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Government documents obtained by a coalition of immigrant rights group under the Freedom of Information Act show that the Trump administration was using a private cybersecurity company to monitor the hundreds of nationwide protests last year organized by Americans outraged over its family separation policy, adding to the disturbing pattern of surveillance and targeting of critics under the Trump administration.
“The documents include a list disseminated by [Homeland Security’s] Office on Intelligence and Analysis of more than 600 protests that took place in June 2018, when public horror at children being systematically ripped from their parents became widespread,” the American Immigration Council said. A firm called LookingGlass shared the information, including Facebook Event IDs and logistics such as time and location, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s investigative arm.
Last June’s historic “Families Belong Together” rallies were attended by hundreds of thousands of Americans and stretched out across all 50 states, in fervent opposition to the anti-child, anti-family policy that was repeatedly condemned by the United Nations. But according to the documents, DHS was more concerned about appearance, not policy, “[indicating] that the agency sought to portray family separation as an effort to combat human smuggling and trafficking.” But former Homeland Security Sec. John Kelly himself had already been on television by that time saying that family separation was intended to deter asylum-seekers.
But as advocates also warn, the documents continue to confirm that officials have taken action to surveil—and punish—critics of the administration’s policies.
Last week, an appeals court sided with Ravi Ragbir, a prominent sanctuary leader who had been targeted by ICE for deportation during what was supposed to be a routine check-in with the agency. “A plausible, clear inference is drawn that Ragbir’s public expression of his criticism, and its prominence, played a significant role in the recent attempts to remove him,” the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals said.
In one example listed in the decision, ICE official Scott Mechkowski appeared to threaten an associate of Ragbir, telling the immigrant rights activist “Jean, from me to you, you don’t want to make matters worse by saying things.” Mechkowski also reportedly complained that it “bothered” him that “everybody knows” Ragbir’s case. Ragbir hasn’t been alone in being targeted for his advocacy.
Last month, the Homeland Security watchdog opened an investigation following a whistleblower’s leak of documents revealing officials were keeping tabs on dozens of people, including seven U.S. citizens, who reported on or had associations with the so-called migrant caravan last year. Information for one surveilled American, an attorney with immigrant rights advocacy group Al Otro Lado, even included “specific details about the car she drives, her mother’s name, and her work and travel history.”
“This chilling revelation follows a growing trend of government surveillance and policing of immigrant communities and targeting of activists and journalists,” the National Immigrant Justice Center’s Jesse Franzblau said. “The new records show that the administration views voices of dissent as a threat to its disinformation campaigns. Congress should be asking questions about why DHS resources were used to target opposition to hateful anti-immigrant policies, rather than respond to legal demands to repair the damage these policies had caused.”
"We will not be silenced or intimidated by the Trump administration's outrageous abuse of power,” Families Belong Together chair Jess Morales Rocketto said.