Newly unsealed court documents allege that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been collecting information, including photographs and license plate numbers, of individuals observing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities and storing this data in a Palantir-built database known as Investigative Case Management (ICM). The allegations are part of a proposed class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in Maine by four observers: Elinor Hilton, Colleen Fagan, Polyxenia Pantos, and Carlyn Williams.
The lawsuit, filed under seal in September and publicly released in a redacted version on Friday, centers on the conduct of DHS agents during "Operation Catch of the Day," an immigration enforcement surge in Maine in January. Plaintiffs claim that agents created dossiers on observers, intimidated them with drive-bys of their homes, and, in one instance, subjected an observer to secondary inspection at border crossings until at least January 2027.
A key figure in the allegations is "Agent J.C.," a DHS agent identified in the filing. J.C. is accused of creating ICM records for at least six, and possibly eight, observers. He allegedly labeled two individuals filmed at a Home Depot parking lot as "Threat to Law Enforcement, Professional Protestor" and sent their photos, along with others, to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer for facial recognition searches using an app called Mobile Query.
The filing details an incident on January 20, when Pantos observed and photographed an arrest in Portland, Maine. Hours later, J.C. allegedly ran the license plate of the car Pantos was near, pulling a report on the owner, Williams, from Accurint, a LexisNexis database. This report provided Williams' address, phone numbers, and cohabitants. J.C. then reportedly circulated Williams' photo to his team, asking if she was "the protestor." After another agent indicated it wasn't the woman they had dealt with, J.C. informed colleagues he was adding them to ICM.
That same afternoon, J.C. allegedly called Williams, identifying himself only as being from the Department of Homeland Security. According to Williams, J.C. warned her to encourage Pantos not to engage in such activities in the future, implying that individuals doing so might be added to a domestic terrorism watchlist. J.C. testified in a deposition that he warned Williams she would be arrested if she "continue[d] to do this," though government attorneys assert he denied referencing a "domestic terrorism watchlist."
Williams' ICM record reportedly states she was the registered owner of a vehicle used to "interrupt ICE arrests" and that her driver’s license photo matched a video of an "aggressive woman [who] interject[ed] herself into an arrest." A 2016 DHS privacy assessment indicates that ICM automatically shares subject records with CBP’s TECS system, where they function as lookout records for traveler screening at the border.
ICM is the case management system used by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), an ICE component, to document investigations. ICE awarded Palantir a contract to build ICM in 2014, with the system based on Palantir's Gotham software, customized for operational needs. In 2022, ICE awarded Palantir a new five-year ICM support contract valued at up to $96 million, with an additional $30 million added in 2025 for a new platform called "ImmigrationOS."
Todd Lyons, former acting director of ICE, stated in an April letter to Rep. Maxwell Frost that ICE "does not maintain any kind of database of U.S. citizens protesting ICE activities" and that DHS does not keep a "separate, standalone database" of individuals not arrested or detained. DHS has called the lawsuit "meritless," asserting that it is "based on the lie that there is a database of ‘domestic terrorists’ run by DHS."
The government's motion to dismiss the lawsuit argues that the described incidents were isolated and contrary to DHS policy. It states that J.C. created records on individuals he believed were "potential threats to law enforcement" and "did not attempt to nominate any individuals to the terrorist watchlist."
Attorneys for the observers contend that DHS's actions have had a chilling effect on their First Amendment rights. The filing notes that Pantos ceased all ICE observation work after J.C.'s call to Williams, who also eventually stopped observing ICE activity. The observers are seeking a court order to archive Williams’ records, prohibit DHS from using collected information against the plaintiffs, and bar agents in Maine from threatening observers with watchlists or following them to their homes.
