ICE's Director Told Congress There's No Database Tracking Americans. His Agents Disagree.

TL;DR: Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told the House Homeland Security Committee on February 10 that "there is no database that's tracking United States citizens." Three weeks earlier, a masked ICE agent in Portland, Maine told a legal observer on camera: "We have a nice little database, and now you're considered a domestic terrorist." DHS says the agent was wrong. The Cato Institute says Lyons either committed perjury or doesn't know what his own agency does. Meanwhile, ICE agents scan faces with Mobile Fortify, DHS monitors 8 billion social media posts daily through Zignal Labs, and only 3,000 of 13,000 ICE officers wear body cameras. The data goes somewhere. Nobody in charge will say where.

The Denial

On February 10, 2026, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons sat before the House Homeland Security Committee. It was his first congressional testimony since two bystanders (Renee Good and Alex Pretti) were shot and killed during an ICE operation in Minneapolis on January 7 ^[1].

Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.) played a video clip. In it, an ICE agent in Portland, Maine tells a woman filming him that she's being entered into a database for "domestic terrorists." Correa asked Lyons to explain.

Lyons' response: "I can't speak for that individual. But I can assure you that there is no database that's tracking United States citizens" ^[1].

He doubled down two days later at a Senate hearing: when asked if ICE shares protester information with other agencies, he said flatly, "We do not" ^[1].

DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin backed him up: "There is NO database of 'domestic terrorists' run by DHS" ^[2].

Case closed, right?

The Video That Started It

On January 23, 2026, a legal observer in Portland, Maine filmed a masked ICE agent photographing her vehicle's license plate. When she told him it was legal to record, he walked toward her camera ^[3].

"Because we have a nice little database," the agent said, "and now you're considered a domestic terrorist" ^[3].

The woman responded: "For videotaping you?! Are you crazy?!" ^[4]

The clip went viral after journalist Ken Klippenstein shared it on social media. An unnamed federal law enforcement official subsequently told Klippenstein that DHS "has ordered immigration officers to gather identifying information about anyone filming them" ^[3][5].

Think about that. A federal official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed DHS instructed agents to collect information on anyone exercising their First Amendment right to film. Then the agency's own director went to Congress and said no such tracking exists.

Where the Data Actually Goes

Patrick Eddington, senior fellow in homeland security and civil liberties at the Cato Institute, didn't mince words after Lyons' testimony ^[1]:

"He either 1) perjured himself or 2) has no idea what's going on in his own agency, because all those facial recognition shots they're taking of people on the streets of this country are going somewhere besides the agents' smartphones."

Eddington isn't guessing. ICE's surveillance infrastructure is documented:

Mobile Fortify: A facial recognition app deployed on ICE agents' smartphones since May 2025. It matches faces against CBP's database of 1.2 billion images. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul says it's been used over 100,000 times ^[6][7]. Photos are retained by DHS for up to 15 years. There is no opt-out.
Zignal Labs: ICE's $5.7 million contract scans 8 billion social media posts daily across Reddit, X, Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram ^[8].
Fivecast ONYX: A $4.2 million dark web monitoring tool ICE uses alongside Zignal ^[8].
Clearview AI: ICE holds $6 million in combined contracts with the facial recognition company, which scrapes 60 billion images from the public internet ^[9].
Palantir ELITE: Creates real-time dossiers on individuals and generates "probability scores" predicting where someone will be at a given time ^[10].

All of these systems collect, store, and cross-reference data about individuals, including U.S. citizens who happen to be standing nearby during an ICE operation. Lyons told Congress none of that counts as "tracking."

The Body Camera Gap

At the same hearing, Lyons revealed that only about 3,000 of roughly 13,000 ICE field officers currently wear body cameras. Another 6,000 cameras are "being deployed," but there's no timeline ^[1].

CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott disclosed that just 10,000 of approximately 67,000 CBP agents carry cameras ^[1].

Do the math: 77% of ICE officers and 85% of CBP agents operate without body cameras. When an agent tells a woman she's going into a "domestic terrorist database," there's usually no official recording. We only know about the Portland incident because the legal observer was filming.

Congress earmarked roughly $20 million in FY2026 appropriations for DHS body cameras. The legislation doesn't require officers to actually wear them ^[11].

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ordered all officers in Minneapolis to wear body cameras after the January shootings. That order covers one city. ICE operates in all 50 states.

The Pattern

Portland isn't an isolated incident. It's part of a documented pattern of ICE agents intimidating observers and collecting their information:

Minneapolis, January 2026: ICE agents photographed faces of bystanders, legal observers, and journalists during operations that killed two people. NBC News documented agents using Mobile Fortify to scan faces of people in the crowd ^[6].
Reddit, January 2026: A leaked DHS intelligence bulletin showed agents built a behavioral profile of a Reddit user who called for a peaceful protest, including cataloguing their posts about football and Stephen King novels ^[8].
Boston, January 2026: Mayor Michelle Wu ordered the release of surveillance footage from ICE operations, accusing agents of unconstitutional enforcement and operating without accountability.

A federal judge has already ruled that protesting and observing ICE operations is protected by the First Amendment and "did not forcibly obstruct or impede the agents' work" ^[5]. Filming ICE is legal. Threatening people who film ICE is not.

What You Should Know

You Have the Right to Film

Federal courts have consistently ruled that recording law enforcement in public is protected by the First Amendment. An agent telling you otherwise is wrong. Don't stop recording.

Your Face Is Being Stored

If an ICE agent photographs you, even as a bystander, that image may be matched against 1.2 billion photos in CBP's database and retained for 15 years. There is no consent mechanism and no opt-out.

Know Your Legal Resources

The ACLU provides guidance on protesters' rights. If an agent threatens you for filming, document the encounter and contact your local ACLU chapter or the National Immigration Law Center.

Demand Body Cameras

77% of ICE officers don't wear body cameras. Contact your representatives and demand mandatory body camera use for all federal law enforcement. The House Homeland Security Committee oversees ICE.

The Bottom Line

Todd Lyons told Congress there's no database tracking American citizens. His own agent told a woman on camera she was going into one. A federal law enforcement official confirmed DHS ordered agents to collect identifying information on anyone filming them. Mobile Fortify scans faces against 1.2 billion images. Zignal Labs monitors 8 billion social media posts daily. Clearview AI provides access to 60 billion scraped photos.

Whether you call it a "database" depends on how creatively you define the word. The data exists. It's being collected. It's being stored. It's being cross-referenced.

The Cato Institute's Patrick Eddington framed the choice clearly: Lyons either committed perjury or doesn't know what his own agents are doing. Neither option is reassuring.