Two Mainers are suing the federal government, alleging immigration officials are targeting and intimidating residents.
Portland residents Elinor Hilton and Colleen Fagan filed a lawsuit Monday against the Department of Homeland Security and multiple subagencies after agents allegedly told both women that they were “domestic terrorists,” because they were filming U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court of Maine in Portland, says the federal government violated Hilton and Fagen’s First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly, as well as retaliated against and attempted to intimidate the women.
The lawsuit, filed in part by the legal nonprofit Protect Democracy, asks a judge to allow it to proceed as a class action lawsuit, declare the agencies’ actions violated the First Amendment and bar any future actions that would be retaliation against the class action members.
DHS and ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Fagen used her phone to record the actions of ICE agents last month during the agency’s enforcement surge, dubbed by the government as “Operation Catch of the Day.” The agency said it was arresting the “worst of the worst” in Maine — despite the vast majority lacking a criminal record.
Fagen found agents in an apartment complex on Westbrook Street and parked several car lengths away, the lawsuit said. About an hour earlier she had seen federal agents detain a woman, forcibly remove her from her car as the woman “screamed and cried for help,” restrained her and then drove away. Fagen recorded that interaction on her phone.
When she saw agents a second time, she started to record because of that early arrest, which left her “particularly concerned about how federal agents were acting in her community,” the lawsuit said.
Agents with their faces covered and no visible identification started recording Fagen back and scanned her face, the lawsuit said. Another agent recorded her license plate number.
Fagen asked why agents were taking her information down and an agent, who was feet away, turned to her and said, “Cause we have a nice little database. And now you’re considered a domestic terrorist, so have fun with that.”
The statement was captured by Fagen’s recording and shared widely on social media.
Agents, by their actions and statements, were trying to intimidate Fagen and violating her First Amendment rights, the lawsuit said.
On Jan. 21, Hilton drove to Home Depot in South Portland after seeing reports of possible immigration activity there, according to the lawsuit. Once there Hilton exited her car and started filming two groups of DHS agents.
An agent recorded Hilton’s face and license plate within a minute of her exiting the car, the lawsuit said. Another agent told Hilton to not move any closer and she complied.
There were at least eight agents and they were actively detaining a person, the lawsuit said. One agent stood about six inches from Hilton’s face and recorded her at “extremely close range.”
As Hilton stayed in the same place and continued to record, the agents talked among themselves and to her, the lawsuit said.
“I hope you know that if you keep coming to things like this, you are going to be on a domestic terrorist watchlist,” one agent said. “Then we’re going to come to your house later tonight.”
He turned to another agent and said again, “She’s just going on the domestic terrorist watchlist,” to which the agent said “Oh, absolutely.”
Another person started observing and filming agents in the parking lot and the agent said that person would also be put on a “watchlist,” the lawsuit said.
“The message of intimidation was express and clear,” the lawsuit said. By participating in constitutionally protected activities, Hilton and another person would be placed on a “domestic terror watchlist.
Hilton did not stay at her home that night out of fear that agents would show up, the lawsuit said. Fagen has not participated in any protests since her encounter with agents out of fear of how she will be treated.
Other Mainers have had their biometrics captured by federal agents and had agents show up at their homes, the lawsuit said.
Westbrook school committee member Erin Cavallaro started following an ICE vehicle to see what was happening, the lawsuit said. She realized the agent was leading her home, which she said she believed agents got through scanning her license plate.
“Cavallaro understood the federal agents’ actions as ‘clearly . . . an attempt to let me know ‘we know who you are, we know where you live,’’ and thus pressure her to stop documenting their actions,” the lawsuit said.
Two other Maine residents reported similar interactions with federal immigration agents, the lawsuit said.
ICE officials have confirmed there is an internal database where they are tracking protestors
