ICE Agent to Woman Recording: You're Going in 'Nice Little Database'

An immigration officer in Maine is under scrutiny after video surfaced of him telling a woman she'd be entered into a "domestic terrorist" database for recording him. The clip, posted Friday on X by self-described "free speech activist" Nathan Bernard, shows an unidentified woman recording an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on a Portland street, per Mediaite. When she questions why he's taking down her information, the officer replies, "Because we have a nice little database. And now you're considered a domestic terrorist."

The woman responds, "For videotaping you? Are you crazy?" She's described in Bernard's post as a "legal observer." The video quickly drew attention from across the political spectrum. Journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote that "armed, masked federal agents" threatening to label citizens as domestic terrorists for filming them "should disgust everyone." Isaac Saul of the newsletter "Tangle" argued that, beyond civil liberties concerns, allowing such conduct in Maine—where Democrats hope to win a Senate seat this year—amounts to "political malpractice."

As of Saturday morning, the officer in the video hadn't been publicly identified. Recording law enforcement in public is generally protected under the First Amendment, though officers sometimes challenge or attempt to restrict it. KQED has details on what to know if you decide to film federal agents, while CNN has more on the "domestic terrorist"/recording topic overall.