1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

Stop the Intimidation: End DHS Surveillance of Observers An April letter to Congress exposes an admission from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): the agency is systematically gathering and retaining biographic and biometric information on citizens who have committed no crime. Under the guise of investigating potential interference, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is routinely treating First Amendment-protected activity as a criminal threat. In one alarming case, a citizen merely observing an immigration operation was photographed by ICE agents. Hours later, their spouse received a call from a blocked number, where a DHS representative threatened that observers are being added to a domestic terrorist watch list. This is not legitimate law enforcement; it is a weaponized intimidation tactic explicitly designed to thwart free speech, discourage government transparency, and infringe upon our core Constitutional rights. While parsing words by denying a "standalone protester database," DHS leadership admits that this sensitive personal data is being preserved as permanent government records. We cannot allow a federal agency to operate with such blatant disregard for the U.S. Constitution. I urge you to launch an immediate congressional investigation into DHS surveillance practices, demand full transparency on existing data systems, and deliver financial and legislative consequences to leaders and departments that circumvent our Constitutional rights.