A previously unpublicized April 21 letter from then-acting ICE Director Todd Lyons says the agency may collect “essential biographic and biometric information” during encounters tied to suspected legal violations, even when people are not arrested. The letter also rejects claims that ICE or DHS maintains a separate, standalone database of protesters or “domestic terrorists,” according to NPR.
In a letter dated April 21 and sent to members of Congress, then-acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons said ICE collects “essential biographic and biometric information and situational details” during encounters connected to suspected violations of law, including alleged interference with ICE operations or officer-safety concerns. Lyons also wrote that if people who interact with ICE officers are not arrested or detained, any information gathered is maintained as an official government record consistent with applicable law and Department of Homeland Security and ICE policies, according to NPR, which said it was the first news organization to review the letter. The letter was sent in response to questions from Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and 11 other Democratic lawmakers, who wrote to DHS in February seeking details about what information the department collects on protesters and observers. At the same time, Lyons denied that ICE maintains a database of protesters, and said DHS is not creating or maintaining a “separate, standalone database” of individuals who were encountered but not arrested or detained. Civil-liberties advocates told NPR the letter amounts to one of the clearest public acknowledgments by senior immigration officials that the government may be collecting and preserving information about protesters and lawful observers even when no arrest occurs. JoAnna Suriani, a lawyer with the nonprofit Protect Democracy, said the letter indicates ICE is knowingly collecting and keeping official records on people its agents claim could be interfering with them or threatening agent safety. The disclosure comes amid a federal lawsuit in Maine filed on behalf of immigration-enforcement observers who allege agents violated their First Amendment rights by recording observers’ faces and license plates and using threats of being added to a “domestic terrorism” database to intimidate them. DHS has denied running a domestic-terrorist database, telling NPR in earlier reporting that there is “NO database of ‘domestic terrorists’ run by DHS.” DHS has said it investigates threats and interference directed at its officers, while maintaining that it does not operate a standalone domestic-terrorism database. Some legal and technology experts interviewed by NPR have argued that even if no separate database exists, information collected during protest-related encounters could still be retained in existing government systems.
