CREW has requested records from the Department of Homeland Security in relation to its efforts to record identifying information of people who observe, record or protest immigration enforcement operations and statements indicating plans to compile that information into a newly formed database of “domestic terrorists.” 

DHS’s recent operations in the Minneapolis area have been aggressive and unprecedented, having resulted in the shooting deaths of two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, at the hands of DHS agents. Public reporting indicates that DHS has been gathering intelligence on American citizens who record, protest and in its view, agitate against DHS or interfere with DHS operations in the Minneapolis area and beyond. Border Czar Tom Homan even appeared on television and stated that the government is “going to create a database where those people that are arrested for interference, impeding, and assault, we’re going to make them famous.”

DHS’s intelligence gathering project implicates the security, privacy and First Amendment rights of Americans who are being marked as targets for government surveillance and political retribution for engaging in non-criminal activity that DHS does not approve of. This impact is heightened by the fact that DHS is verbally threatening people who are observing and protesting DHS enforcement actions that they will be added to a list of “domestic terrorists.” 

Given the severity of these anticipated consequences, the public deserves to know what information DHS is collecting, how it is being stored and used, who can access it and what safeguards exist to prevent abuse or unlawful targeting of constitutionally protected activity.

FOIA Request

Read More in FOIA Requests