0:00
A couple of months ago in Minneapolis, a woman named Emily was following an ICE
0:04
vehicle around to keep tabs on it. We're only using her first name because she
0:07
fears retribution from the federal government. Emily told NPR that on this
0:13
particular day, the vehicle she was following came to an abrupt stop.
0:16
I stopped as well and I waited and then someone leaned out of the passenger side
0:20
of that SUV. A masked federal agent leaned out of the window to
0:24
a picture of her car and a picture of her. As I tried to leave the SUV like
0:30
flipped around and suddenly sped directly towards me and I thought that they
0:34
were going to keep on me like deliberately run right into my driver's side door.
0:38
But right before they hit me, they breaks really hard.
0:42
Female agent rolled down the window and leaned out and addressed Emily by name.
0:46
And she yelled, Emily, Emily, we're going to take you home. Then she
0:51
looked at her phone and it looked like she was reading off my address. Like she
0:55
recited my home address. Emily, so she has no idea how they pulled up her
0:59
information so quickly. Their message was not subtle, right? They were in
1:04
an effect saying, we see you. We can get to you whenever we want to. And it
1:08
didn't scare me. The Department of Homeland Security has told NPR
1:11
quote, there is no database of quote domestic terrorists run by DHS.
1:16
Congressman Lucarea, a Democrat from California, asked DHS Secretary Christy
1:21
Nome about it during hearing in the House yesterday. One of your ice
1:24
officers in Maine recently told it an observer that they're creating a
1:29
database. Are you creating a database? No, we're not creating a database.
1:32
No, we'll soon be out of that job. President Trump announced she will leave
1:36
the post at the end of the month. NPR has compiled dozens of accounts of
1:41
people caught up in the surveillance web just like Emily. They add another
1:46
layer to our understanding of the broad tools that DHS and more specifically
1:50
ice are using to monitor people. They seek to deport and to intimidate US
1:55
citizens critical of their policies. Consider this, what is it like to be caught
2:00
up in DHS's surveillance web?
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It's considered this from NPR, immigration and customs enforcement is using a
3:30
variety of tools to surveil people they want to intimidate and apprehend.
3:35
That web helps federal agents find people they want to deport, but it also
3:38
allows them to identify US citizens who criticize and protest the federal
3:43
government and its policies. NPR's Jude Jofy Block and Meg Anderson have been
3:47
digging into this and they are joining us now. Hey there.
3:51
So Meg, I want to start with you. Tell us what you have heard from people who
3:54
have had interactions with immigration officers.
3:56
Yeah. So let me tell you about the experience of one person that really
4:01
illustrates what we found. Her name is L and PR is not using her last name
4:06
because she's worried about retaliation from the federal government.
4:09
She lives in Minneapolis and she told us about following ice around her
4:13
neighborhood to document their actions.
4:16
They would just get out their phones and then come and stand right in front of
4:20
my car and take pictures of me and take pictures of our license plate.
4:26
And they frequently would come up to my vehicle and pound on the glass.
4:32
Once she said she was following ice officers and realized that they were
4:36
driving her to her own home. She felt like the officers were trying to
4:40
intimidate her. We collected dozens of accounts like this, both through
4:45
interviews and court documents and in other states beyond Minnesota too.
4:49
Okay. So those are the tactics that people are seeing in person.
4:52
Jude, let me ask you, what do we know about how technology is being used to
4:56
do things like this? Yeah. Well, in these cases of observers who are
4:59
driving to document ice and then agents know their names and like an
5:03
else case know where they live. License plate data seems to be a big
5:07
part of how these agents are figuring out who the car is registered to.
5:11
And there's a few ways ice can get this information.
5:13
And one is that data brokers buy up this data from state DMVs and sell it to ice.
5:18
This technique is also being used on immigrants too.
5:21
Agents are looking up license plates. They can see on the road or in
5:25
parking lots to identify whether the car is registered to someone who could be
5:29
deported. And license plate information seems like just the beginning of all
5:32
this. And it's worth flagging. These efforts have gotten a lot of funding under
5:37
this administration, right? That's right. Ice is budget skyrocketed
5:40
last year. And that's allowed the agency to invest a lot into new surveillance
5:43
tech. We also know ice agents are using facial recognition technology.
5:48
There's also a nap that helps ice agents find where immigrants who can be
5:51
deported might live. That's called elite. It's made by the company
5:55
Palantir. And one ice agent described it in court testimony is showing an
5:59
interface like Google Maps. Ice also has an access to a tool that collects data
6:04
that can be used to track cell phone locations. And this week more than 70
6:09
Democratic members of Congress wrote a letter urging the agency's watchdog to
6:12
investigate this. Okay, Meg. One other question is what's happening online?
6:17
Yes. So there is surveillance happening online as well. And what we found is
6:23
it's happening a lot in the form of something called an administrative
6:27
subpoena. So those can be issued by federal agencies without a judge. And we
6:32
know that they have already been sent to tech companies demanding to unmask
6:36
anonymous social media accounts. In this case, accounts that are critical of ice.
6:41
We spoke to one man who got an email from Metta. That's the parent company of
6:45
Instagram and Facebook alerting him to a subpoena. He had just shared a post
6:50
that identified an ice agent using publicly available information.
6:54
DHS though accused him of doxing the agent. He asked a federal court to block
7:00
the subpoena. And then, you know, later the agency did withdraw it.
7:04
But Nathan Wessler with the ACLU told us that this is still a threat to free
7:08
speech even though the agency withdrew that subpoena.
7:11
There's a long tradition going back to the founding of this country
7:16
where courts have recognized that sometimes the only way to be able to speak
7:20
safely without fewer retaliation is to do so without your name attached.
7:24
On that note, what legal implications do all of these surveillance tools raise?
7:28
Yeah, so legal experts we spoke to brought up concerns in a variety of ways,
7:33
most notably in threats to the first amendment. That comes up in the case of
7:36
those subpoenas and the online criticism. Generally, the right to
7:40
anonymity is protected. And there are lawsuits in states like
7:44
Minnesota and Maine alleging that when ice officers bleed people to their homes,
7:49
things like that, that that amounts to intimidation and violates a protestors
7:53
freedom of expression. Some lawyers we spoke to also brought up concerns about
7:57
the fourth amendment, which protects people from unreasonable searches.
8:02
They said some of these tools help DHS access information.
8:06
They would otherwise need a warrant for.
8:08
And Jude, what did DHS say about all of this?
8:10
Yeah, well, the agency didn't answer all of our questions about these tools or how
8:14
they're being used saying they would not, quote, reveal law enforcement methods or tactics.
8:19
But in a statement to NPR, they refuted claims that these tools are unlawful.
8:23
When it comes to allegations that facial recognition technology violates the
8:26
fourth amendment, the agency said its use is, quote,
8:29
governed by established legal authorities and formal privacy oversight.
8:34
And regarding allegations that the agency is violating the first amendment,
8:37
DHS said freedom of speech does not include, quote, rioting.
8:41
Though, to be clear, the activists we spoke to were engaged in peaceful protests and observation.
8:47
That was NPR's Jude Jaffee Block and Mega Anderson.
8:51
Reporting from NPR's Cat Lawn Store of Contributed to the Story,
8:54
this episode was produced by Gabriel Sanchez and Karen Zamora with audio engineering by Ted
8:59
Meebe. It was edited by Alina Hartunian, John Ketchum, and Sarah Handel.
9:04
Our executive producer is Sam Enigan.
9:06
It's considered this from NPR, I'm Scott Detro.
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