The FBI on Friday said reports of racist and offensive text messages sent from anonymous phone numbers are now being sent to members of Latino and LGBTQ communities.
“Some recipients reported being told they were selected for deportation or to report to a re-education camp,” the agency said.
The FBI is investigating previous reports of dozens of racist texts sent to Black Americans telling them they have been “selected" to pick cotton "at the nearest plantation" immediately following last week's election.
The FBI said the messages have not led to violence.
The agency is working with local authorities and the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and asked people to remain vigilant and report any such texts to authorities.
The CEO of LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens), Juan Proaño, said the latest texts remind him of the group's purpose.
"We started because of this racism," he said in an interview. "People forget. It's sad to find us back to where we were in some cases."
The initial reports of racist texts last week included recipients who attend universities from California to South Carolina, with some sent via TextNow, a service compatible with untraceable, “burner” phone numbers.
The company said last week it was shutting down accounts involved in the initial round of texts and, on Friday, it said it was working to halt "variations" of racist and offensive messaging.
"TextNow has stopped attempts to send other variations of these harassing messages," the company said in a statement Friday.
Monèt Miller, a publicist from Atlanta, said she was still processing the election results when she received a text message Nov. 6 from an unknown phone number that stated, “Our Executive Slaves will come get you in a Brown Van" and, "Be prepared to be searched down once you’ve enter the plantation.”
NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said last week that the messages "alarming increase in vile and abhorrent rhetoric from racist groups across the country, who now feel emboldened to spread hate and stoke the flames of fear that many of us are feeling after Tuesday’s election results."
Proaño said LULAC is working with the NAACP.
"We stand strong with the NAACP to speak out against these racist acts," he said Friday.
The FBI on Friday said the texts from the initial reports were not identical but seemed to follow similar themes.
The agency said it's also sharing information on the expanding texts and emails with education institutions and faith leaders.
