ICE Tells Legal Observer, 'We Have a Nice Little Database, and Now You're Considered a Domestic Terrorist'
The video is the latest example of federal immigration authorities labeling anyone who opposes them a "domestic terrorist."
Video taken this morning in Maine shows an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer taking pictures of a legal observer's car. When she asks why he's doing that, he says, "Because we have a nice little database, and now you're considered a domestic terrorist."
ICE agent asked why he's taking pictures of a legal observer's car, replies: "Cuz we have a nice little database and now you're considered a domestic terrorist. So have fun with that." pic.twitter.com/IbyRqycSc2
— Ken Klippenstein (NSPM-7 Compliant) (@kenklippenstein) January 23, 2026
The video is the latest example of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) labeling anyone who engages in First Amendment–protected activity opposing the Trump administration's mass deportation program as a "domestic terrorist" and suggesting they'll be subject to federal investigations.
However, Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, denied such a database exists.
"There is NO database of 'domestic terrorists' run by DHS." McLaughlin said in an emailed statement to Reason. "We do of course monitor and investigate and refer all threats, assaults and obstruction of our officers to the appropriate law enforcement. Obstructing and assaulting law enforcement is a felony and a federal crime."
DHS has issued numerous factually incorrect statements attributed to McLaughlin.
Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein reported today that an unnamed federal law enforcement official told him that DHS "has ordered immigration officers to gather identifying information about anyone filming them."
In September, President Donald Trump issued a memo ordering federal law enforcement to focus on ideologies that are allegedly fueling "domestic terrorism." These include "anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender," as well as opposition to "foundational American principles (e.g., support for law enforcement and border control)."
As Reason's Joe Lancaster wrote at the time, the memo was "an assault on the First Amendment" that listed protected free speech "as evidence of criminality that requires federal intervention."
And since the Trump administration's deportation campaign began last year, DHS officials have repeatedly insisted that following and recording federal immigration agents in public is a violation of a federal statute that makes it a crime to assault or impede law enforcement officers.
There have been dozens of recorded instances of ICE and Border Patrol officers harassing, assaulting, and detaining people for filming and following them, even though there is a well-established First Amendment right to record and observe the police.
For example, today Slate published the first-person account of Brandon Sigüenza, a Minneapolis man who was volunteering with a local group that monitors and records ICE activity. Federal immigration officers surrounded his car, smashed out his windows, roughly arrested him, and detained him for hours.
Sigüenza also submitted a sworn declaration describing his experiences in a civil rights lawsuit challenging the DHS' actions in Minneapolis.
Last week, the federal judge in that lawsuit ruled that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claims that federal officers engaged in targeted First Amendment retaliation against them. The protesters' and monitors' actions, the judge found, "did not forcibly obstruct or impede the agents' work."
Reason has argued through both Republican and Democratic administrations that government fears of "domestic terrorism" are a pretext for increased snooping and harassment. and comments like the ones by the ICE agent in Maine are only more evidence in favor of that argument.
