DHS Says Filming, Posting Videos of ICE Agents is "Doxxing," Vows Prosecutions

"The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says filming and posting videos of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents counts as "violence," and has threatened to potentially charge people who take videos and photos of agents conducting immigration raids in their communities, despite First Amendment protections. DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told the Center for Media and Democracy that "videotaping ICE law enforcement and posting photos and videos of them online is doxing our agents.""

""Federal appellate courts typically frame the right to record law enforcement as the right to record officers exercising their official duties in public," reads an Electronic Frontier Foundation guide on the topic entitled " Yes, You Have the Right to Film ICE." "This right extends to private places, too, where the recorder has a legal right to be, such as in their own home," the group explains."

DHS asserts that filming and posting videos of ICE agents amounts to doxing and "violence," and has warned of potential prosecution for people who record or photograph agents during immigration raids in their communities. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin labeled videotaping and posting images of ICE officers online as doxing. DHS leadership framed threats to agent safety to include such recording. Recording law enforcement activities is protected by the First Amendment. Federal appellate courts typically recognize a right to record officers performing official duties in public, and that right can extend to private places where the recorder has a legal right to be, such as their own home.

Read at Truthout