Maine ICE Observers Challenge DHS Records in Court
A partially unsealed federal court filing alleges that Department of Homeland Security agents collected information on people observing immigration enforcement in Maine and entered it into an investigative database built by Palantir. The government disputes the plaintiffs’ account and says its policies prohibit the conduct at issue.
The filing is part of a proposed class action brought by four observers following a January immigration enforcement operation called “Operation Catch of the Day.” Citing government documents and agent depositions, the plaintiffs say agents recorded observers’ photographs, license plate numbers and personal details in ICE’s Investigative Case Management system, known as ICM. The filing says one agent created records on at least six observers; the government puts the number at eight.
One account concerns Polyxenia Pantos, who photographed an arrest in Portland on January 20. An agent subsequently checked the registration of a nearby car and obtained information about its owner, Pantos’s spouse, Carlyn Williams. Williams says the agent later called and warned that observing ICE activity could lead to placement on a domestic terrorism watchlist. Government attorneys say the agent denied mentioning such a watchlist. He testified that he warned Williams about possible arrest.
The plaintiffs also allege that agents drove past observers’ homes and that one observer was flagged for additional border screening through at least January 2027. They say these actions discouraged them from observing ICE operations.
DHS calls the case “meritless” and rejects the claim that it maintains a domestic-terrorism database of protesters. In seeking dismissal, government attorneys describe the incidents as isolated and say the agent believed those he documented might pose threats to law enforcement. They say no one was nominated to a terrorist watchlist. Palantir did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The plaintiffs ask the court to restrict DHS’s use of their information, change Williams’s records and bar specified conduct toward observers in Maine.