Two US residents have sued several Homeland Security agencies and officials, including Secretary Kristi Noem, for allegedly using surveillance tools to harass them, branding them as "domestic terrorists," and even showing up at their homes based on license-plate recognition.
On Monday, the nonprofit Protect Democracy filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of two Mainers, Elinor Hilton and Colleen Fagan, and other unnamed plaintiffs over what they describe as unconstitutional surveillance designed to deter them from exercising their First Amendment rights.
The court documents [PDF] cite the federal government's ongoing deportation push occurring across the US, and say "ordinary Americans in Maine are holding their government to account by bearing witness and protesting the government's abusive tactics."
This included the two women named in the lawsuit, both lifelong Maine residents, who observed and recorded law enforcement officers' activities in public places.
In response, in what the lawsuit says is "an effort to chill their protected activity," the Department of Homeland Security and its immigration enforcement officials allegedly used "the government's significant surveillance capabilities to collect and track personal information about observers and other protestors."
And in some cases, the lawsuit claims they did more than just collecting and tracking this info, allegedly showing up at residents' homes in attempts to intimidate and harass them.
Defendants include the US Department of Homeland Security, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, Homeland Security Investigations, HSI Director John Condon, US Customs and Border Protection, CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott, US Border Patrol, and USBP Chief Michael Banks.
Homeland Security did not respond to The Register's request for comment.
The surveillance tools being used on protestors and those recording law enforcement officers' actions include a mix of facial recognition software, license plate readers, and other technologies used to locate and track people, according to the lawsuit.
One of the main ones is a smartphone app called Mobile Fortify that both ICE and CBP began using in May 2025. Once an agent takes a photo of an individual's face, the app reportedly searches more than 200 million images across government databases, and returns data including a person's name, birthdate, nationality, and any dealings with the US immigration system if they aren't a US citizen.
The app can also capture a fingerprint from a photograph, which can then be run against DHS and Department of State records, according to reports.
"As of January 2026, DHS agents had used Mobile Fortify in the field more than 100,000 times," the lawsuit alleges. "DHS agents routinely use Mobile Fortify and/or other facial recognition technology to identify individuals who are not themselves the targets of enforcement operations."
ICE also has a $3.8 million contract with Clearview AI to use its controversial facial recognition tools.
You are going to be on a domestic terrorist watchlist. Then we're going to come to your house later tonight
License plate readers are another way that cops and federal agents obtain information about vehicle owners, their residences, and their travel history.
Flock is perhaps the best known automated license plate reader (ALPR) company and it operates the largest network of surveillance cameras in America. Sometimes ICE gains access to this footage, according to US Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and those who have looked into Flock's misuse.
The lawsuit also lists a mobile app called Mobile Companion, which apparently allows agents to scan a license plate in the field using a smartphone. It says ICE began using this one in November 2025, thus giving agents access to previous sightings of the vehicle, information about the travel patterns, and all sorts of private details from data brokers, including phone numbers, addresses, associates, social media activity, driver license data, and voter registration.
"Defendants are wielding these technological capabilities and other surveillance methods to collect information about observers and maintain biometric and other personal identifying information about them," according to the lawsuit.
The court documents detail what happened to Hilton, Fagan, and other Maine residents, and says Hilton's run-ins with DHS began on January 21 when she was recording masked agents in a Home Depot parking lot using her smartphone.
Multiple agents, the lawsuit alleges, used their phones to capture images of Hilton's face, vehicle, and license plate:
The lawsuit claims that an agent identified as Agent 3 said "I hope you know that if you keep coming to things like this, you are going to be on a domestic terrorist watchlist. Then we're going to come to your house later tonight." He then turned to Agent 8 to reiterate: "She's just going on the domestic terrorist watchlist." Agent 8 replied, "Oh, absolutely."
Two days later, Fagan purportedly experienced similar surveillance tactics when she used her smart phone to record masked agents in her town. One masked cop with "Police" on his vest "recorded, scanned, or otherwise captured Plaintiff Fagan's biometric data with his smartphone," according to the lawsuit.
A second agent appeared to document Fagan's vehicle license plate number using his smartphone.
Fagan caught all of this on video, and the lawsuit contains still images from her phone plus a narrative of what occurred:
As Agent 2 turned back from Plaintiff Fagan's vehicle, Fagan remained where she had been recording and said, "It's not illegal to record." Agent 2 continued to walk back toward Fagan — who remained stationary — and responded, "Exactly, that's what we're doing."
Fagan's recording then captures her asking, "Why are you taking my information down?" Agent 2, who had been moving toward Plaintiff Fagan continuously until he was just feet away, turned to face her, looked directly into her camera, and said, "Cause we have a nice little database. And now you're considered a domestic terrorist, so have fun with that."
The lawsuit details similar interactions between ICE agents and other Maine residents.
The week of January 23, Westbrook resident Erin Cavallaro, who says her goals were to "bear witness to ICE activity in our community. To document what we see, and ensure transparency and accountability - not to interfere with law enforcement," followed ICE vehicles "at a safe distance" to document agents' conduct.
After seeing an ICE vehicle in a coffee shop parking lot, she decided to follow it before realizing that the agent was leading Cavallaro to her own home, where the agent allegedly began "honking aggressively." According to the lawsuit, Cavallaro believed the agents scanned her license plate to obtain her home address.
Another Westbrook resident, Liz McLellan, filmed agents arresting someone on January 21 before following an agent in an unmarked car. This agent allegedly drove to McLellan's home where several other agents joined.
"McLellan's friend recorded the subsequent encounter between McLellan and the agents in front of her residence," the court documents say. "In the recording, an agent approaches McLellan's car holding a smartphone and says, 'This is a warning. We know you live right here.'" ®
Source: The register