Federal authorities have called those who monitor ICE ‘domestic terrorists.’ Here’s what we know
By Isabel Rosales, Karina Tsui, Ray Sanchez, CNN
(CNN) — One day after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis earlier this month, a Minnesota immigrant advocacy group reported a threefold increase in the number of people signing up to become legal observers.
“To say this: The killing of Renee Good lit a fire under the community, would be an understatement,” said Ryan Perez, a leadership and organizing director with the advocacy group COPAL, part of a network of 5,000 trained civilians who monitor immigration enforcement. “It really is a remarkable moment.”
As the Trump administration deploys thousands of federal officers to carry out turbocharged immigration operations across the country – with the Minneapolis area now the epicenter – growing networks of volunteers who call themselves ICE observers appear to be intensifying their efforts.
Volunteers document arrests, some tail ICE agents in vehicles, while others blow whistles warning community members of ICE enforcement –– tactics under increased scrutiny since the fatal shooting, which has led to more aggressive enforcement operations and sparked protests across the US.
Good, who served on the board of her son’s school, was linked, in school documents, to similar activities encouraging parents to monitor and possibly disrupt ICE operations –– an association Trump officials are placing at the center of their review into the incident as the activist and mother of three partially blocked ICE agents with her car.
An ICE officer who was filming Good shot her after she started to accelerate her SUV on January 7. Videos of the encounter show Good was turning her vehicle away from the agent as she pulled forward, but it is unclear whether she made contact with him before he fired.
Experts say while some practices by volunteers are acts of nonviolent civil disobedience, others may fall into murkier legal territory. Here’s what we know.
Who is involved in the ICE observer groups?
Across the country, thousands of parents, teachers, clergy members and community organizers have sought training on what they can legally do when they see an immigration arrest. They have been trained on documenting federal immigration agents’ actions with cell phone video and quickly warning migrant neighbors with whistles and car horns.
“People that look a lot like Renee Good, we have a lot of moms. We have a lot of retirees, people that would be volunteering at the ballot box,” Perez said of the volunteers.
Kateri Heymans, a 29-year-old Spanish teacher in Minneapolis, registered as an observer the day after Good was fatally shot. She said she was alarmed by the number of federal agents flooding her hometown and the violent scenes that have accompanied their presence.
In North Carolina, the immigrant worker group Siembra NC operates an ICE watch hotline and a verification system tracking the operations of federal agents in the community.
“Safety concerns are a daily reality,” said Andrew Wills Garces, a senior strategist with Siembra NC. “After the killing of Renee Nicole Good, our volunteers are asking, ‘Can they get away with this?’ They see an administration labeling legal observers as ‘domestic terrorists’ and feel a target on their backs.”
How are ICE observers trained?
Nationwide, volunteers are being trained not only to honk horns and blow whistles to warn anyone in earshot immigration agents are present but also to document the actions of federal officers.
Critics of the immigration crackdown say observers are necessary given what they describe as dangerous tactics by federal agents which put people at risk. Trump administration officials counter they are taking necessary steps to keep Americans safe, and ICE officers are facing a significant increase in assaults. Officers exercise restraint despite facing threats and attacks, according to federal officials.
“Our observers are trained to walk in and say, ‘I demand to see a warrant. Show me a warrant. I need to see a signed judicial warrant. Why are you here? What are you doing here?’ And all of that creates a legal record as well,” Perez said.
Their notes and videos are shared with attorneys and advocacy groups to be used in possible court cases, he said. Volunteers also watch video of enforcement actions and participate in simulations as part of their training.
What actions are legal?
“If you’re in a public space, using whistles to signal that law enforcement officers are present and recording law enforcement activities are expressive activities protected by the First Amendment,” said Gregory Magarian, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis.
“If we take the First Amendment seriously, and if we look at our nation’s history, we see that a wide range of protest and pushback activities are protected by the First Amendment … and have been essential to social movements – the Civil Rights Movement, women’s suffrage, the run-up to the American Revolution itself – that almost everyone views positively.”
Tim Zick, a professor at William and Mary Law School in Virginia, said some volunteers have sought to identify mostly masked ICE officers by badge numbers or other accessible information, occasionally posting information about their identities online.
“In some communities, activists have posted fliers with information about the ICE agents involved in arrests and other actions in the community,” he said.
Distribution of factual and lawfully obtained public information is generally protected by the First Amendment, according to Zick.
“The Trump administration has initiated investigations and prosecutions of some activists who have posted information about agents online or distributed it,” Zick said.
But context matters.
“If the information is posted with the intent or purpose of inciting violence against agents or threatening them, it may not be protected. However, it appears the administration has adopted the view that any posting of personal information regarding ICE agents is unlawful. That position is contrary to First Amendment case law.”
What is illegal?
President Donald Trump has warned leaders in Minnesota he may be forced to intervene further if widespread protests continue during his administration’s surge in immigration enforcement operations.
“In Minnesota, the Troublemakers, Agitators, and Insurrectionists are, in many cases, highly paid professionals,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday.
ICE watch activities and protests appear to be escalating as aggressive arrests become more common in public, with some federal officers using tactics such as shattering car windows and tackling their targets.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin has said agents who “put their lives on the line every day to enforce the law” are facing “smearing” by claims they’re employing “harsher approaches.”
“ICE and CBP (Customs and Border Protection) are trained to use the minimum amount of force necessary to resolve dangerous situations to prioritize the safety of the public and themselves,” McLaughlin told CNN. “Our officers are highly trained in de-escalation tactics and regularly receive ongoing use of force training.”
Physically interfering with the actions of agents is illegal.
“If a person directly interferes with a law enforcement officer, for example by deliberately blocking the officer’s path, that is not protected by the First Amendment and is generally unlawful,” Magarian said.
It is also unlawful to disobey an order from law enforcement to disperse, he said.
Zick said posting threats to federal agents is unlawful and not protected speech.
“So is inciting others to engage in unlawful actions against the agents, if the incitement is likely to produce an imminent attack,” he added.
Perez, the Minneapolis activist who trains ICE watchers, said his group instructs volunteers to stay eight feet away from agents and to avoid touching or blocking them.
“We have a 100% no obstruction protocol as observers,” he insisted.
Perez added, “We have people that were so afraid before and I think the fear is still there. There’s so much violence from law enforcement against community members and yet there’s also more bravery than ever … because people are feeling like, ‘Now’s my time to act.’”
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CNN’s Elizabeth Wolfe, Dalia Faheid, Andy Buck, Dianne Gallagher, Kaanita Iyer, Catherine E. Shoichet, Sarah-Grace Mankarious, Caroll Alvarado and Marco Chacon contributed to this report.
