{"id":1161,"date":"2026-07-25T17:06:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T17:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1161"},"modified":"2026-07-25T17:06:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T17:06:01","slug":"advocates-sue-trump-administration-over-secret-dossiers-on-ice-watchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1161","title":{"rendered":"Advocates Sue Trump Administration Over Secret Dossiers on ICE Watchers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<!-- begin partial\/series-card --><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><i><span>Support justice-driven, accurate and transparent news \u2014 make a <\/span><\/i><i><span>quick donation<\/span><\/i><i><span> to Truthout today!\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1159\">As Highways Expand, Black Communities Are Threatened With Flooding and Land Loss<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>A coalition of privacy and civil liberties advocates filed a federal lawsuit Friday accusing the Trump administration of secretly collecting and keeping personal information about people who monitor U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, arguing that the practice violates federal privacy law and threatens constitutionally protected speech and association.<\/p>\n<p>The  \u2014 filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia \u2014 was brought by individuals and advocacy groups represented by Democracy Forward.<\/p>\n<p>The plaintiffs \u2014 the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and legal observers Nicole Cleland, Jacquelyn Ivey, and Anna Walker \u2014 argued that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and other federal agencies created and maintained databases of people who observed, documented, or protested immigration enforcement activities without providing notification or safeguards, as required under the Privacy Act of 1974.<\/p>\n<p>That law was passed after the exposure of illegal government surveillance, including longtime former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover\u2019s infamous COINTELPRO program, under which the FBI, in addition to conducting unlawful spying, funded and armed murderous far-right militants to terrorize anti-Vietnam War protesters, anti-nuclear weapons activists, civil rights leaders including Martin Luther King, Jr., and other leftists.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe federal government cannot build secret dossiers on people because they exercise their First Amendment right to peacefully observe, document, or criticize its actions,\u201d Democracy Forward president and CEO Skye Perryman said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. \u201cThat is exactly the kind of government surveillance Congress sought to prevent when it enacted the Privacy Act after some of the darkest chapters in our nation\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of collecting the names, photographs, vehicle information and license plate numbers, social media accounts, and other identifying information about legal observers, volunteers, journalists, clergy, and community members engaged in First Amendment-protected activities during the government\u2019s deadly anti-immigrant crackdown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the Department of Homeland Security dramatically ratcheted up its immigration enforcement, people across the country \u2014 of all ages and backgrounds \u2014 did what anyone is supposed to do when they disagree with government action: They exercised their First Amendment rights,\u201d the suit states. \u201cThey peacefully protested. And, as matters here, they observed and recorded how law enforcement agents acted in public.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn response, DHS decided to record the Americans who were peacefully observing its agents, adopting a secret Protester Surveillance Policy enabling its agents to first collect records on Americans engaging in First Amendment exercise and then maintain them in DHS systems, where they can be used to retaliate against those Americans,\u201d the complaint continues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeginning sometime in 2025, DHS deployed a dragnet of drones, bodycams, face-scanning apps, license plate scanners, and camera phones to, as one memo instructed, \u2018capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors, etc., so we can capture it all in one consolidated form,\u2019\u201d the document notes.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1157\">For Single Immigrant Mothers, the Financial Toll of ICE Raids Is Far From Over<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDHS agents have not been shy about gathering this information or its purpose,\u201d the plaintiffs contended. \u201cIn Maine, DHS agents told multiple observers that they were being added to a database of \u2018domestic terrorists.\u2019 In Chicago, agents routinely used facial irecognition scans on members of the public.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Minneapolis, observers simply watching agents on public streets have been led by those agents to their own houses, despite never having interacted with an agent \u2014 a practice so common that it has been named \u2018being driven home by ICE,\u2019\u201d the suit says. \u201cAnd across the country, DHS agents have approached observers and addressed them by their full names, even though those observers never identified themselves to the agents or showed them any form of identification.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a result of its Protester Surveillance Policy, DHS has recorded and retaliated against each individual plaintiff,\u201d the filing alleges. \u201cIt\u2019s bad enough that DHS publicly collected information on Americans engaged in lawful First Amendment exercise. But worse, DHS also decided to maintain the information in one or more of its systems, enabling it to later retaliate against observers and protestors \u2014 including by canceling Trusted Traveler status,\u201d which includes Transportation Security Administration Pre-Check and Global Entry.<\/p>\n<p>The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the DHS surveillance policy unlawful, end it, and ban the agency from continuing to collect and keep records of individuals\u2019 protected First Amendment activities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow more than ever, those of us who have the privilege to speak out have a responsibility to defend the rights of everyone in our communities,\u201d Walker said in a statement. \u201cWhen people are punished for exercising their First Amendment rights, we begin losing the democratic principles that protect all of us. Every American should be alarmed by retaliatory action against one\u2019s free speech.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cleland said: \u201cI believe government accountability starts with transparency. People should be free to peacefully observe and document what their government does in public without worrying they\u2019ll be tracked or retaliated against. This case is about protecting that right for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>EPIC deputy director John Davisson warned, \u201cWhen our government compiles secret dossiers on everyday people for exercising their constitutional rights, it sends a chilling message: If you speak up, watch your back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf every protest, every recording, every act of dissent opens us up to surveillance and retribution, privacy and free speech are at risk of collapse,\u201d he added. \u201cBut the laws of this nation don\u2019t permit that, and we won\u2019t either.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1155\">Kansas Amendment Battle Highlights Billionaires\u2019 Efforts to Capture State Courts<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Plaintiffs say DHS violated federal privacy law by secretly collecting personal data on people documenting ICE operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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