ICE Enforcement and Protester Database – What’s Been Reported

According to Reuters, federal immigration agents have been tracking the names and photos of people who follow or try to impede their operations in an internal database. The tracking is part of a broader enforcement effort under federal law that makes it a crime to obstruct or interfere with law enforcement officers’ duties.

In one recent Minnesota case, a woman who followed ICE officers in her car was cited under a federal statute and told her name and photo would be added to a government database. The law cited — Title 18, Section 111 — applies to anyone who “forcibly assaults, resists, opposes, impedes, intimidates, or interferes” with a federal officer performing official duties.

Officials say the database is used internally to help spot patterns that could lead to charges under obstruction laws; the Department of Homeland Security has also stated that it does not maintain a list of U.S. “domestic terrorists.”

These developments have come amid heightened confrontations between protesters and immigration enforcement in several U.S. cities, drawing increased scrutiny and debate over enforcement tactics and civil liberties.