They Scanned Her Face and Called Her a Domestic Terrorist

DHS agents used facial recognition and license plate readers on people exercising their First Amendment rights. Two class actions say that's unconstitutional.

State of Surveillance Editorial Team

People at a protest march holding signs and walking together on a street
Photo via Unsplash

TL;DR: DHS agents are systematically using facial recognition, license plate readers, and mobile biometric tools to identify, track, and intimidate people who lawfully observe federal immigration operations. Two class action lawsuits (Hilton v. Noem in Maine and Tincher v. Noem in Minnesota) document a pattern: agents scanning observers' faces at close range, photographing license plates, following people home, and telling them they're now in a "domestic terrorist" database. Over 80 sworn declarations describe pepper-spraying, rubber bullets, arrests for standing on public sidewalks, and agents calling observers by name and reciting their home addresses. ICE has access to a 200-million-image facial recognition database through the Mobile Fortify app, used over 100,000 times since June 2025. DHS says the domestic terrorist database doesn't exist. The courts are deciding whether any of this is constitutional.

Portland, Maine: "We Have a Nice Little Database"

On the morning of January 21, 2026, Elinor Hilton drove to a public parking lot in Portland, Maine to observe an ICE operation. She started recording on her phone, a constitutionally protected activity that courts have repeatedly upheld.[1]

ICE agents collected her biometric data and photographed her license plate. When she moved closer to see what was happening, agents told her: "I hope you know we're putting you on a domestic terrorist watch list, and if you keep coming to things like this, we're going to come to your house later and arrest you."[2] Hilton avoided her own home that night. She now parks blocks away from her residence and leaves her personal phone at home when observing enforcement operations.

Colleen Fagan, a social worker and lifelong Maine resident, had a similar experience at a separate Portland enforcement operation. After she began recording, a masked agent scanned her face with a smartphone while another documented her vehicle and plates. When Fagan asked why her information was being recorded, the agent replied: they had "a nice little database" and she was now considered a "domestic terrorist." The exchange was captured on video that went viral.[2]

On February 23, 2026, Hilton and Fagan filed a class action lawsuit, Hilton v. Noem, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine. They brought the suit on behalf of all individuals who have exercised or will exercise their constitutional right to peacefully observe or record immigration enforcement and whose biometric data or personal information is collected because of that activity.[3]

Minnesota: 80+ Sworn Declarations

Maine isn't an isolated incident. It's the pattern.

On December 17, 2025, the ACLU of Minnesota and pro bono partners from Ciresi Conlin, Forsgren Fisher, and Riach Law filed Tincher v. Noem in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota on behalf of six Minnesota residents.[4]

Susan Tincher woke up to a notification that ICE was conducting operations blocks from her house on December 9, 2025. She drove to the location. Within seconds of arriving, she was arrested.[5]

An amended complaint filed on February 13, 2026 came with over 80 sworn declarations from community members. Here's what they describe:[6]

  • A woman identified only as "E.B." watched an agent lean out of an SUV window and yell: "Emily, Emily, we're going to take you home." The agent repeated her name and address, information E.B. believes could only have been obtained by running her license plate through a law enforcement database.
  • Another declarant, "S.I.," said an ICE agent "did not say anything to me. Instead, he lowered his window, and pepper sprayed me directly in the face at extremely close range."
  • Federal agents followed peaceful protesters to their homes, deployed chemical irritants and rubber bullets, and arrested people for standing on public sidewalks.

Ed Higgins, a Marine Corps veteran from Columbia Heights, said federal agents pursued him through the city on February 5, attempting to force his van off the road. He called 911 telling the dispatcher agents were "trying to run into me right now." Surveillance video shows multiple SUVs boxing in his van at a police station, with agents striking his car windows with firearms. Higgins witnessed authorities entering his information into what they called an "agitator chat" on Microsoft Teams, an internal channel where agents logged details about people who observed their operations.[6]

The amended complaint added five new plaintiffs (including TNG-CWA, the largest labor union representing journalists, and Status Coup News) alleging "a policy and pattern of retaliation against people for gathering information about, recording, and protesting federal immigration agents' activity in public."[6]

The Court Said Stop

A federal judge in Minnesota granted an injunction barring federal agents participating in immigration enforcement under Operation Metro Surge from taking specific actions against people engaged in peaceful protest and observation:[5]

  • No retaliation for protected activity
  • No arrest or detention without probable cause or reasonable suspicion of an actual crime
  • No pepper spray or nonlethal munitions used in retaliation for protected conduct

That a federal judge had to explicitly order immigration agents to stop pepper-spraying people who watch them from public sidewalks tells you everything about where we are.

The Tools: Mobile Fortify and 200 Million Faces

The surveillance capabilities behind these incidents aren't improvised. They're systematic.

