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

0:00Jude Joffe-Block: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.

0:16Meg Anderson:I stopped as well and I waited. And then someone leaned out of the passenger side of that SUV.

0:22Jude Joffe-Block:A masked federal agent leaned out of the window, took a picture of her car and a picture of her.

0:27Meg Anderson:As I tried to leave, the SUV like flipped around and suddenly sped directly towards me. And I thought that they were going to T-bone me, like deliberately run right into my driver's side door. But right before they hit me, they braked really hard.

0:42Jude Joffe-Block:Female agent rolled down the window and leaned out and addressed Emily by name.

0:47Meg Anderson:And she yelled, Emily, Emily, we're going to take you home. And she looked at her phone and it looked like she was reading off my address, like she recited my home address.

0:56Jude Joffe-Block:Emily says she has no idea how they pulled up her information so quickly.

1:01Meg Anderson:Their message was not subtle, right? They were, in effect, saying, we see you, we can get to you whenever we want to. And it did scare me.

1:09Jude Joffe-Block:The Department of Homeland Security has told NPR, quote, there is no database of, quote, domestic terrorists run by DHS. Congressman Lou Correa, a Democrat from California, asked DHS Secretary Kristi Noem about it during a hearing in the House yesterday.

1:23Meg Anderson:One of your ICE officers in Maine recently told an observer that they're creating a database. Are you creating a database, ma 'am? No, we're not creating a database.

1:33Jude Joffe-Block:Noam will 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 U.S. citizens critical of their policies. Consider this. What is it like to be caught up in DHS's surveillance web?

2:07Jude Joffe-Block:From NPR, I'm Scott Detrow.

2:16Jude Joffe-Block:It's Consider 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 U.S. citizens who criticize and protest the federal government and its policies. NPR's Jude Jaffe Block and Meg Anderson have been digging into this, and they are joining us now. Hey there.

2:41Meg Anderson:Hello. Hi.

2:43Jude Joffe-Block:So, Meg, I want to start with you. Tell us what you have heard from people who have had interactions with immigration officers.

2:48Scott Detrow:Yeah. So let me tell you about the experience of one person that really illustrates what we found. Her name is Elle, and Pierre 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.

3:07Meg Anderson: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.

3:23Scott Detrow: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.

3:41Jude Joffe-Block: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?

3:49Scott Detrow:Yeah, well, in these cases of observers who are driving to document ICE and then agents know their names and, like in Elle's 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.

4:21Jude Joffe-Block:And, you know, license plate information seems like just the beginning of all of this. And it's worth flagging, these efforts have gotten a lot of funding under this administration, right?

4:29Scott Detrow:That's right. Right. ICE's 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 an app 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 as showing an interface like Google Maps. ICE also has 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.

5:05Jude Joffe-Block:OK, Meg, one other question is what's happening online.

5:09Scott Detrow: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 Meta. 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.

5:46Scott Detrow:DHS, though, accused him of doxing the agent. He asked a federal court to block the subpoena, and then 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.

6:03Jude Joffe-Block: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 fear of retaliation is to do so without your name attached. On that note, what legal implications do all of these surveillance tools raise?

6:19Scott Detrow: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 lead people to their homes, things like that, that that amounts to intimidation and violates a protester's 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.

7:00Jude Joffe-Block:And Jude, what did DHS say about all of this?

7:02Scott Detrow: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.

7:38Jude Joffe-Block:That was NPR's Jew Jaffe Block and Meg Anderson. Thanks to you both. Thanks.

7:42Scott Detrow:Thank you.

7:43Jude Joffe-Block:Reporting from NPR's Kat Lonsdorff contributed to the story. This episode was produced by Gabriel Sanchez and Karen Zamora, with audio engineering by Ted Meebane. It was edited by Alina Hartunian, John Ketchum, and Sarah Handel. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan.

8:00Jude Joffe-Block:It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow.