Recent unsealed court documents allege that the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created detailed dossiers on individuals monitoring Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities in Maine, storing their photographs and license plate information in a database constructed by technology firm Palantir.
The filing, part of a proposed class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in Maine, accuses agents of intimidation tactics during “Operation Catch of the Day,” an immigration enforcement surge that took place in January. The plaintiffs, who are ICE observers, claim agents conducted drive-bys of their homes and subjected at least one observer to repeated secondary inspections at the border through January 2027.
JoAnna Suriani, an attorney at Protect Democracy representing the observers, stated, “The government is treating people who exercise their First Amendment rights and seek to hold it accountable as criminal suspects, and that’s what we’re asking the court to stop.”
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