Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Two women from Maine are suing the Department of Homeland Security after being told they would be added to a "domestic terrorists" list for recording the activities of federal immigration agents. As Kevin Miller reports, the women claim agents engaged in unconstitutional surveillance and intimidation while they were exercising their First Amendment rights.
According the lawsuit filed Monday in federal court, the two Portland residents were lawfully observing and recording federal immigration agents during separate incidents last month. They allege that, in each incident, masked and unidentified agents responded by USING PHONES TO scan their faces and license plates .
The lawsuit filed by the group Protect Democracy claims that one agent told Hilton that if she kept quote "coming to things like this, you are going to be on a domestic terrorist watchlist. Then we're going to come to our house later tonight." The court filing alleges that an officer similarly told Fagen that her name was being added to a quote "nice little database" containing domestic terrorists.
The attorneys are hoping to turn this into a class action lawsuit representing other individuals who were subject to facial recognition and license plate scans while legally observing immigration enforcement.
To read more about this story from NPR, head to mainepublic.org.
Two women from Maine are suing the Department of Homeland Security after being told they would be added to a "domestic terrorists" list for recording the activities of federal immigration agents. As Kevin Miller reports, the women claim agents engaged in unconstitutional surveillance and intimidation while they were exercising their First Amendment rights.
According the lawsuit filed Monday in federal court, the two Portland residents were lawfully observing and recording federal immigration agents during separate incidents last month. They allege that, in each incident, masked and unidentified agents responded by USING PHONES TO scan their faces and license plates .
The lawsuit filed by the group Protect Democracy claims that one agent told Hilton that if she kept quote "coming to things like this, you are going to be on a domestic terrorist watchlist. Then we're going to come to our house later tonight." The court filing alleges that an officer similarly told Fagen that her name was being added to a quote "nice little database" containing domestic terrorists.
The attorneys are hoping to turn this into a class action lawsuit representing other individuals who were subject to facial recognition and license plate scans while legally observing immigration enforcement.
To read more about this story from NPR, head to mainepublic.org.
