ICE Surveillance of Anti-ICE Protesters in Spokane

In the summer of 2025, agents of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Spokane collected license-plate, vehicle-photo, and social-media data on individuals attending or near anti-ICE demonstrations. Stacey Carr, a Spokane Police Department detective assigned to HSI’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force, documented the practice in a July 2025 report. She recorded a silver Jeep Gladiator entering the ICE field-office parking lot on June 10, 2025, uploaded the vehicle’s photo to the Axon-owned Evidence.com system, and later captured license plates from protesters on June 11, 2025, uploading those records as well.

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HSI traditionally investigates serious crimes such as human trafficking and child exploitation. In September 2025, then-acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told right-wing host Glenn Beck that HSI would target anti-ICE demonstrators, labeling Chicago protesters “paid professional agitators” engaged in “domestic terrorism.” The agency’s definition of criminal conduct has broadened, with the Justice Department pursuing federal charges that recast protest activity as conspiracy.

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Carr’s log shows three license-plate entries uploaded to Evidence.com, a cloud-based evidence-management platform used by many law-enforcement agencies. Two of the entries were later found to be inaccurate, and the report does not indicate any ongoing criminal investigation of the recorded individuals. The use of Evidence.com marks the first confirmed instance of the platform being employed to catalog protester information.

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The agency has denied maintaining a “domestic terrorist” database of U.S. citizens who protest ICE.

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Civil-rights groups have filed lawsuits alleging a secret “Protester Surveillance Policy.” The Electronic Privacy Information Center and three legal observers sued DHS on July 24, 2026, claiming the agency collects and retains protester records for potential retaliation. “When you are recording information about people’s political activities, you know that that is the first step towards acting on that speech,” — Adam Steinbaugh, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) senior attorney

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Verbatim Quotes

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• “A large white bus, which I assumed with [sic] a bus with the Willie Nelson band was parked in front of the building,” — Stacey Carr, police department spokesperson

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• “While speaking on the phone, I saw a silver Jeep Gladiator slowly pull into the public parking lot with the windows rolled down,” — Stacey Carr, police department spokesperson

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• “He startled and shook his head,” — Stacey Carr, police department spokesperson

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• “There were a couple he could not see,” — Stacey Carr, police department spokesperson

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