Watching Out While Watching ICE

Over the weekend, thousands of people across the United States gathered to protest and mourn the death of Renee Nicole Good, the 37-year-old mother of three who was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis, mere blocks away from where George Floyd was murdered by a police officer just five years ago. 

While community members have identified Good as a legal observer — a volunteer who observes ICE activity and protests in case of a confrontation or dispute — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has claimed Good “weaponized” her SUV in an act of “domestic terrorism.”

Other Trump administration officials and allies have joined the chorus of domestic terrorism allegations, claiming that Good purposefully attacked the officer, Jonathan Ross, who responded only in self-defense. A video taken by the officer, however, shows Good speaking politely to Ross before attempting to leave, and someone can be heard calling Good a “fucking bitch” immediately after Ross fired three shots into her car, killing her.

It was not the first time that ICE has deployed or threatened lethal force against community members documenting ICE activity or warning their neighbors about arrests. Last year, Illinois state Rep. Hoan Huynh shared a video of ICE agents pointing a gun at him while he and an aide were informing residents of their rights. This incident came shortly after a U.S. Border Patrol officer shot U.S. citizen and Chicago resident Marimar Martinez five times, alleging that she was aggressively tailing him. Martinez was charged with assaulting federal officers and impeding an operation, but text messages later emerged where the officer bragged about the shooting; the case was dismissed. 

With the threat of violent escalations and domestic terrorism allegations, activists are doubling down on sharing safety advice and best practices for engaging in constitutionally protected actions, such as filming an ICE raid or arrest. 

While it is legal to film immigration enforcement activities in a public place, lawyers and advocates warn that these situations can escalate if officers move closer to someone who is filming, potentially accusing them of obstructing an operation or being a threat to public safety. “Officers may approach and confront you, closing that distance in an effort to accuse you of interfering and possibly assaulting an officer,” said Sophia Cope, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

“It complicates things and possibly creates the risk of violence,” she said, adding that this can either push officers to think that self-defense is necessary or create a stressful situation. 

Nevertheless, it is legal to film ICE and other law enforcement activities in a public place (in a private residence is at the discretion of the owner). And law enforcement may not search a phone without a judicial warrant, even if its owner is under arrest. This means that anyone who is approached by an officer may refuse a request to review and delete what they have recorded and is under no obligation to unlock their phone or provide the passcode. 

Lawyers and advocates also point out that bystander, dashboard and body camera footage can all make a difference in a courtroom. 

“Eyewitness testimony can sometimes be inaccurate because people have imperfect memories,” Cope said, adding that if someone does wish to film, it’s useful to familiarize themselves with surveillance self-defense practices. “Video evidence can be very important and impactful to show what exactly happened.”

Over the past year, video has been essential to understanding the magnitude of ICE’s enforcement operations — from documenting Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil being arrested by plainclothes ICE and DHS officers outside his home to an ICE officer slamming an Ecuadorian woman to the ground at an immigration courthouse, resulting in his being relieved of his duties (he returned to work less than 72 hours later). Five years ago, it was a bystander’s video that exposed the way that Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd. Now, multiple videos — some from bystanders, another from Jonathan Ross himself — directly contradict the Trump administration’s version of events. 

If an officer attempts to stop someone from filming by moving closer to them, advocates recommend the person with the camera keep their distance and film themselves following the officer’s instructions if asked to step away. 

“Stay five to 10 feet away,” said Andrew Willis Garcés, a strategist at NC Siembra, a grassroots migrant rights organization in North Carolina that trains so-called Ice Watch verifiers to monitor ICE activities. 

“Encourage people who are being targeted to say their names out loud,” he added, mentioning that a lot of people who were arrested in Chicago were released because they had said their names while being recorded, allowing lawyers to more easily locate them and follow up on their cases.

The international organization WITNESS, which has published a video-as-evidence guide specifically about filming ICE enforcement operations, recommends filming horizontally to capture as much context as possible and focusing on the agent’s behavior, as opposed to the person being arrested. Among its other recommendations, the video suggests letting the video speak for itself, and only adding factual, unbiased narration at the end if it feels important to add context. WITNESS also advises people to avoid emotional narration and to never edit or rename the original video. 

Documenting the chain of custody — that is, how footage is shared and who is in possession of it — can enhance its reliability. Never share a video without the consent of the person arrested or their family, and use features like YouTube’s blurring tool to protect people’s identities. If you do have valuable evidence of an arrest or operation, share it with a local legal organization rather than posting it online. This helps lawyers focus on building a case to support those who are targeted rather than taking their case to the court of public opinion.

“We are choosing to take risks by being ICE Watch verifiers,” said Garcés. “It’s really different than the risk that most immigrant workers are taking just going to work or dropping off their kids at school every day.”