{"id":879,"date":"2026-07-01T20:15:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T20:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=879"},"modified":"2026-07-01T20:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T20:15:20","slug":"ice-finds-a-new-way-to-dodge-congress-about-a-secret-protester-database","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=879","title":{"rendered":"ICE Finds a New Way to Dodge Congress About a Secret Protester Database"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Protesters<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

In response to<\/span> lawmakers\u2019 ongoing questions about ICE\u2019s surveillancepractices, a previously unpublicized reveals Department of Homeland Security officials are taking an increasingly evasive approach when asked whether the Trump administration created a database of protesters labeled as \u201cdomestic terrorists.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Trump\u2019s War in the Middle East Has One Clear Winner: China<\/a><\/p>\n

The administration has repeatedly denied that DHS maintains a specific database of US citizens who protest ICE operations or photograph federal agents. But this , which was addressed on May 22 and comes amid mounting litigation over ICE\u2019s alleged intimidation of protesters, appears to sidestep the question of a standalone protester database entirely.<\/p>\n

\u201cICE does not independently approve adding individuals or entities to the U.S. government\u2019s Terrorist Screening Dataset (TSDS),\u201d John Cooper, assistant director of ICE\u2019s Office of Congressional Relations, wrote in response to a February from Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).<\/p>\n

The TSDS is a publicly known, interagency terrorist watchlist that is not maintained by ICE and was not the subject of Markey\u2019s questioning. The letter is the first time ICE has publicly mentioned the TSDS in response to questions about a potential protester database.<\/p>\n

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

In February, Todd Lyons, then-acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, appeared before the House Homeland Security Committee and testified emphatically that ICE was not surveilling US citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no database for protesters, sir,\u201d Lyons told Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.), who asked Lyons about threats ICE agents made on camera to legal observers in Maine. \u201cI can assure you there is no database that\u2019s tracking United States citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lyons echoed these statements againin an April 21 letter to Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.). But this time, he added a caveat for law enforcement investigations: \u201cWhere individuals decide to go beyond protected speech and commit crimes against federal personnel and property or threaten, or forcibly impede, assault, or interfere with lawful operations, ICE remains steadfast in exercising its authority to investigate and prosecute violators.\u201d Put simply, Lyons denied that ICE was keeping a \u201cseparate, standalone database\u201d of protesters, but admitted the agency had \u201ccollected information\u201d on citizens suspected of breaking federal law.<\/p>

Read more As America Turns 250, a Trump Adviser\u2019s Firm Rakes in Federal Cash<\/a><\/p>\n

These carve-outs were already broad and vaguely defined enough to raise concerns among civil liberties advocates. Now, while evading Markey\u2019s specific questions about an ICE database, Cooper\u2019s letter raises new concerns that anti-ICE protesters and legal observers are, in fact, being added to the TSDS based on so-called \u201cantifa\u201d activity.<\/p>\n

Cooper\u2019s May letter went on to cite a \u201cwhole-of-government process,\u201d administered by the FBI, in which nominations to the TSDS are reviewed and approved \u201cbased on federal criteria derived from statutory definitions of terrorism.\u201d Notably, President Donald Trump designated \u201cantifa\u201d\u2014which is not a single group and generally defined as anyone who is against fascism\u2014as a domestic terrorist organization in September. And in May, as my colleague Sophie Hurwitz reported at the time, the White House released a new that \u201cprioritize[s] the rapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, in a to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Acting ICE Director David Venturella, shared exclusively with Mother Jones<\/em>, Markey and Frost are demanding answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cICE\u2019s shifting and carefully worded responses prevent Congress and the public from determining the extent of ICE\u2019s surveillance activities,\u201d Markey and Frost wrote. They pressed Mullin and Venturella on whether \u201cDHS, ICE, or any component agency of DHS\u201d is \u201cmaintaining their own database, list, or record of individuals engaged in protest activity, outside of the TSDS\u201d or creating any \u201crecord of individuals identified as threats to officer or facility safety, including those who have not been accused of any crime.\u201d The legislators also requested a copy of an internal ICE memo, first reported by CNN in January, that instructed agents to \u201ccapture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors, etc.\u201d for inclusion in a \u201cconsolidated form.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese attempts to evade congressional oversight are unacceptable,\u201d Markey and Frost wrote. \u201cThe public deserves clear and consistent answers about ICE\u2019s surveillance activities and its infringement of Americans\u2019 civil liberties.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Anna Paulina Luna Held a Hearing on CIA Mind Control. It Went Off the Rails.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New letters show ICE shifting its rhetoric\u2014and Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Max Frost demanding answers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nICE Finds a New Way to Dodge Congress About a Secret Protester Database - Moving and Mortgage Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=879\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ICE Finds a New Way to Dodge Congress About a Secret Protester Database - Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New letters show ICE shifting its rhetoric\u2014and Sen. 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