What it’s like to get caught in ICE’s surveillance web

A couple of months ago in Minneapolis, a woman named Emily was following an ICE

vehicle around to keep tabs on it. We're only using her first name because she

fears retribution from the federal government. Emily told NPR that on this

particular day, the vehicle she was following came to an abrupt stop.

I stopped as well and I waited and then someone leaned out of the passenger side

of that SUV. A masked federal agent leaned out of the window to

a picture of her car and a picture of her. As I tried to leave the SUV like

flipped around and suddenly sped directly towards me and I thought that they

were going to keep on me like deliberately run right into my driver's side door.

But right before they hit me, they breaks really hard.

Female agent rolled down the window and leaned out and addressed Emily by name.

And she yelled, Emily, Emily, we're going to take you home. Then she

looked at her phone and it looked like she was reading off my address. Like she

recited my home address. Emily, so she has no idea how they pulled up her

information so quickly. Their message was not subtle, right? They were in

an effect saying, we see you. We can get to you whenever we want to. And it

didn't scare me. The Department of Homeland Security has told NPR

quote, there is no database of quote domestic terrorists run by DHS.

Congressman Lucarea, a Democrat from California, asked DHS Secretary Christy

Nome about it during hearing in the House yesterday. One of your ice

officers in Maine recently told it an observer that they're creating a

database. Are you creating a database? No, we're not creating a database.

No, we'll soon be out of that job. President Trump announced she will leave

the post at the end of the month. NPR has compiled dozens of accounts of

people caught up in the surveillance web just like Emily. They add another

layer to our understanding of the broad tools that DHS and more specifically

ice are using to monitor people. They seek to deport and to intimidate US

citizens critical of their policies. Consider this, what is it like to be caught

up in DHS's surveillance web?

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It's considered this from NPR, immigration and customs enforcement is using a

variety of tools to surveil people they want to intimidate and apprehend.

That web helps federal agents find people they want to deport, but it also

allows them to identify US citizens who criticize and protest the federal

government and its policies. NPR's Jude Jofy Block and Meg Anderson have been

digging into this and they are joining us now. Hey there.

Hello. Hi.

So Meg, I want to start with you. Tell us what you have heard from people who

have had interactions with immigration officers.

Yeah. So let me tell you about the experience of one person that really

illustrates what we found. Her name is L and PR is not using her last name

because she's worried about retaliation from the federal government.

She lives in Minneapolis and she told us about following ice around her

neighborhood to document their actions.

They would just get out their phones and then come and stand right in front of

my car and take pictures of me and take pictures of our license plate.

And they frequently would come up to my vehicle and pound on the glass.

Once she said she was following ice officers and realized that they were

driving her to her own home. She felt like the officers were trying to

intimidate her. We collected dozens of accounts like this, both through

interviews and court documents and in other states beyond Minnesota too.

Okay. So those are the tactics that people are seeing in person.

Jude, let me ask you, what do we know about how technology is being used to

do things like this? Yeah. Well, in these cases of observers who are

driving to document ice and then agents know their names and like an

else case know where they live. License plate data seems to be a big

part of how these agents are figuring out who the car is registered to.

And there's a few ways ice can get this information.

And one is that data brokers buy up this data from state DMVs and sell it to ice.

This technique is also being used on immigrants too.

Agents are looking up license plates. They can see on the road or in

parking lots to identify whether the car is registered to someone who could be

deported. And license plate information seems like just the beginning of all

this. And it's worth flagging. These efforts have gotten a lot of funding under

this administration, right? That's right. Ice is budget skyrocketed

last year. And that's allowed the agency to invest a lot into new surveillance

tech. We also know ice agents are using facial recognition technology.

There's also a nap that helps ice agents find where immigrants who can be

deported might live. That's called elite. It's made by the company

Palantir. And one ice agent described it in court testimony is showing an

interface like Google Maps. Ice also has an access to a tool that collects data

that can be used to track cell phone locations. And this week more than 70

Democratic members of Congress wrote a letter urging the agency's watchdog to

investigate this. Okay, Meg. One other question is what's happening online?

Yes. So there is surveillance happening online as well. And what we found is

it's happening a lot in the form of something called an administrative

subpoena. So those can be issued by federal agencies without a judge. And we

know that they have already been sent to tech companies demanding to unmask

anonymous social media accounts. In this case, accounts that are critical of ice.

We spoke to one man who got an email from Metta. That's the parent company of

Instagram and Facebook alerting him to a subpoena. He had just shared a post

that identified an ice agent using publicly available information.

DHS though accused him of doxing the agent. He asked a federal court to block

the subpoena. And then, you know, later the agency did withdraw it.

But Nathan Wessler with the ACLU told us that this is still a threat to free

speech even though the agency withdrew that subpoena.

There's a long tradition going back to the founding of this country

where courts have recognized that sometimes the only way to be able to speak

safely without fewer retaliation is to do so without your name attached.

On that note, what legal implications do all of these surveillance tools raise?

Yeah, so legal experts we spoke to brought up concerns in a variety of ways,

most notably in threats to the first amendment. That comes up in the case of

those subpoenas and the online criticism. Generally, the right to

anonymity is protected. And there are lawsuits in states like

Minnesota and Maine alleging that when ice officers bleed people to their homes,

things like that, that that amounts to intimidation and violates a protestors

freedom of expression. Some lawyers we spoke to also brought up concerns about

the fourth amendment, which protects people from unreasonable searches.

They said some of these tools help DHS access information.

They would otherwise need a warrant for.

And Jude, what did DHS say about all of this?

Yeah, well, the agency didn't answer all of our questions about these tools or how

they're being used saying they would not, quote, reveal law enforcement methods or tactics.

But in a statement to NPR, they refuted claims that these tools are unlawful.

When it comes to allegations that facial recognition technology violates the

fourth amendment, the agency said its use is, quote,

governed by established legal authorities and formal privacy oversight.

And regarding allegations that the agency is violating the first amendment,

DHS said freedom of speech does not include, quote, rioting.

Though, to be clear, the activists we spoke to were engaged in peaceful protests and observation.

That was NPR's Jude Jaffee Block and Mega Anderson.

Thanks, Deeboth.

Thanks. Thank you.

Reporting from NPR's Cat Lawn Store of Contributed to the Story,

this episode was produced by Gabriel Sanchez and Karen Zamora with audio engineering by Ted

Meebe. It was edited by Alina Hartunian, John Ketchum, and Sarah Handel.

Our executive producer is Sam Enigan.

It's considered this from NPR, I'm Scott Detro.

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