ICE agents carry smartphones loaded with Mobile Fortify, an app built by NEC Corporation that went live in June 2025. Point the phone at someone in public, and it compares their face against more than 200 million photographs stored in federal databases. Instant results: name, date of birth, and a deep well of personal data.[7]

According to a lawsuit brought by Illinois and Chicago, DHS has used Mobile Fortify in the field more than 100,000 times since launch.[8]

Agents also use license plate readers tied to Thomson Reuters' CLEAR investigative platform, which aggregates driver records, address history, vehicle registration, family and associate linkages, and proprietary datasets. Scan a plate, get a name. Get a name, get an address. Get an address, yell it at someone from an SUV window to make sure they know you know where they live.[9]

This is how agents in Portland knew Hilton and Fagan's identities within minutes. This is how agents in Minnesota knew "Emily's" name and address. The tech stack turns every ICE operation into a biometric dragnet that captures not just the people being arrested, but everyone watching.

The Scale of Criminalization

It's not just surveillance. It's prosecution.

ICE has ramped up arrests under 18 USC § 111, the federal statute covering interference with law enforcement. NPR reported that the Trump administration is "trying to criminalize observing ICE" by broadly interpreting what constitutes obstruction or interference.[10]

Standing on a sidewalk and recording with your phone. Driving to a parking lot where ICE is operating. Asking an agent why they're photographing you. Activities that courts have consistently ruled are protected under the First Amendment are now being treated as criminal interference.

New York Attorney General Letitia James responded by deploying purple-vested legal observers to monitor ICE operations, an official state acknowledgment that federal agents can't be trusted to respect constitutional rights without witnesses.[11]

DHS Says the Database Doesn't Exist. Senior Officials Say Otherwise.

In a written statement responding to the Hilton lawsuit, a DHS spokesperson said: "There is NO database of 'domestic terrorists' run by DHS. We do, of course, monitor and investigate and refer all threats, assaults, and obstruction of our officers to the appropriate law enforcement."[2]

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told Congress: "There is no database that's tracking United States citizens."

But White House border czar Tom Homan told Fox News in January 2026: "We're going to create a database where those people that are arrested for interference, impeding, and assault, we're going to make them famous... put their face on TV."

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said at a July 2025 press conference that violence against DHS agents includes "videotaping them where they're at when they're out on operations." Attorney General Pam Bondi listed "doxing" law enforcement as a form of domestic terrorism in a December 2025 memo.

So there's no domestic terrorist database. But senior administration officials publicly promise to build one, call videotaping a form of violence, and classify recording agents as doxing. Meanwhile, agents on the ground tell observers they're being entered into exactly the kind of database that officially doesn't exist, and Minnesota agents were caught logging observer details in an "agitator chat."

Whether DHS labels the file "domestic terrorist database" or "agitator chat" or "records of individuals observed at enforcement operations" doesn't matter much to the person whose face was scanned and whose address was read back to them from the window of an unmarked SUV.

What You Should Know

If you plan to observe ICE operations, which remains your constitutional right regardless of what agents on the ground may say:

  • Recording is protected. Federal courts have consistently held that recording law enforcement in public is a First Amendment right. Agents who tell you otherwise are wrong.
  • Distance matters less than interference. You can be charged with obstruction if you physically block agents. Standing on a public sidewalk with a camera is not obstruction.
  • Your biometrics may be collected. Agents have facial recognition tools on their phones. If they can see your face, they can run it against 200 million images. Cover your face if you want to reduce exposure.
  • Your plates will be scanned. Park away from the operation if you don't want your vehicle identified through license plate readers.
  • Document threats. If agents threaten to put you on a watchlist, record the interaction. Both lawsuits rely heavily on victims documenting exactly what was said.

References

  1. NPR: A New Lawsuit Alleges DHS Illegally Tracked and Intimidated Observers (February 23, 2026)
  2. Portland Press Herald: Maine ICE Observers Say Agents Threatened to Put Them on 'Domestic Terrorist' Watchlist
  3. Hilton v. Noem: Class Action Complaint, U.S. District Court for the District of Maine
  4. ACLU: Tincher v. Noem et al. Case Page
  5. Minnesota Reformer: ACLU Sues ICE, Alleging Agency Violates Constitutional Rights of Observers and Protesters
  6. ACLU: New Filings Detail Harrowing Accounts of ICE and Border Patrol Violence Against Minnesotans
  7. 404 Media: Inside ICE's Supercharged Facial Recognition App of 200 Million Images
  8. Common Dreams: ICE's 'Frightening' Facial Recognition App is Scanning US Citizens Without Consent
  9. NPR: ICE Has Spun a Massive Surveillance Web (March 4, 2026)
  10. NPR: Trump Administration Trying to Criminalize Observing ICE (February 18, 2026)
  11. Biometric Update: Class Action Challenges DHS' Use of Facial Recognition Against Protesters