A chilling exchange caught on video in Portland, Maine has pulled back the curtain on a rapidly expanding domestic surveillance regime—one that no longer distinguishes clearly between illegal immigrants, protestors, or American citizens.
“We have a nice little database, and now you’re considered a domestic terrorist.”
That was the response an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent gave to a woman who asked why her information was being recorded after she filmed federal officers in public. The clip went viral last week. What initially sounded like intimidation or dark humor has since been corroborated by investigative reporting—and it raises serious constitutional questions.
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Filming ICE Now Triggers Intelligence ‘Work-Ups’
Investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein reports that a federal law enforcement official confirmed DHS has ordered immigration officers to collect identifying information on anyone who films them and forward it to intelligence units for further analysis.
That “work-up,” according to the source, includes:
- Identifying individuals via social media
- Running license plates
- Conducting criminal history checks
The directive is not limited to ICE. It reportedly extends across DHS components, including Border Patrol.
The stated goal, according to internal assessments cited by Klippenstein, is to identify networks of anti-ICE activists believed by the administration to constitute organized domestic extremism.
This Is Not an Isolated Incident
David Bier, Director of Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute, published a report documenting numerous similar encounters nationwide. His conclusion was blunt: DHS has adopted a systematic policy of intimidating people who record federal agents, often asserting—without solid legal grounding—that filming constitutes interference with enforcement.
Bier confirmed that identifying information gathered during these encounters is uploaded into government databases for potential future law enforcement action.
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Enter ELITE: ICE’s Predictive Enforcement System
At the center of this surveillance expansion is a Palantir-built system called ELITE—Enhanced Leads Identification & Targeting for Enforcement—backed by more than $160 million in contracts, according to Biometric Update.
ELITE does not simply store records. It uses:
- Fused federal data sources
- Geospatial mapping
- Probabilistic “confidence scores” (0–100)
These scores estimate how likely a person is to be found at a given location. ICE uses this information to deploy agents to “target-rich” neighborhoods, rather than relying on address-specific warrants.
Critically, ELITE is designed to operate without judicial search warrants, favoring public and semi-public spaces where constitutional protections are weaker.
A Legal Gray Zone—By Design
According to Biometric Update, ELITE’s confidence scores are poorly suited to meeting constitutional standards for probable cause. That appears to be intentional.
Rather than proving a specific person is inside a specific residence, ICE can saturate an area and wait—effectively turning neighborhoods into hunting grounds based on probability, not certainty.
This approach blurs the line between lawful inquiry and unconstitutional detention.
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Facial Recognition—Including on Children
Multiple lawsuits now allege DHS agents have used mobile facial recognition tools on minors—including U.S. citizens—during street encounters.
In one Illinois case, agents reportedly stopped two teenagers near a high school. When one could not produce ID, an agent asked, “Can you do facial?” and photographed the teen’s face for biometric identification.
The lawsuit alleges DHS retains such biometric data—including from children—for up to 15 years, even when no crime is charged.
While DHS policy claims facial recognition should not be the sole basis for enforcement, critics argue that in real-world encounters, a biometric match can function as de facto confirmation—shaping how an individual is questioned, detained, or released.
From Immigration to Infrastructure
Taken together, the evidence suggests ICE’s mission is evolving.
Deportations remain historically low. Meanwhile, databasing, biometric capture, predictive analytics, and identity verification have surged.
This aligns with broader global trends toward digital identity systems. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 16.9 explicitly calls for universal legal identity—including digital ID—by 2030.
Whether intentional or not, DHS now sits at the intersection of immigration enforcement, biometric surveillance, and predictive policing.
Prophetic and Constitutional Warning
Scripture repeatedly warns that societies drift toward oppression not overnight, but incrementally—through systems justified as necessary, temporary, or protective.
Isaiah 3:5 warns of a people oppressed “every one by another.” Lamentations describes streets hunted and watched. These passages resonate not because history repeats exactly—but because human systems tend toward control when fear replaces liberty.
Conclusion
Filming federal agents in public is still legal. But evidence now shows it may also get you cataloged, analyzed, and scored.
ICE may not call it a “social credit system.” But when databases, algorithms, and confidence scores determine how the government perceives and treats individuals—citizen or not—the label matters less than the reality.
The question is no longer whether surveillance is expanding.
It is how far it will go—and who will be next.
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