS officials publicly denied that such a policy change had occurred, while CBS News said it reviewed internal emails describing the shift.
The FBI told The Guardian that it routinely shares intelligence to protect law enforcement personnel, while DHS has argued that publishing officers' identities can endanger them and their families.
